Jack Eichel reveals what really happened in Buffalo.

We still have no idea how the now infamous Jack Eichel trade between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Buffalo Sabres will play out in the long run, but this week we did get a clearer picture of exactly what happened between Eichel and the Sabres that eventually led to a split between the two parties.

Eichel was recently a guest on former UFC Champion Chris Wideman's podcast and it was during his conversation with Wideman that he went into a detailed breakdown regarding the series of incidents that led to him wanting out of Buffalo for good. Of course it is important to note that this is only Eichel's version of events, but he did sound sincere throughout his conversation with the mixed martial arts practitioner.

Eichel began by revealing that the Sabres initially seemed on board with his prefered method of surgery, and seemingly only changed their mind at the very last second when he was already well into the process.

"Then the mood of them being very OK with me getting surgery just changed and I didn't really understand why," said Eichel on the podcast. "It was fine yesterday but now its not you know what I mean... and I didn't understand why right? And their explanation was that it hadn't been done on an NHL player yet and to me I didn't find that as a valid medical reason to not get a surgery. If in medicine nobody ever made any sort of transition to a better way of doing something, then we would be doing the same thing we've always done. There's was a bit of a disconnect at that point between me and the team."

Eichel also seemingly accused members of the Sabres of being dishonest suggesting that some people, who he would not identify, were telling him two different things at the same time.

"I was getting one thing in private conversations from some people and then when it became in a bigger setting and there were more people involved in the conversations, what I was hearing in private conversations was completely different than what was being said."

Eichel admits that at this point he became very frustrated with how things had been handled by the Sabres. In spite of that he claims he was still willing to work with the team, only to be deceived once again.

"They wanted me to continue to do this conservative rehab route that I had been doing, so I said 'ok I'll do it' but all the doctors we had went and saw said realistically if you do it for 3 months and you don't make any improvement.... after 3 months it's not gonna get any better. I said to Buffalo 'Ok I'll do it for 3 months' and at the end 3 months if it hasn't got any better and I still have the same symptoms then we should probably consider the surgery," said Eichel.

"And they said 'OK fine.'"

"So I went back to Florida worked with the guy again and at the end of 3 months I went back to Buffalo and they were still like 'No, you can't get surgery.'"

Wideman, who himself has dealt with neck injuries throughout his career as a professional athlete, was aghast upon learning that the Sabres had prevented Eichel from getting surgery after such a process.

"That is insane, that's terrible," said Wideman in disbelief at what he was hearing.

Eichel continued to criticize the Sabres during his appearance, condemning them for not allowing him to make a decision that was best for his health.

"The thing that I didn't really understand, and I still don't, is as if I was going to make a decision that was going to compromise my ability to play hockey. At the end of the day my goal is to be the best hockey player that I can be and perform every night, so I'm not going to make a decision or do something that I think is going to deteriorate my career," said Eichel. "That's where I was frustrated, I'm not gonna do something that I think is gonna be detrimental to my career, I'm doing something that I think is in my best interest."

As hard as Eichel was on the Buffalo Sabres, he spoke with just as much fervor when praising the Las Vegas Golden Knights for giving him the freedom to make his own decision.

"It was very refreshing when I went to Vegas," said Eichel with relief in his voice. "They were just all supportive... and it was very refreshing and I'm very fortunate."

Eichel also revealed that prior to being traded by the Sabres, the focus around his medical procedure shifted away from medicine to something he felt was more political in nature. Eichel did not go into detail here, but it was clear he was hinting at more serious accusations against the Buffalo Sabres organization.

"At this point I had went and saw other doctors.... I had talked to probably 5 or 6 different spine or neurosurgeons around the country and the consensus from everyone was to do a disk replacement other than Buffalo," said Eichel. "There were some things going on where it didn't really seem they actually believe what they were saying, they were just saying it to say it. It got very political, the medical side of things kinda went away and it was sort of like 'We're just gonna hold you ransom here.'"

Wideman chimed in at this point and said what Eichel wasn't willing to.

"I know you don't wanna say it but screw them, are you kidding me." said the former UFC Champion.

Eichel didn't disagree with Wideman and merely shrugged his shoulders, obviously not wanting to cross that line on the podcast. Eichel called the whole thing an eye opening experience for him, and unfortunately it appears to have left him fairly jaded about the realities of professional sports.

"At the end of the day you're an entity to them and as soon as you can't perform for them anymore they're not really there for you. That's sort of the feeling that I got and it was an eye opening experience," said Eichel.

If you would like to check out the full conversation, and it was a good one, you can check out the video below.