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Jack Eichel: All In — Thoughts on Peyton Krebs |
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General Manager Kelly McCrimmon once again found a way to gamble on his team’s success with easily the biggest trade in the young franchise’s four and a half year history.
Here are the details on this morning’s trade:
Alex Tuch
Peyton Krebs
2022 1st round pick (top ten protected)
2022 2nd round pick
For
Jack Eichel
If you thought Brannstrom, Lindberg, and a 2nd round pick followed by a 9.5x8 contract for Mark Stone was a gamble — and if you thought that Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar and another 2nd round pick for Pacioretty followed by a 7x4 contract was a gamble — this morning’s trade is McCrimmon’s way of saying:
“All in.”
Was there any doubt that Vegas was getting this player? He epitomizes the Golden Knights identity. Over four seasons and nine games this team has established its self as the landing place for struggling careers.
Even this summer. Nolan Patrick, Evgenii Dadonov, Brett Howden. The entire second line is a success story of cast away players that now give nightmares to opposing goalies on a nightly basis.
Now Eichel has a successful team to join and a line of, hopefully, healthy stars to play on by the time he’s off LTIR. Vegas has a, hopefully, healthy franchise center to build around. It seems like it was meant to be.
Hell. He’s joining the team and needs a few months on LTIR. He’s already fitting in with this year’s theme of everyone being injured.
Welcome to the Golden Knights, Jack.
A few thoughts on the return:
Peyton Krebs
He has zero points in nine games this season. Is there a reason for that? Here’s what I saw if this player:
He needs to get stronger and faster. The kid is 20 and clearly knows how he wants to play in the NHL. What he needs is to get quicker to the puck. He needs to get stronger in board battles as well.
He is on the cusp of breaking out. The talent is there. Amidst a quiet preseason, he exploded one game for four points. He shows glimpses of how intense of a hockey player he can be — then the next shift he’s losing puck races again.
He’s too good for the AHL already. He has five points in two games in Henderson this year. Personally, I’d have him play a year in the AHL anyway so he can build confidence while he works on strength and speed, but that’s just my opinion.
He plays center or wing. His versatility is a nice thing to have.
Time will tell whether this move works out. It’s the greatest gamble in franchise history. On the human side of things, I think we’re all happy to see Jack get his surgery.
The Golden Knights play the Ottawa Senators later today at 5pm Vegas time.
Trevor Neufeld
Vegas Golden Knights Blogger • 
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