George McPhee Reveals Jack Eichel Played Last Six Weeks of Season Hurt

President of Hockey Operations for The Vegas Golden Knights, George McPhee spoke on The Bob McCown Podcast on Tuesday. He revealed that Jack Eichel played the last six weeks of the regular season with a broken finger.

McPhee stated that Eichel suffered an injury just a few weeks into his debut with the Golden Knights after he came back from his neck injury. The injury was likely inflicted on March 17th against the Florida Panthers as Eichel blocked a shot from Mackenzie Weegar at T-Mobile Arena.

“He broke his thumb in a bad way about three or four weeks into his return. It was non-displaced so he didn’t have to have surgery. But it was a bad fracture. The guy didn’t miss a game,” said McPhee.

“We had to numb him up, and it wasn’t easy because when that wore off, he was in a lot of pain. But he toughed it out for six weeks with that, McPhee added.”

In 34 games with the Golden Knights, Eichel put up 14 goals, 11 assists, and 25 points. He was acquired by the VGK on November 4th in a blockbuster deal with the Buffalo Sabres that involved Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, and a first-round pick.

Eichel will not play in the 2022 IIHF World Championships with Team USA.

Eichel joins a long list of banged-up Golden Knights heading into the offseason. Mark Stone (back), Max Pacioretty (unknown), Robin Lehner (shoulder), Reilly Smith (knee), Laurent Brossoit (unknown), Nicolas Hague (lower-body), Brett Howden (head), Nolan Patrick (undisclosed), and Keegan Kolesar (lower-body) make up the long list of shaken-up Golden Knights. All of which, will look to use the extended offseason to rest and recover in preparation for next season.