The Jack Eichel Surgery Dispute That Cost the Sabres Everything
There are bad decisions in sports, and then there's what the Buffalo Sabres did to Jack Eichel. In a franchise plagued by a decade-plus playoff drought and seemingly endless misery, the decision to block their franchise center from getting the surgery he needed stands as the crowning moment of organizational incompetence.
This wasn't just a mistake. It was franchise malpractice that sent a generational talent straight into the arms of a division rival, where he would go on to win a Stanley Cup while Buffalo continued their historic postseason drought.
The Tank That Almost Worked
Rewind to 2014-15. Buffalo deliberately tanked their season in one of the most transparent efforts in NHL history. The goal? Connor McDavid, the once-in-a-generation talent everyone knew was coming. General manager Tim Murray gutted the roster, trading away anything resembling NHL talent to ensure the Sabres would finish dead last.
The local media embraced it. Fans accepted it. The team lost, and lost, and lost some more. They finished with the NHL's worst record and the best odds at the first overall pick.
Then the draft lottery happened. Edmonton won. McDavid was gone.
Buffalo "settled" for Jack Eichel at second overall, a player many scouts believed was also a generational talent. The Hobey Baker Award winner out of Boston University, Eichel had led the nation in scoring and was considered the centerpiece to build around for the next 15 years.
The Buffalo Years: Wasted Potential
Eichel arrived in Buffalo and immediately showed why he was worth the tank. He scored 56 points as a rookie, including a team-high 24 goals. Over the next few seasons, he continued to develop into one of the league's premier centers.
By 2018, Buffalo named him captain at just 21 years old, signing him to an eight-year, $80 million extension. That same season, he posted 82 points in 77 games. The following year, he was even better with 78 points in 68 games before the pandemic pause.
But the team around him was a disaster. Despite having a legitimate superstar in his prime, the Sabres couldn't break their playoff drought. Poor coaching hires, questionable roster moves, and organizational dysfunction plagued the franchise. Tim Murray was fired. Jason Botterill replaced him and also failed. Phil Housley came and went. Ralph Krueger, a soccer executive with minimal NHL coaching experience, somehow got the job.
Through it all, Eichel was the lone bright spot, putting up points while the team collapsed around him. The Sabres lost 18 straight games during the 2020-21 season. It was brutal to watch.
The Injury and the Impasse
On March 7, 2021, during a game against the New York Islanders, Eichel herniated a disk in his neck. Initially expected to miss just 7-10 days, the injury proved far more serious. Buffalo's medical staff recommended a conservative approach with rehabilitation and no surgery.
Eichel sought second opinions. Multiple independent specialists told him he needed surgery, specifically an artificial disk replacement procedure. It was a newer surgery that hadn't been performed on an NHL player before, but it had been successfully done on athletes in other sports and offered a potentially better long-term outcome than the alternative.
The Sabres refused. Their medical staff wanted him to undergo fusion surgery, a more traditional procedure that would fuse vertebrae together. Under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, teams have final say over injury treatments.
Here's where things got ugly.
Eichel's lawyers released a public statement in July 2021, saying the "process is not working" and that Buffalo was "stopping Jack from playing in the NHL." The relationship deteriorated rapidly. Eichel publicly stated there was "a disconnect" between him and the organization.
In September 2021, Eichel failed his physical at training camp. The Sabres stripped him of the captaincy. GM Kevyn Adams announced Eichel would not be cleared to play until he agreed to the fusion surgery. Eichel refused.
The standoff continued for months. Trade talks began, but Buffalo's asking price remained sky-high, and the medical uncertainty scared off potential suitors. Eichel sat on injured reserve, watching his prime years tick away while the Sabres dug in their heels.
The Trade That Changed Everything
Jack Eichel has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, multiple sources confirm. (TSN + Sportsnet were on it first)
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) November 4, 2021
The deal was in fact on the one yard line this week.
The return for Buffalo is Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, 2022 1st rounder, 2023 3rd rounder, per sources.
On November 4, 2021, Buffalo finally blinked. The Sabres traded Eichel and a third-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, and two draft picks.
Vegas immediately allowed Eichel to get the artificial disk replacement surgery he wanted. The procedure was performed on November 12, 2021. Three months later, Eichel made his Golden Knights debut on February 16, 2022.
The surgery was a complete success. Not only did Eichel return to play, he returned better than ever.
Vegas: Where Dreams Come True
In his first partial season with Vegas (33 games in 2021-22), Eichel posted 22 points while shaking off the rust. The Golden Knights missed the playoffs that year, but it was clear Eichel was regaining form.
The 2022-23 season was a revelation. Under new coach Bruce Cassidy, Eichel flourished in an expanded role, finishing with 27 goals and 66 points in 67 regular season games. More importantly, he became a complete two-way center, logging heavy penalty kill minutes and defensive zone responsibilities.
Then came the playoffs. Eichel's first taste of postseason hockey in his career. He absolutely dominated.
Over 22 playoff games, Eichel registered 26 points (six goals, 20 assists), leading the entire NHL in postseason scoring. He was instrumental in every series as the Golden Knights steamrolled through the Western Conference and defeated the Florida Panthers in five games to win the Stanley Cup.
Those 26 points were the third-most ever by a player in their first playoff appearance, trailing only Mark Recchi (34 in 1991) and Eric Staal (28 in 2006). Eichel finished second in Conn Smythe Trophy voting behind linemate Jonathan Marchessault.
When he returned to Buffalo during that playoff run, he scored a hat trick in a 7-4 victory. The moment was symbolic. The franchise had let him go, and he was thriving without them.
The Career That Could Have Been Buffalo's
Eichel's evolution in Vegas has been remarkable. In 2023-24, he posted a career-high 94 points (28 goals, 66 assists) in 77 games, leading the Golden Knights in scoring. He averaged over 20 minutes per game, handled all situations, and established himself as one of the league's elite centers.
In October 2025, Vegas signed him to an eight-year, $108 million extension with a $13.5 million annual cap hit. Eichel made clear he wanted to spend the rest of his career in Vegas, praising the organization and the city.
Compare that to his Buffalo tenure: 375 games, 139 goals, 216 assists, 355 points, and zero playoff appearances. The numbers were solid, but they tell only part of the story. Eichel spent six seasons carrying a dysfunctional franchise on his back, watching his prime years disappear while the organization failed him at every turn.
The Sabres received solid returns in the trade. Alex Tuch has been excellent, posting strong numbers and becoming a fan favorite. Peyton Krebs has shown flashes. The draft picks helped restock the prospect pipeline.
But here's the thing: Buffalo has now missed the playoffs for 14 consecutive seasons, tied for the longest active drought in professional sports. They've appeared in the Stanley Cup Final twice in 53 years of existence, losing both times.
The pieces they got for Eichel have helped build a promising young core. The team barely missed the playoffs recently and looks competitive. But they still haven't broken through, and the shadow of what happened looms large.
The Surgery That Proved Buffalo Wrong
The most damning part of this entire saga? The artificial disk replacement surgery worked exactly as Eichel and his doctors said it would. Not only did it work, it allowed him to become a better, more complete player than he was before the injury.
Since then, other NHL players have undergone the same procedure, using Eichel's success as precedent. The surgery Buffalo deemed too risky, too experimental, too dangerous, is now an accepted treatment option.
Buffalo had the medical information. They had independent specialists telling them the surgery was viable. They had their franchise player begging them to let him get the procedure that gave him the best chance at a full recovery. And they said no.
That decision cost them a Stanley Cup-caliber center in his prime, damaged their reputation around the league, and set the franchise back years. For what? Organizational pride? Fear of the unknown? A power play over who controls medical decisions?
The Lesson Nobody in Buffalo Learned
The Eichel situation should have been a wake-up call for the Sabres organization. Instead, it became another chapter in a book filled with organizational failures.
You can't tank properly. You can't develop talent. You can't hire the right coaches. You can't build a winning culture. And when you finally get a generational talent who wants to stay and compete for you, you can't even let him get the surgery that will allow him to play at his best.
Jack Eichel is now a Stanley Cup champion, a legitimate superstar, and one of the most complete centers in the NHL. He's achieved everything he wanted in hockey, just not in the blue and gold he was supposed to wear for his entire career.
Buffalo had six years with Eichel. Six years to surround him with talent. Six years to build something special. Six years to give him a reason to want to stay even after the neck injury dispute.
They failed at every turn. And when push came to shove, they made one catastrophically bad decision that sent him packing.
That's how you ruin a franchise with one bad decision. Ask Buffalo. They're the experts.
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