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When Jack Eichel was traded to the Golden Knights from the Sabres, he came with five years left on his eight-year, $80 million contract signed in Buffalo. This upcoming season is the final year left on that deal, which means Eichel was eligible to re-sign a new contract starting on July 1st, 2025.

Many, including myself, expected the deal to be done fairly quickly after the opening of free agency. Once the dust settled, and with Mitch Marner in gold, it seemed likely Eichel and the Golden Knights would come to an agreement to keep the team’s leading scorer in Vegas for many years to come.

It didn’t happen, and now every day that ticks off the calendar is one day closer to Eichel reaching unrestricted free agency.

It’s certainly not unreasonable that the Golden Knights and Eichel haven’t put pen to paper to this point, and the ensuing discourse is probably unfair, but when superstars in the NHL have contracts hanging in the balance, speculation can’t help but run rampant.

Here’s the most recent, from the Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli during their weekly live stream.

We’re talking mega primo money for Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights. I think what you’re talking about with Jack Eichel is a $15+ million AAV deal. He’s been that good. –Frank Seravalli on Bleacher Report 

Currently, the highest-paid player in the NHL is Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year deal with an AAV of $14 million. Seravalli is suggesting VGK could have to shell out even more for their own stud center.

That would make the salary cap situation a lot trickier than if Eichel landed in the neighborhood of $12-13 million as has been previously expected. He’d majorly outpace Marner’s $12 million AAV and would force Vegas to have to make some difficult decisions on Mark Stone, William Karlsson, and Pavel Dorofeyev in the coming seasons.

No matter what the number eventually lands on, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman still firmly believes Eichel will play in Vegas for he foreseeable future.

I would be shocked if he went anywhere else. To me, a guy like Eichel, he’s probably waiting to see how the market is set and then he locks himself in. –Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts Podcast 

Unlike many free-agents-to-be in the past, Eichel’s situation is going to be front and center every day until the deal is signed, and the noise surrounding it will only grow louder and louder the longer it goes.

In the end, everyone, including us here at SinBin.vegas, believe the deal will get done well before the July 1st, 2026 deadline. The length and number, though, are really anyone’s guess at this point, and believe you me, there will be a lot of guessing going on until it’s official.