It comes as no surprise that Jack Eichel is hoping that players can have more input on how to handle their injuries in the future. Eichel was a member of the Buffalo Sabres when he got hurt early in 2021, and fought to get artificial disk replacement surgery rather than a fusion surgery that Buffalo preferred.
It all led to a long fight between the two parties that eventually resulted in Eichel being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights will allow Eichel to have the surgery he wants. He is expected to undergo the procedure this week and the recovery time is about three months.
Before it happens, Eichel spoke about his situation with the Sabres and Golden Knights and why he hopes no other player will have to go through what he had to.
Here’s what Eichel said, via ESPN:
“I think there are things that can be changed in our CBA, and I hope that they are in the future. I don’t necessarily agree with the team having the full say in medical treatment. I think it should be a collaboration. I don’t know when the changes will be — we obviously just renegotiated our CBA a year ago — but I wanted to stand up for what I believed in.”
The 25-year-old had his captains status taken away after a failed physical with the Sabres, but Eichel said that if they let him get the surgery he wanted, he would’ve stayed in Buffalo.
Ultimately, EIchel believes that everything that went down with the Sabres has only given him more motivation to succeed this season — in Las Vegas.
“I would say this is the most motivated I have ever been. Just with the way things ended in Buffalo. You try not to look at what people say about you, but there have been a lot of things that have been said that I don’t necessarily agree with or like,” Eichel said. “It’s not like you’re a forgotten memory, but I think a lot of people have written me off a little bit. And I don’t like that. I’m a competitor.”
