LAS VEGAS -- The Golden Knights [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights] and Jack Eichel are locked in for eight years. Just hours before the team began its ninth season in the NHL [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/latest-news/3-things-to-watch-history-on-golden-knights-side-in-season-openers-as-they-prepare-to-host-kings], the organization announced it has signed its prized forward to an eight-year contract extension through the 2033-34 season worth an average annual value of $13,500,000. Eichel's tab will count $13.5 million against the salary cap when the new contract kicks in for the 2026-27 season, through 2034. "Obviously, happy in Vegas, the organization has been great to me," Eichel told The Hockey News in July. "I think that that stuff kind of takes care of itself, and I kind of worry more so about the things I can control and try to prepare for next season." It more than took care of itself, as Eichel can focus on a campaign with plenty of expectations now that another prized forward is with the team, Mitch Marner, who signed with the Golden Knights just before free agency this summer. Eichel, Marner and Ivan Barbashev are poised to form one of the most potent offensive lines in the league. Eichel, 28, is in his fifth season with the Golden Knights and leads the team in scoring with 253 points (100 goals, 153 assists) since making his debut with Vegas during the 2021-22 season. Last season, the forward posted a career-high 94 points (28 goals, 66 assists), a franchise record for the Golden Knights in a single season, which landed him in fifth place on voting for the Hart Trophy. REKINDLED PASSION Eichel said his passion was dwindling before he arrived in Vegas, partly because of the neck injury that required a never-before-done surgery, but also because he felt it was time for fresh scenery after spending his first six seasons in Buffalo. The relationship between Eichel and the Sabres became irreparable after an ugly dispute over whether or not the forward was permitted to undergo the surgery he wanted to repair a severe neck injury. The Sabres had no choice but to move him, and Eichel underwent artificial disk replacement after becoming a member of the Knights. Since then, Eichel has produced above a point-a-game level for Vegas, and also helped lead the Knights to the 2023 Stanley Cup. During Vegas' historic run to the Cup, Eichel led all playoff skaters with 26 points (6 goals, 20 assists), playing in each of the team’s 22 contests. He also finished first on the Golden Knights during each of their last two trips to the postseason, with seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 2024 and 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 2025. "I felt a lot of pressure in Buffalo to succeed and bring wins and success to the organization and the city," Eichel said after morning skate on Wednesday. "And when that doesn't happen, you take a lot of onus on yourself, and it can eat away at you a lot. At times, you start to lose your passion and love for what you're doing. "I think you come to a place like this, where there are so many established players in the room, and you don't feel like it's necessarily going to fall on you. And I feel like the group and the organization culture have built something special. And you just try and find a way to fit into the puzzle, and I feel like I did that." DYNAMIC DUO Though Marner and Eichel's situations were entirely different, a fresh start is something the two have in common. "You want to be in a place where you want to win," Marner said when he was introduced on July 1. "That’s the whole goal of why we do this, you want to hoist that Stanley Cup. This team has shown that they can do it. I’m lucky enough now to hopefully bring another piece in to help bring it back here." But it was also the need for starting over in a new environment with a locker-room culture that would benefit his mental health and love for the game, even if that meant leaving an organization that drafted him fourth overall in 2015, two years before the Knights entered the league. "It’s where we wanted to be," Marner added, speaking for he and his wife. Marner inked a $96 million contract for a maximum of eight years. Eichel said he's excited for his new teammate, knowing the type of pressure that comes with being a face of a franchise. Considering Marner hailed from the area, the expectations were high for him while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. "It feels like what is a fresh start for him here in Vegas, and I just know what that did for me and my career," Eichel also said Wednesday. "Not that he was at all in that situation. I mean, he had 102 points last year, so he doesn't need a fresh start, but, maybe mentally and emotionally, he did, and I feel like this is a great place for him to be, and we're super excited to have him." Eichel said it wouldn't be fair to compare their paths, considering he was dealing with an injury - "the kicker in my situation" - but did feel Marner has been able to come to Vegas without a lot of pressure. "And relax a little bit, get back to enjoying it, and not have to feel all the pressure and what comes with that," Eichel said. "And I think that that's a little bit of what I felt. Not saying I can put myself in his shoes and what he went through in Toronto, being in Toronto, and from there, and what hockey means to that city and area of the world. I'm not speaking for him, it's more so my own experience." Nevertheless, with no distractions and Eichel and Marner both signed for eight years in a place they feel fits their needs, they can embark on the ultimate goal, delivering a second Stanley Cup to Vegas.
