Jack Eichel puts the Golden Knights in tough position

Jack Eichel’s journey started off on the right foot in Vegas as the new member of the Golden Knights underwent successful neck surgery in Denver back in November and is making a full recovery. After the artificial disk replacement procedure, which had never been done on an NHL player before, Eichel returned to the ice and is expected to play for his new team in the coming weeks.

However, the Golden Knights are now placed in a tough position despite the exciting addition of Eichel to their roster. As Dan Rosen points out on NHL.com, Vegas finds itself without space activate Eichel, who carries a $10 million NHL salary cap charge. Rosen predicts that moves will take place, especially because the Golden Knights also will have to activate defenseman Alec Martinez ($5.25 million annual average value). This is how Rosen puts it in his latest mailbag, knowing full well that while getting Eichel and Martinez on board, the team’s depth will be impacted:

“For starters, the Golden Knights would have 25 players if Eichel and Martinez are activated and no one else goes on injured reserve, 26 if forward Adam Brooks is activated too. They can only have 23, so they’d have to start by trading or waiving some depth players. Waivers is the easiest route, but if they lose the player it thins their depth. If the Golden Knights are still over the $81.5 million salary cap, they would then likely have to move a more impactful player, potentially forwards Evgenii Dadonov or Reilly Smith. Each carries a $5 million cap charge; Smith is in the last season of his contract, and Dadonov is in the second of a three-year contract. Any team with a need for a top-nine forward will be calling Vegas to try to take advantage of the cap situation. If that’s still not enough to get under the cap, the Golden Knights would have to make another move.

"Even if the Golden Knights have a healthy roster, activating Eichel and Martinez will make them better, but at the price of making their depth thinner.”

There is no doubt that it will be exciting to see Eichel performing with a contender: fans are aware of his talent, but his times in Buffalo didn’t allow him to fully shine.

However, while Vegas is looking forward to getting him on board, it comes at a tough cost.