NHL Rumors: Eichel thought he was going to Avalanche; Flames came close; and Korpisalo on the move
Anthony Scultore
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Jack Eichel is now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. Welcome to the after show!
As the 24 year-old center is doing the media rounds, we are learning even more details of the entire process. That includes, some possible other trade destinations.
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NHL Rumors: Eichel thought he was heading to the Avalanche
“The whole process was a pretty long one,” Eichel told Elliotte Friedman. “For awhile I thought maybe I was going to Minnesota and there was a short time where I was like, ‘Wow, I really think it’s a possibility I’m going to go to Colorado’ and that seemed like it could’ve gotten done.”
In the end, many hockey fans became sick of this story. Eichel wanted to make it clear that no one was more tired of it than him.
“A lot of guys in the league are sick of hearing about this story. Listen, nobody is more sick of this story than me,” he said. “There’s nothing I want more for this to just go away and I just can’t wait to be a hockey player again.”
Eichel appeared on another podcast later in the day and would not talk about other teams involved, but there were plenty over the course of this long saga.
Flames were the Eichel runner up
The Calgary Flames were legit contenders. Sabres GM Kevyn Adams refuted a rumor that Matthew Tkachuk was in the deal, but some believe that Sean Monahan may have been in the mix along with Connor Zary.
“That’s not to say that the Calgary Flames did not come close to getting Jack Eichel. In fact, at one point on Wednesday there were some in the Vegas organization that thought Eichel was headed to Calgary,” Pierre LeBrun said on TSN. “Brad Treliving, the general manager of the Flames, has been on this for a long time. He has done his due diligence. They were one of the few teams like Vegas that was comfortable with trading for Eichel pre surgery. The surgery that Darren Dreger just talked about. They didn’t get him but they certainly tried.”
Eichel and McDavid in the Battle of Albert would’ve been something to see.
Trade talks continue around Joonas Korpisalo
Korpisalo, 27, was 9-13-7 last season for Columbus. It really was a struggle for the entire team and he suffered for it posting a 3.30 GAA and .894 SV%. This season he’s 2-2-0 with a 3.43 GAA and a .905 SV%. It has several teams in need of goaltending help calling the Jackets.
Per Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News, he believes the three most likely destinations are the Coyotes, Sabres, and possibly the Canadiens. Montreal would make the least sense, but Price may need some time before getting into game action coming out of the NHL players assistance program.
