When the Buffalo Sabres selected Jack Eichel second overall in the 2015 draft, failing to finish outside of the bottom 10 in the league and missing the playoffs for six straight seasons couldn't have been what the team had in mind for the superstar's tenure.
It certainly isn't what the 25-year-old envisioned for himself or the fanbase.
"I can't say enough good things about the fans here. They love hockey, they deserve a winner. I feel bad that I wasn't able to contribute more to winning here, but they deserve it all," the former Sabres captain said in an interview with ESPN's John Buccigross. "I really, truly care a lot about the fans here in Buffalo."
Eichel's frustrating stint as the face of the Sabres came to a close on Thursday. He's headed to Sin City following a blockbuster trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The past couple months in Buffalo were especially contentious. Both sides were unable to agree on a type of surgery to repair the herniated disc in Eichel's neck, which has kept him sidelined since March, and rumors about the center's future began to swirl.
"It's been tough since I got hurt. It just seems like things haven't really went my way, and that's fine, people deal with adversity, and this is no different," he said. "It's definitely been a long process. ... Just a lot of drama that you don’t really want to deal with. I guess you just learn to.
"I'm just happy to be on the other side of it. I'm happy to be moving on."
The Golden Knights have announced Eichel will undergo artificial disc replacement surgery, which is his preferred procedure. The club estimates he will miss about three to five months.
"I really appreciate the Vegas Golden Knights organization for giving me the opportunity to move forward with what I want to do and just get back to playing hockey and doing what I love," Eichel said.
Eichel added that he's "not sure" if he would've stayed with the Sabres even if they did let him get his desired surgery.
"We obviously changed management in 2020. It just seemed like we were heading towards another, I don't want to say 'rebuild,' we weren't really in a position that we were going to try and go win," he said in an interview with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
"I went to the team and said I wasn't really happy with the idea of that, and if that's the route they wanted to take, that maybe it would be better to move me.
"Obviously, that didn't go over well. I'm a competitor, I want to win, we obviously hadn't won."
Eichel pointed to Taylor Hall's offseason addition in 2020 as a move that got him "excited" about the team again. However, Buffalo ultimately fell short once more during the 2020-21 campaign, which the star forward said was a "disaster" for him personally.
Vegas has struggled with injuries to start the year and currently holds a 4-5-0 record. The Golden Knights have made the playoffs in each of their first four seasons so far.
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