Weekes: Flames, Golden Knights among finalists for Jack Eichel

The Calgary Flames are one of the finalists to acquire forward @Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported Saturday afternoon.

Weekes also mentioned the Vegas Golden Knights as a potential landing spot for Eichel. Rumours have connected both the Flames and Golden Knights with Eichel for months.

Last week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Eichel may soon file a grievance against the Sabres with the National Hockey League Players’ Association if he is not traded soon. Eichel and the Sabres have publicly sparred for months over how to best deal with the star centre’s neck injury, with Eichel having missed the majority of the 2020–21 season and the start of 2021–22 as a result.

The Sabres selected Eichel with the second-overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, one spot after @Connor McDavid went to the Edmonton Oilers. In 375 games over parts of six seasons in Buffalo, Eichel has amassed 139 goals and 355 points.

Eichel, 25, has five years remaining on a contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $10 million. As he is currently on the Sabres’ injured reserve and not LTIR, a team acquiring Eichel would need to have space to fit his entire salary underneath the $81.5 million cap after making the trade.

Buffalo reportedly has little interest in retaining any of Eichel’s salary. With their current 23-man roster configuration, the Flames have $1,012,500 in cap space (according to CapFriendly).