Eichel trade paying off for both Golden Knights, Sabres so far

The big game of the night on Thursday will be in Buffalo where the Sabres will be hosting Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights. It will be Eichel’s first visit back to Buffalo as a visiting player, and it is sure to be some sort of a circus.

Eichel was finally traded to Vegas earlier this season in a deal that included forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, as well as two draft picks, going back to Buffalo. It ended a year long saga that featured a trade request, trade rumors, and a pretty significant disagreement between team and player on how to handle the surgery that Eichel needed before he could return to the ice.

Following the trade to Vegas, Eichel went through the procedure he wanted all along and is now back on the ice hoping to be the missing piece the Golden Knights need to break through and win the Stanley Cup.

The early returns are — so far — looking very promising for both teams.

From the moment they arrived in the NHL the Golden Knights have been one of the league’s best teams in both the regular season and playoffs. Since their debut season their 205 regular season wins are tied for the third most in the NHL (tied with Washington; trailing only Tampa Bay and Boston) while their 38 playoff wins are the second most (trailing only Tampa Bay). They have played in the Western Conference Final three times in four years and reached a Stanley Cup Final. They have been one of the most aggressive franchises in the league in terms of roster building, always being in the market for (and often times acquiring) star players that become available.

Alex Pietrangelo. Max Pacioretty. Mark Stone. Robin Lehner.

The one thing they had been missing was a true game-breaker in the middle of their lineup. An elite top-line