The Golden Knights may have been thinking $13 million for Jack Eichel, but will he be looking for $14 million?
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Kaprizov Secures the Bag episode, on the Vegas Golden Knights and Jack Eichel, who is extension eligible. Eichel will get more Mitch Marner, but the Golden Knights may have been hoping for just a little bit more. Could Eichel be thinking of Leon Draisaitl?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “Now, (Jack) Eichel.”
Bukauskas: “Speaking of Pat Brisson.”
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Friedman: “I, and he’s back in the cone of silence. But I think they’re trying to, I think there’s a lot of work getting done on this now. I think that the Golden Knights and, and the reps are trying to get this one done.
And I’ll tell you what I heard here, and this is what I heard. I’m not telling you what I know. I’m telling you what I heard. I heard that in the summer, that when they signed Marner, they knew that Eichel was gonna go past him. And I think Vegas was comfortable with that. They recognized Eichel’s center, number one center, Stanley Cup team, hugely valuable player for them. That he was going to surpass (Mitch) Marner. And I think they were comfortable with that. I think they recognized that, and they were comfortable with that.
Now, I’ll tell you that a couple other teams suspected that the Knights wanted Eichel to come in around 13 (million). That they believe the Knights wanted put away, like $25 million for Eichel and Marner. And obviously, they’re not there yet. There’s no deal done there yet.
You know, it’s interesting. I had a, you know, a couple teams talked about the (Kirill) Kaprizov and the effect of his deal could have on this one. You know, I think Eichel knows he’s not going to get to 17 (million). But where’s the sweet spot? You know, one of the things that Vegas is a no-tax state. Minnesota is a high-tax state. I think that also plays in Vegas’s favor. I would suspect that Vegas feels that they’re more of a destination than Minnesota. So they would probably think that would play in their favor.
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But my guess is that Vegas wanted to do this at $25 million, and I just don’t know if that’s going to get it done.”
Bukauskas: “Well, when we were in Vegas just almost a month ago, wasn’t the word around then is that things were very, very far apart. So at least you can say progress has been made between then and now.”
Friedman: “Honestly, I’m not even sure of that. I just think that they’re I think they’re really working at it. I think Vegas would like to get this done, And and you know what I want to stress, I do think at the end of the day that Eichel’s preference is to be a Golden Knight.
You know what? You know, you know what, you know what a player told me another, a guy who’s not on either team.
Bukauskas: “What’s that?”
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Friedman: “He wonders, if like the fierce head-to-head rivalry between Edmonton and Vegas, has Eichel looking at (Leon) Draisaitl’s number ($14 million).”
Bukauskas: “Ah.”
Friedman: “I said, are you reporting that? And he laughed, and he said, ‘No.’ He said, just like, you know, this was a guy who was interested in how we talked about how players think. Like, up and down the roster, guys look at each other and say, I can’t believe that guy’s making more than me, or I’m not the same as that guy.
He said that happens a lot, and he was just kind of joking. Like, he (wondered) about the Oilers rivalry with the Golden Knights, and those two teams legitimately can’t stand each other. And he kind of just wondered if Eichel looks at Draisaitl and says, ‘that’s where I am.’”
Bukauskas: “I thought it was interesting…”
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Friedman: “Please be careful with that aggregators, please. Thank you.”
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