A Big NHL Trade Has Unusual Wrinkle

It's a big deal as far as NHL trades go, even in the usual sense. This week, the Buffalo Sabres sent 25-year-old phenom Jack Eichel to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. But this deal has an unusual twist because it centers around a medical procedure. The details:

• The impasse: In March of last year, Eichel suffered a herniated disk while with the Sabres, and an unexpected impasse soon arose. Eichel sought the team's permission to have a procedure known as artificial disk replacement. However, the team's doctors refused and insisted Eichel have a more common procedure known as fusion surgery, reports ESPN.

• New to NHL: In regard to the way NHL contracts are written, the Sabres had the right to pick the surgery. The team correctly pointed out that Eichel's preferred procedure has never been performed on an NHL player. This sometimes was misinterpreted as Eichel requesting "experimental" surgery, notes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. In fact, the procedure has been around for years and has been done on players in other sports, just not in the NHL, he points out.
• A mess: All of the above led to an everybody-loses situation for more than a year. Eichel, unable to play, wanted a trade; the Sabres were happy to oblige but felt teams weren't offering enough for the old Eichel, the one who has been one of the league's top stars; interested teams were leery of gambling on the new Eichel, the one who still needed surgery. And putting sports aside, Eichel was a 25-year-old man who needed some type of procedure, and the sooner the better. Things finally started moving after Eichel changed agents this summer and the Sabres budged on how much they were willing to share about Eichel's medical records, per Bleacher Report.
• The deal: The Golden Knights and the Sabres finally reached a deal, and Vegas will allow Eichel to have his surgery as early as this week. However, he won't be able to play for three to five months, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We do believe he'll make a full recovery," says Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon. Eichel had been in the fourth year of an eight-year $80 million contract with Buffalo, and the Sabres won't have to pay any of the remainder.

(More NHL stories.)