Breaking: Golden Knights’ Eichel Out for “Little Bit of Time”

Jack Eichel left during the second period of Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins after his skate blade became detached from his left skate.

Here's where Jack Eichel initially lost his skate blade and labored off the ice a little bit#VegasBorn https://t.co/QQK0a2SqPf pic.twitter.com/okPv3zg1z9

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 12, 2024

Matt Grzelcyk attempted to check Eichel into the boards and ended up pushing Eichel’s left leg into the boards. The concerning moment came when Eichel attempted to push off with his left leg. Eichel’s left leg buckled and he fell to the ice. The skate blade was connected to Eichel’s skate when he fell to the ice, but it could have been loose and the reason Eichel fell.

As Eichel tried to stand back up, his left leg bent back awkwardly.

Eichel had to be helped to the locker room after the hit and returned the game before the end of the second period.

After Thursday’s game Eichel was asked how his left felt and he said it felt ,”fine.”

🎥 Eichel: The penalty kill was huge tonight. pic.twitter.com/m2uugmFHYy

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 12, 2024

Eichel was not present for Saturday’s skate ahead of the game against the Calgary Flames.

The latest update I got today is he will miss a little bit of time, I don’t know how much time.

Coach Bruce Cassidy on Eichel’s status

What changed from Thursday night to Saturday morning? Eichel had soreness Friday morning and got further evaluation from the medical team.

Replacing Jack Eichel

No one is replacing Eichel in the dollar-for-dollar sense. Nic Roy will get the first chance on the top line with Ivan Barbashev and Jonathan Marchessault. Roy has played an important role centering the fourth line for the Golden Knights for the last five seasons. The Golden Knights have a big advantage having Roy as the team’s fourth line center. Roy has scored 36 goals in the last 176 regular season games, many of those goals came as a fourth line center.

It is safe to assume Roy could score between 20 and 25 goals per season if he played center for the top two forward lines.

This is a big moment for Chandler Stephenson to step up. Stephenson is the team’s top healthy center and needs to do better than eight points in his last 23 games.

Defense and Goaltending Can Carry the Golden Knights

The Golden Knights have five of their six regular defensemen healthy. Shea Theodore remains on LTIR without a potential return date. Adin Hill has been medically cleared and hopefully returns soon. Logan Thompson has strung together a pair of quality starts.

If the defense and goaltending can keep the opposition to two or three goals per game, the Golden Knights can get through a couple weeks with key players missing. If the Golden Knights need to score four goals or more on a nightly basis to win, troubled times could be ahead.

Long List of Players on IR or LTIR

William Karlsson, Adin Hill, William Carrier, and Ben Hutton are currently on injured reserve. Shea Theodore is currently on injured reserve.