“I can’t wait to be a hockey player again” I think this sums it all up

Kudos for Friedman for getting this interview so quickly.

A little known fact is that Jack Eichel actually played one of the robbers in the legendary ’90s holiday movie Home Alone ☝🏻

This dude always has a look on his face like he's the bad guy in a law and order episode

Thank u Jack for the time u spent in Buffalo. As a person who is dealing with neck issues (discs herniated, bulging, spinal stenosis, & arthritis) I'm glad u can get the surgery u prefer!! Best of luck in Vegas!!

Full credit to Jack for standing up against a team whose future direction did not align with his own. Can't imagine that this has been easy for him considering his injury status and the uncertainty that accompanies it. Hope he propels Vegas to a cup.

You should definitely have a right to your own body. It’s really that simple.

Can't wait to watch Eichel play when he's fully recovered from surgery, even though he won't be playing for my team. He's incredibly talented and has been held back for so long. He's going to light it up in Vegas.

Vegas has fallen in love with this guy, great teammate, great with the media and fans. He has showed he’s not a locker room pest, great teammate, hope he gets a cup.

As a Sabres fan for my whole life, I'm glad to see Eichel move to Vegas. I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers back to his full potential

You can actually see right at exact moment his attitude changed with glimmer once Friedman asked him about Wednesdays..

Thanks for all the memories Jack, Best of luck in Vegas!

amazing hair in this interview, marv from home alone and some guy who looks like a sales dude from circut city

Eichel is a superstar, in my book one of the 10 best forward in the league when he's healthy. As a leafs fan , i love Watching games from others teams and enjoy pure talent like Jack. Best of luck in Vegas!

Nothing but respect for Jack as a player and a person, placing a priority on his health over the game. Vegas has a gem.

"My hair, my choice" - Elliotte, probably

I love his honesty and honesty

Jesus I just feel bad he’s wasted this much of his career with a team he clearly didn’t enjoy playing for. Hope he does well in Vegas.

How can u fail build a team around this amazing player... was blessed to watch him live in global series in sweden. He was the ez best player on ice. Even better than all tampa bay players. Buffalo screw this up bad

I can imagine this interview was booked in June and every few days there is a email going out saying "Lets postpone"

Thank YOU Jack, thanks for your services and tirelessly working your ass off for 6 long years for us here in Buffalo-IF VGK gets in I promise to watch every single playoff game and root for you! 👍🏻😉

Respect to Friedman for this interview

Wishing you all the best on your road to recovery, Jack! Looking forward to when you step back on the ice!

As a Sabres fan, I’m happy for Jack. He deserves the cup.

Great interview. We all needed to hear Eichel. Wishing him great success!

I've been a die hard Sabres fans from the 1st game I went and watched Hasek play his last shutout in Buffalo 6yr old and I've never been so bummed out to lose a player... Last yr we started with all the hope we got Hall, Olofsson, Skinner, Risto, Dahlin + many more guys I genuinely liked watching to now being told the past 10yrs of losing was for nothing & now have to restart

You dont have to imagine anymore! Gratz Jack! Champion!

Sabres fan here. Wishing nothing but the best for Jack. Glad he’s in a place that allowed him the surgery he wanted. Excited for Alex Tuch’s childhood dreams to come true with us. Seems like both teams and all the players involved in the trade are going to be better for all of this. Go win a cup, Jack. I’ll root for VGK to win the cup unless the Sabres go to the final.

As a Sabres fan this hurts a lot but when he said its my body about the surgery i completely agree and hope he does well in Vegas and hope the pieces we got from the trade help us build to the future and hope the CBA puts something in there for this exact reason.

Roam Hockey did a analysis on stats & winning % the 6 previous seasons without Eichel & with Eichel. The Sabres did score more goals with Eichel but they also allowed more goals with Eichel (& Rhino & Risto) but the winning %? It was basically the same so Eichel did not matter at all to the bottom line of winning & in the end the Sabres will become a deeper team going forward. Also because of the lack of success of the big 3 the Sabres were able to draft Dahlin, Mitts, Cozens, JJ, Quinn, Rosen & Power (along with other younger players). They also have 2 more extra 1sts & 2nds along with their own 1sts & 2nds over the next 2 drafts. I am happy Eichel is now traded (along with the other 2) & the Sabres now will have a better team over the long haul because of it.

Good luck Jack! May you get what you need and entertain all hockey fans soon.

wow. Very candid. Kudos to Friedman for getting this out asap.

His body, his choice 💅🏻

I was waiting for him to take off at any second with those things.

Thanks Jack. Loving the Tuch Krebs 1st and 2nd return. Enjoy the playoffs this spring!!!!!!!!

I know I'm 5 months late to this, but I have been a Buffalo fan my whole life, and I've always loved Jack and always will say how good of a person he is. I understand why so many other sabres fans are pissed at him right now, but we have to remember how terribly he and the rest of the team were treated for years in Buffalo. We also have to remember that this guy carried our team at many points throughout his career here, and how good he could have been if he was on so many other teams in the league. I do not blame him at all for the way he reacted.

My first Golden Knight jersey will say Eichel

buffalo is filled with young stars they will be a great team soon !!!

The best decision you ever made, Jack! Vegas is so happy to have you in the team and hoping to win the Stanley Cup again.

Hope all works out for both teams. Don’t know much about Eichel other than when he is on his game he is a special talent that is very entertaining!

Even as a Buffalonian, I’m happy to see Eic happy with his choice, and we’ll miss him definitely

You’re a local boy Jackie, we always love you ❤️ From the 603 & the 617

I understand where eichel is coming from, he didn’t want to go to Buffalo just to constantly rebuild. He said it perfectly “if you want to rebuild, use me to get players to start the process of getting a team “. I love eichel and I always will and hope for the best for him moving forward.

Glad he’s standing up! Need more people like him

I'm glad this got sorted out, especially that Jack got to make decisions for his own body.

My question, the one that everyone is wondering about, is, does Elliotte own a hair brush!! LOL!!

Is there a full version of this interview available somewhere? The video was clearly cut, edited, shortened in certain spots.

even tho ima die hard knights fan since the beginning im mostly just happy for him, and sad for buffalo fans they both dont deserve all this drama

Jack looks exhausted and I don’t blame him. Enjoy being free from Buffalo! And enjoy playing relevant hockey for the first time since 2015 at Boston University.

Eichel proving he was not the problem

Good for you Jack!, and good luck in Vegas!

Great interview

4:03 says everything I need to know about Buffalo's management and how they made him feel. Shame on you Buffalo

This interview is actually a "Who has the worst haircut" competition.

As a Sabres fan, I wish you the best of luck. With the surgery and going to play for a fantastic organization like Vegas. I can't wait to see him back on the ice!

This guy is scary good! Hope things work out for him in Vegas.

I agree with Eichel, u should have the right over ur own body, u cant let other people do what they want to ur body, good for eichel, and now hes going to a stanley cup conteding team now, good for him, would've really liked him in Montreal tho no cap

After the 2005-2006 campaign, when Mike Grier was not resigned, his comments were profound: “The Buffalo Sabres are not committed to winning.” It’s been primarily PR marketing and advertising since. Hopefully Kevyn Adams won’t be duped by his bosses, so far he’s managing the franchise well - thankfully Power chose to return to Michigan - but, if the jerseys change yet again, and young talent is forced into non-hockey business, then I’ll know it’s business as usual in Buffalo. Crosby was mentored and lived with Lemieux as a teenager. Eichel was… even Pat Lafontaine quit as president after a month or so. Something stinks inside the Sabres’ front offices, maybe it’s from Pegula’s gas and oil wells?

one of the best interviews

Is this the full interview?

6:46 sure seems like you are Jack

Can't wait to see Eichel/Pacioretty/Stone get blanked in the playoffs.

and he had no idea in this moment that he'd be (as of the time of me writing this comment) up 2-0 in the stanley cup finals a year and a half later. Hope he's able to get it done!

hes gonna be something special in Vegas, good luck Jack!

I don't blame Eichel at all, Sabres have done nothing to help him pursue the goal of every hockey player, to compete for the cup

And now we have the Top 2 draftees from 2017 in the same division. Eichel fills in the void left by Stone & Pacioretty, and Buffalo gets to do some rebuilding. Now if both McDavid & Eichel can stay healthy for an upcoming Vegas/Edmonton game. That would be great.

I agree. Jack saw the writing that the Sabres weren't on a path to win. He is. I wish him well. Loved watching him. Sad day really.

What a difference between this, and a few months after. We’ll just enjoy these guys who want to play here and can perform like a team. Thanks, pal!

Why sign a 80 million contract if you don't want to play there?

Congrats Jack good luck in Vegas! and probs for Friedmann for being so early with that 💪💪

The most underrated player in the nhl. He has not played healthy in over a year, everyone forgot how good he is. Vegas is the favorites for the cup now and have the best line in hockey of stone-eichel-pacioretty

Damn it wild!!!! Dropped the ball!

its his constitutional right? Bro it wasn't the government preventing you from getting the surgery LOL

As someone who lives every day with the pain of neck injury/surgery, I fully support Jack. Forget hockey this is what he has to live with the rest of his life.

Gotta love jack

Good interview Elliot....

Buffalo is better without Eichel so sounds like Buffalo fans are happy about it :)

I wish him all the best!

ummmmmmmmm and uh ummmmmmmmm but ah ummmmmmmmmmm I uhhhhhhhhhh....gotta love hockey player interviews.

Thanks for dressing up for the interview! Did they tell him this was radio?

You can't expect guys like Eichel to stick around for all the rebuilds. You get a guy like this and you build around him. Period. Just like Crosby in Pitt. They never stopped trying to build around him. Terrible management in Buffalo.

Might be projecting, but I feel like you can see how uncomfortable his neck is in this.

I'm happy Eichel gets to not only get a chance to complete and play meaningful hockey, but also make the choice for his long term health. Just a little salty Vegas got it done when Anaheim was in the mix for so long and GMBM whiffed.

A great player wish him the best.

Huge props for Jack to sticking by what he believes in for him and his career

Eichel: I want this whole conversation to end. Also Eichel: Here’s a list of the teams that I was really close to getting traded to so everyone can discuss more rumours about me and what could have been.

Cant wait to see this hockey player return.The game is better with him in it.

About time it happened

He used the neck issue as leverage to get out. Honestly can’t blame the guy even though I own his Jersey

I will admit that I never knew that a team had final call on the surgery that would be performed on a player, and that is pretty out there. I can see a team having a divergent view from what the player has, and maybe even a highly spirited debate over it. The team certainly has an interest, they're paying one heck of a lot of money to a player, and I can see them having a voice in the process. But the only one who has to live through the consequences, whether it means all is well or enduring a hardship, is the player. The final call HAS to be with the player. Not surprising that Buffalo wanted the fusion surgery. Pretty safe, time-tested, works, whereas replacement has never been done for an NHL player. I can see Jack's position as well. Don't turn me into an old man who can't turn his neck properly because flexibility is super-important in this sport. That injury was the final straw, however. It wasn't the only straw. Buffalo could not get its footing to put a serious team together, or rather (my opinion anyway) a coaching staff capable of righting the ship, and after a period of time, Eichel is watching his prime years go by and playing on a team that can't even sniff the playoffs. Reminiscent of how the Oilers squandered first pick overall talent. So, Jack soured on the team, it showed, then the injury. Definitely time to part ways. Everybody needs a greener pasture.

And now hes a stanley cup champion!🎉

Let’s gooooo welcome to Vegas baby!!!

I like the question at the end as if Jack cares about a light show…what is he 6 years old? “I just can’t wait to be a hockey player again.”

Tim Murray gutted the team too much. He was like a poor mans Sam Hinkie. He put too much value in so few players, that he forgot that you need more than 3-4 players to win hockey games. If the Sabres had better management I can almost bet that Eichel would still be a Sabre, and most importantly, they would be a playoff team by now.

I'm a buffalo fan and as much as I do believe jack babied this a little bc he did not wanna play for buffalo, for 1 I dont blame him and 2 I have the upmost respect for his professionalism in this interview bc he is a fantastic player and I know he will do amazing things in Vegas. The people in buffalo put wayy too much weight on his shoulders when we didnt have a team to support him. I do believe he gave up. But I'm a competitor and hockey player who loves to win I can relate to how he probably felt. Goof for you jack much love from buffalo kick ass in vegas!

Yeah you know ive always wanted to move to vegas you know its a dream move you know because you know my injury is bad you know i needed a change of scenery you know

Damaged goods. Drama queen. Have fun Vegas

We know he's popping bottles on his way to Vegas.

720p?

I really do love jack , buy the only things that worries me is that it's not much of a team player he good. But sometimes he forget that he can make someone better