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Tage Thompson is that create-a-player gamers would dream about only to discover their fantasy became a real-life NHL forward. He is that person who in a single discussion can make skills coaches go from sounding like trained professionals to full-on fans in a matter of minutes. Words such as “flawless” and “perfect” are used to describe him while one of those coaches says, “He was built into being a hockey player.”

What he can do with a puck leads Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy to gladly declare he is “a unicorn,” makes Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry wax about how he is such a testament to patience, and prompts Tampa Bay Lightning prospect forward Jack Finley to be among the many who say that he has a chance to change the narrative for future generations.

All of this is to say there is already a mythos around Thompson. He is spoken about in these hyperbolic ways that are typically reserved for urban legends. The difference between Thompson and urban legends is that the Buffalo Sabres forward is fact — whereas the other is fiction. It’s just that Thompson’s exploits feel like fiction because of how everyone else gushes over them.

People act as if they have never seen anyone quite like Thompson before. And they’re right.

The 25-year-old center is on pace to finish with 50 goals and 103 points, which would give him one of the greatest individual seasons in Sabres history. But there is an underlying context that adds to what Thompson is doing — and could potentially achieve — this season.

At 6-foot-7, Thompson has a chance to make NHL history by becoming the tallest player to ever score 50 goals and/or finish with 100 points in a season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Through March 20, Thompson scored 42 goals and 87 points through 69 games, which already makes him the tallest player to ever score 40 goals and record 80 points in a season.

Prior to Thompson, former Chicago Blackhawks forward Eric Daze held the distinction of being the tallest player in NHL history with the most points in a season. Daze, who is 6-6, scored 38 goals and 70 points in 80 games during the 2001-02 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Six feet, 7 inches tall. Think about that. Picture someone putting DeForest Buckner, Luka Doncic or Aaron Judge — all of whom are 6-7 — on skates.

“It’s surprising, to be honest with you,” retired NHL forward Jason Arnott said upon hearing that Thompson could be the tallest to notch a 50-100 season. “There have been some really good players that were tall. It’s amazing. Especially with the speed of the game. Kudos to him and for being such a great skater at that size. That’s crazy.”

What is it about Thompson that has allowed him to be in a position to achieve things that have never been done before? Especially in a league in which front offices value size with the caveat that too much size could plausibly present too many challenges?

“My dad is a scout, and growing up, I was always sitting in on conversations with him and other scouts,” said Finley, the Lightning prospect, who is 6-6. “He told me when he would watch a game, his first reaction would be to see if there was a big player that he could watch. If there was a big guy who even had some skill, he was automatically drawn to him. That is the way it has been for years.”

PERHAPS THE STARTING point for any conversation about Thompson’s place within the game is with the context of those who came before him. There have been several players between 6-2 and 6-4 who were among the most prolific forwards to ever play the game.

Many of them also had longevity. There have been 159 forwards with a listed height of 6-4 who have played in the NHL, according to league records. It’s a list that includes Hall of Fame inductees such as Dave Andreychuk, Mario Lemieux and Eric Lindros, with Joe Thornton possibly next. Then there’s this current generation of players such as Mikko Rantanen and Brady Tkachuk.

Fifteen of them have scored more than 500 career points, while another 39 have played more than 500 games.

Compare that to the 104 forwards all time who were 6-5 or taller. The shortest members include players such as Patrik Laine, Keith Primeau, Mats Sundin and Blake Wheeler, with the tallest being John Scott, who is 6-8. Only six of those players have scored more than 500 points and all of them were 6-5. In terms of games played, there are 21 who have played more than 500 games, with five of those forwards being taller than 6-6.

Sundin is the only forward who is at least 6-5 to score 1,000 points. He’s one of three forwards that height — along with Arnott and Wheeler — to score more than 900 points.

What is it about that extra inch that makes all the difference? Why have 6-4 forwards been so much more prolific and had longer careers?

The answers vary — though many admit there might not be a perfect explanation.

“There are not as many guys at 6-5 because it’s tall for a hockey player,” Primeau said. “I always felt a little too long. It was hard to defend against smaller guys in the corner, quicker guys in the end zones. I just felt 6-3 could move quickly because those 2 inches made a huge difference.”

“Once you get to those players who are 6-5, 6-6 and 6-7, even though it seems like such a small difference, the effect on the players is different,” Finley said. “The skating, the coordination. When a scout watches a player, the chances of a 6-6 forward being good in the NHL are slim. For a guy who is 6-5, 6-6 and 6-7, there are guys who are 6-4 and they can do things I can’t because of the way their body is built.”

Said Tara McKay, a power skating coach for Gary Roberts High Performance Training: “Is it because they’re out of hockey early because they cannot play at the pace? Hockey is a sport in which they identify guys so early. … A lot of the successful players now are these strong little tank guys. You cannot really be 6-5, strong and 18 [years old]. I have not seen one look like that with a hockey build at 18.”

SO HOW DOES one explain Thompson? What is it exactly that Thompson is doing that could see him become only the third player 6-5 or taller to score 100 points in a season? (Pete Mahvolich had two 100-point seasons in his career; Sundin had one.)

Here’s the thing about power skating and skills coaches. They live for nuance. And between McKay and Kyle Nishizaki, they can touch on a number of items that they believe have allowed Thompson to be in this position.

Nishizaki is the director of Perfect Skating, a program founded by Colorado Avalanche skills coach Shawn Allard that has worked with hundreds of NHL players.

“First thing is, he’s got pretty good ankle mobility and can get his knee in front of his toe, and that puts him in the right spot with his skate blade,” Nishizaki said. “He’s blessed with long limbs and levers, and is able to produce a lot of force in every push with his length along with being a big, strong guy as well. Those are two things right off the hop that will help him and allow him to be a pretty decent mover for somebody of that size.”

Another point Nishizaki raised about Thompson was how his skating works within the context of being a forward versus a defenseman. Nishizaki said defensemen skate, but there are times when they are able to conserve energy. Forwards, however, can’t conserve energy, because if they do, then there is a chance a mistake is going in the back of the net.

That’s one more detail that could get lost about Thompson. It’s not just the skating — it’s that he never stops moving, and it’s one of the reasons he consistently appears to be in a position to score no matter where he’s at on the ice.

McKay said Thompson’s skating is “pretty flawless,” while noting she cannot believe how strong of a skater he is at that height. She said Thompson has all the traits commonly associated with a player with his length such as a big shot, reach, size and strength. Yet what commonly hurts taller players is the fact they are not the strongest skaters, she said.

She said all skaters, especially tall ones, need to have strong core stability. McKay referenced the work he did with one of her clients, Los Angeles Kings prospect center Quinton Byfield, who is 6-5. In Byfield’s draft year, they worked together to fix his skating and concentrate on his posture.

Some younger skaters with size like Byfield struggle with details such as being bent over in their stance. Or they have a stride that is a bit too long. McKay said those bigger and taller skaters can get away with it at the junior level because they have an advantage over their competition.

But when they turn pro, they’re going against older and stronger competitors who are far more technically sound. McKay said that instability means it’s easier for those bigger skaters to lose the puck, which is something they worked with Byfield on.

McKay said Thompson’s skating has the right amount of length in his stride and he is not bent over. Furthermore, she said Thompson has “excellent agility,” which benefits him in a number of ways throughout the course of a game.

“I find it amazing. I don’t know his backstory,” McKay said. “But something that came to my mind was: ‘How did they build this guy into being able to do this?'”

MANY TALLER PLAYERS either grow up being bigger than their peers from the beginning, or they go through a sudden growth spurt that changes everything — particularly the expectations about what they could accomplish with their newfound height.

Seattle Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who is 6-7, said he was always the tallest kid on his team at 6-2, but he grew another 5 inches when he was around 17. New York Islanders forward Pierre Engvall, who is 6-5, said he grew from being the shortest person in his class to almost being the tallest in one summer. Primeau said he was 5-10 and skinny when he was a teenager, but he grew to being 6-3 within six months before ultimately playing at 6-5 in his career.

Being that tall usually means those players either get moved to defense or goaltending, or they started out there. Alternatively, it means they have to play as a big, bruising power forward who makes size their No. 1 attribute.

Initially, Brent Thompson had the older of his two sons, Tage, play as a defenseman. It makes sense given Brent was a defenseman who played more than 100 games in the NHL while spending most of his professional career in the AHL.

“As a child, I tried to convince him to play defense, and actually, he had one game where he played goalie,” Brent said. “The only shot he faced went in, and that was a quick denial on the goaltending side. He liked having the puck on his stick. I tried to convince him, but it didn’t fit.”

Brent said Tage was an undersized player for most of his life. Or rather, it was that way until he was 16 or 17 when he started to grow, with Brent saying his oldest son was still growing as of last season.

The Ducks’ Terry played one season with Thompson when they were teammates at the United States National Team Development Program, USA Hockey’s program to develop what it considers to be the best U-17 and U-18 talents in the nation. Terry saw the start of that growth firsthand.

“I think when I played with him, he had just grown within the last year. It was like a crazy amount,” Terry said. “Like, 7 or 8 inches. He was pretty lanky, and when you were on the ice with him, you could tell his skill and his hands were great. You could just tell, and he would know better than me, but it was like his body hadn’t caught up yet or his mind hadn’t caught up yet. All of his hockey ability was there — you just knew he was going to be a stud. He just needed to figure out how to play at 6-foot-7 as opposed to being 6 feet because he grew that much.”

Said McAvoy, who also was part of the NTDP at that time: “Tommer is a unicorn, and I knew right away, we all did, that he was really special. He had unbelievable hands for his size, shots and you could see he had it when he was 17. He just took a while. He was a late bloomer. … on our U-18 team, he was our fifth-line guy.”

Uh, sorry, Charlie. Did you just say that a future first-round draft pick who is on pace for a 50-goal, 100-point season was on the fifth line?

“I know, it’s funny because it’s like, ‘Holy cow, this guy’s literally one of the best players in the NHL,'” McAvoy smiled. “He probably played five minutes at the [U-18 World Junior Championships] combined. He just took it like a champ and was a valuable part of the team.”

For those wondering who else was on the NTDP roster at the same time as Thompson? Try Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, Florida Panthers duo Matthew Tkachuk and Colin White, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jack Roslovic, Arizona Coyotes forward Christian Fischer, Sabres forward Jordan Greenway, San Jose Sharks forward Luke Kunin and Terry.

And that’s not even including cameos from Coyotes winger Clayton Keller, who was a year younger but was called up to the U-18s, or even Kraken winger Ryan Donato, who had a four-game run.

Brent said his son might have been 6 feet when he arrived at the NTDP to play one season before going to college. Tage Thompson played two seasons at the University of Connecticut. UConn’s media guide from Thompson’s freshman year listed him at 6-4, and it stated he was 6-5 as a sophomore.

Even now, his height varies depending upon the source. Some websites list him at 6-6; whereas others have him at 6-7.

“To hear his last height, I heard it was 6-6, but he also grew a little more,” Brent said.

SO THAT EXPLAINS the height. What about Thompson’s skill?

Being the son of a former professional hockey player who is also the head coach of the Islanders’ AHL affiliate meant Thompson received a different level of tutelage. Brent said his son was always “a high-level skill” player growing up.

Where Thompson excelled was with his hands, his release and his shot — attributes that continue to serve him to this day. But those skills were developed because he was at one point a small player who did not have the advantage of using his size to beat people. So that meant he had to use skills to create and find space while also using them to score goals.

“I am thinking that was youth hockey from 12 to 15 when you would see him beat a guy once and toe drag him again,” Brent said. “Was it frustrating? Yeah, from a coaching standpoint. From a parent standpoint, it was impressive to see how he developed. … Hockey is something he loved and it was nice to see how he loved it.”

There are stories from Tage Thompson’s youngest years that add to the mythos.

Brent imagines his son was around toddler age when he started taking a miniature stick with him at every turn. There was a night at dinner when Thompson took a butter knife and began stickhandling a Cheerio with the knife like it was a hockey stick at the dinner table.

From there, the cute acts of a child turned into an obsession. When he was old enough, the routine was as follows: Wake up. Go to school. Come home and do homework. Then, shoot pucks or work on stickhandling until it’s either time to eat or it’s time to go to bed.

Brent said the foundation for both of his sons were the countless days they spent poring over the technical details of balance and skating. They worked on balance position, power skating, stride extension and edgework.

“I didn’t let them handle a puck,” Brent recalled. “They had a whole routine at practice or it was in our night sessions. … That built the foundation from there to work on their hands, stickhandling drills, passing drills, shooting drills. We would do a routine and we built on that to talk about the different ways to get the puck off the stick quickly. But the progress and ability to do it progressed each year.”

Brent was only part of that development. Thompson and his brother, Tyce, who plays in the New Jersey Devils‘ organization, also learned from Eric Boguniecki, who was an assistant with Brent in the AHL in Bridgeport along with Islanders skills coach Bernie Cassell.

Yes, Tage Thompson had the natural ability, drive and skills that eventually joined forces with a 6-7 physique that has made him a star. But how did Brent know that the skills he was teaching his sons would be the ones that would have a future place in the NHL?

“We all realized it early and saw the level of skill,” Brent said. “I think to play in today’s game, you have to be able to skate. That was the biggest thing in my brain. You need to be able to skate, control a puck and make a play. Those were things we worked on growing up.”

ASKING NHL PLAYERS about Tage Thompson generates a lot of opinions about what he’s doing and what makes him so unique.

For example, what’s the difference between when McAvoy played against him in practice at the NTDP versus now in the NHL?

“Well, he’s even more dynamic now than he was then!” McAvoy said. “His hands are better now, his shot is better now. Everything is better now. When guys are that long, it’s their reach. They don’t need more space to get [a shot] off because that puck is so far out.”

Or what is it like to be a fellow 6-7 NHL player and see what Thompson is doing?

“Every goal he scores is like a highlight-reel goal,” Oleksiak said with a big grin. “It’s tempting. I watch him and I go, ‘Why can’t I do stuff like that?’ But I think it’s for the best that I don’t try to overdo it.”

What are some of the aspects that make Thompson so difficult to deal with?

“He has an unbelievable ability to toe drag the puck and drag it into his body and releases it from different angles,” Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano said. “His shot, he can get it off from everywhere. But his shot is extremely heavy, too. I think it’s because he’s so big and uses all that whip in his stick.”

And how is it to take on a player like Thompson as a defensive assignment versus someone who has more conventional size?

“There is a difference as far as they have that reach,” Bruins center and five-time Selke Award winner Patrice Bergeron said. “They can protect that puck, and it is harder to get on the inside of them. I think you gotta make sure you keep them to the outside as possible and make sure you have good sticks. Stickwork is the most important part for me against guys like that. They want to make plays and have good speed too.”

Better yet: What’s it like to know someone as big and tall as Thompson has the sort of skill that the game has seen from other young players like — for example — Ducks forward Trevor Zegras?

“It’s funny. Tage is from around where I’m from and where I grew up in Bedford, New York,” Zegras said. “He lived in Bridgeport where his dad coached. I’ve been on the ice with him a couple times throughout the years. … That team in Buffalo is really fast and really skilled, and I feel like he’s kind of the leader of that offense. It’s cool to see and I am definitely not surprised in the slightest to see it.”

Even though Finley is not in the NHL yet, he suggested that Thompson’s success opens the door for bigger players. While Finley admitted he is not that type of player, he has learned a lot from watching Thompson when it comes to how he can protect the puck, as well as being patient, whenever he is on the puck.

“I wish he was around 10 years earlier and I could have modeled my game after him,” Finley said.

Primeau said the game’s contemporary nature means that players — regardless of their height — have all made skill a priority. He said the days of the mixed emotions of seeing a 6-7 player score a goal but not get into a fight are over.

Arnott noted how that shift toward a more skill-based game means bigger players have a better chance to not be pigeonholed as power forwards.

“Everyone looks at hockey as this big, strong physical game,” Arnott said. “When you are a bigger guy, you are looked upon to throw around your weight and use your big body to crash and bang. But you also have to be able to skate. If you can’t skate, then I don’t think it matters how big you are.”

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Critical Game 4s for Capitals, Knights

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May 12, 2025

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Critical Game 4s for Capitals, Knights

The Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights are at the same crossroads, facing 2-1 deficits ahead of road playoff games Monday.

First up on the schedule is Capitals-Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m. ET, TNT), followed by Golden Knights-Edmonton Oilers (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Sunday’s games and the Three Stars of Sunday from Arda Öcal.

Matchup notes

Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 4 | 7 p.m. ET | TNT

With a 2-1 series lead, the Canes are now -650 favorites to win this series, while the Capitals are +425. Carolina has also jumped to second in the Stanley Cup futures table, at +350, while the Capitals are now +2500.

This is the second straight series in which the Canes led 2-1 (they beat the Devils in five games in Round 1). Carolina/Hartford is 9-4 all time in best-of-seven series when leading 2-1.

Game 3 was the Canes’ first playoff shutout win since Game 2 of the 2022 second round against the Rangers. It was the Caps’ first shutout loss since Game 5 of the 2020 first round against the Islanders.

Frederik Andersen‘s shutout was the fourth of his playoff career, but his first postseason clean sheet as a Hurricane. He joins Cam Talbot as the only active goalies with a playoff shutout for three different franchises.

Andrei Svechnikov now has six goals this postseason, which is the 17th instance of a Hurricanes/Whalers player scoring six or more goals in a single postseason.

The four goals allowed by Logan Thompson in Game 3 were more than his combined goals against in Games 1 and 2, and the most since Game 3 of the first round against Montreal (five).

Vegas Golden Knights at Edmonton Oilers
Game 4 | 9:30 p.m. ET | TNT

The Oilers’ and Knights’ series odds contracted after Vegas’ Game 3 win. Edmonton is now -250 to win, whereas Vegas is +200 to do so. The Oilers have the third-shortest Cup futures odds at +360, while the Knights are third longest at +1000.

Vegas’ Reilly Smith was credited with the winning goal in Game 3 with 0.4 seconds left on the clock after the puck angled in off Leon Draisaitl‘s stick. It goes in the record books as being scored with one second left in the third period — tied for the latest go-ahead goal in regulation in Stanley Cup playoff history with Colorado’s Nazem Kadri in 2020 and Carolina’s Jussi Jokinen in 2009.

Jack Eichel enters Game 4 riding an active six-game assist streak, which is tied for the Golden Knights’ postseason record. Mark Stone (2023) and Smith (2018) also accomplished the feat.

Connor McDavid now has 40 career playoff goals; he’s the seventh Oilers player to reach that benchmark.

Edmonton’s Corey Perry scored two goals in the first period of Game 3, becoming the third-oldest player in Stanley Cup playoff history with a multigoal period; at 39 years, 359 days old, he is behind Nicklas Lidstrom (41) and Teemu Selanne (40) at the time they had a multigoal period in a playoff game.

Öcal’s Three Stars from Sunday

The reigning Stanley Cup champions played their best game of the postseason. They limited the Maple Leafs to 22 shots on goal, owned the neutral zone, and peppered Toronto’s Joseph Woll with 37 shots en route to a 2-0 win. (Small shoutout to Woll, who played great — this game could’ve easily been 8-0.)

With a goal and two assists in Game 3, Rantanen became the first player in Stanley Cup playoffs history with five three-point games through a team’s first 10 contests. His first of those games was in Game 5 of the first round.

Bobrovsky didn’t have the busiest night of his playoff career, but he stopped all 22 shots on goal, his fifth career postseason clean sheet.

Sunday’s recaps

Dallas Stars 5, Winnipeg Jets 2
DAL leads 2-1 | Game 4 Tuesday

The Stars returned home having earned home-ice advantage in the series with a split of the first two games in Winnipeg, and from the start of this one, they looked like they did not want to give it back. Dallas’ Roope Hintz scored 2:27 in on a power play, and while Kyle Connor answered midway through the first, Thomas Harley responded thereafter, giving Dallas a 2-1 edge after the first. Nino Niederreiter scored his fourth goal of the playoffs to knot the game at two, but then the third period was all Stars. Alexander Petrovic and Mikko Rantanen scored within 50 seconds of each other, and Wyatt Johnston put the exclamation point on the contest with a goal at 14:06. Full recap.

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1:29

Tempers flare late after Max Domi’s big hit on Aleksander Barkov

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is shaken up after taking a hit from Max Domi late in the game.

Florida Panthers 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 0
Series tied 2-2 | Game 5 Wednesday

It’s down to a best-of-three for the Atlantic Division crown. Carter Verhaeghe kicked off the scoring for the Panthers at 15:45 of the first, and the 1-0 score would persist until 12:09 of the third, when Sam Bennett added his fifth of the postseason to make it 2-0. That was more than enough for Sergei Bobrovsky, who saved all 23 shots the Maple Leafs sent on goal. Joseph Woll was no slouch in the Leafs’ cage, either, saving 35 of 37. Tempers flared late in the game after Toronto’s Max Domi boarded Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov and a small melee ensued. Will that carry over into Game 5? Full recap.

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0:34

Wyatt Johnston pokes in Stars’ 3rd goal of 3rd period

Wyatt Johnston taps in a goal for the Stars to pad their lead in the third period vs. the Jets.

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‘Understanding what it takes to win’: How Jack Eichel became a complete, 200-foot player

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May 12, 2025

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'Understanding what it takes to win': How Jack Eichel became a complete, 200-foot player

  • Ryan S. ClarkMay 12, 2025, 07:30 AM ET

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      Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.

LAS VEGAS — Jack Eichel is everything everywhere all at once for the Vegas Golden Knights.

You’re going to see Eichel start games. You’re going to see him score goals. You’re going to see his work lead to goals for his teammates. You’re going to see him score on the power play. Chances are — and not as in Chance, the Golden Knights’ mascot — you already knew that.

But what you might not realize? You’re also going to see him winning defensive zone faceoffs while playing a big role on the penalty kill. You’re going to see him among the special group that Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy trusts to either get the lead or defend the lead in the final two minutes.

Eichel’s status as a top-line center made him the centerpiece of possibly the biggest trade in the history of a franchise that has embodied the winning-at-all-costs philosophy. But Eichel’s focus was on something more: becoming a complete center who can be sent out on the ice in any situation.

Getting there involved earning Cassidy’s trust — which meant arriving at a certain realization about his game.

“When I got here, we had Chandler Stephenson, who is a really good-way center. You have William Karlsson, who is a really good two-way center,” Eichel said. “I looked around and said, ‘If I want to get the ice time and be trusted in these situations, I have to earn the trust of the coach and become more detailed and responsible defensively.'”

For all the different moves that Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon has made to tweak his roster, there are constants. One of them is having a stack of two-way centers on all four lines, to the point that one of them might be moved to the wing because the Golden Knights have that much depth.

Not that Eichel couldn’t be used in defensive situations earlier in his career. It’s just that the No. 2 pick of the 2015 NHL draft was always known more for what he did in the offensive zone, going back to his time at Boston University, where he won the Hobey Baker Award in his lone season, and in six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres.

“I [penalty] killed a little bit when I was in Buffalo, and sometimes when you have a team that’s not winning, you can be honed as a poor defensive forward or a defensive liability,” Eichel said. “I also think just part of it is maturity. It’s understanding what it takes to win, and coming here and having the opportunity to play in this system with this organization, and then allowing me to grow my game, and then having the opportunity to do that.”

THERE WERE A NUMBER of terms that were associated with Eichel when he was a draft prospect in 2015: Future captain. Future All-Star. Future franchise savior.

Being the strongest penalty killer, however, wasn’t one of them.

Eichel acknowledges he was on the penalty kill with the Sabres. It was enough to make him a contributor, but he never was the center anchoring a short-handed unit. The most short-handed minutes he received in a single season was 53:13 in his third season in Buffalo, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“It’s about the details, but I think a lot of young players when they come into the league are a bit raw,” Eichel explained. “They’re still used to having the puck on their stick for so much time during the game and they rely on their offense. You have to find out ways to round your game off and become a more complete player.”

Getting traded to Vegas in November 2021 was a significant shift. It took Eichel from a franchise that struggled to win — despite finding lots of talented players — to an organization for which “failure” was finishing that 2021-22 season with 94 points and missing the postseason by a single point — after reaching the playoffs in four consecutive campaigns.

That playoff miss prompted the Golden Knights to move on from coach Peter DeBoer and hire Cassidy, who had just been let go by the Boston Bruins. In Cassidy, the Golden Knights got an experienced coach whose defensive philosophies were at the core of why the Bruins reached the playoffs in six straight seasons.

“It did take time,” Karlsson said about learning Cassidy’s system. “We weren’t used to it. But once we learn it, you react with your instincts. You don’t have to think about it anymore because it’s a really good system. He usually has the center in a really good position, but also a really good position to transition into the offensive zone. But there are a lot of defensive details.”

Eichel made an impact in his first full season with Vegas in 2022-23. He led the Golden Knights with 66 points, and his 27 goals were second on the team. Eichel also led the club with 223 shots on goal, while scoring 14 power-play points.

The way McCrimmon constructed the Golden Knights meant that for Eichel to attain more ice time in those crucial situations, he needed to find room in a crowded landscape. The Knights had Karlsson and Stephenson. And they also had Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden, Nicolas Roy, Reilly Smith and Mark Stone as part of the forward core. All of them logged more short-handed minutes than Eichel when they won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

Still, Eichel would be second on the team in 5-on-5 minutes during the playoffs behind Jonathan Marchessault, while finishing with six goals and 26 points in 22 games.

How did Eichel go about letting Cassidy know that he could be trusted in those situations? It wasn’t through anything he said. It was about using every practice and every game to prove he was ready to handle those demands.

“If I’m put in a situation and I don’t produce a result that is positive for the group? Then, I’m not going to have opportunities,” Eichel said. “It’s about gaining trust through good play, working with the coaches on the structure, what they are looking for and then being able to go out and execute it. I think that’s been a big, big thing.”

Even if he wasn’t heavily used on the penalty kill with the Sabres, Eichel was still playing a lot. He averaged more than 19 minutes per game in every season in Buffalo, and had four straight seasons of more than 20 minutes per contest.

In his first season with Cassidy in 2022-23, Eichel averaged a career-low 18:46 of ice time per game in the regular season, and logged 18:59 per game in the playoffs en route to the Cup.

The investment Eichel made in becoming a more responsible player paved the way for his increased minutes in the seasons that followed. There was also an opportunity for someone to take those short-handed minutes, because Smith was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins following the Cup win in 2023.

Eichel would finish 2023-24 with a career-high 20:31 in ice time per game in 2023-24, and 123:48 in short-handed ice time, which was second among all Vegas centers behind Karlsson. He was also second in total power-play ice time, and seventh in total 5-on-5 ice time on the team — mainly due to missing 19 games.

“We’ve always had good centers. I think we definitely took a crazy step forward when we added Jack,” said Stone, a two-time Selke Trophy finalist as the game’s best two-way forward. “You go from having three guys to four guys, maybe five guys, even. Last year, he kind of took over and this year he took over for Stephenson.”

LOSING MARCHESSAULT AND STEPHENSON to free agency — in an offseason in which they saw six players from their 2023 Stanley Cup-winning team depart — meant the Golden Knights needed to find solutions to make up for those departures.

Eichel provided the Golden Knights with the best season of his career. His 66 assists and 94 points were both career highs. Some point out that Eichel could have had his first 100-point campaign if not for missing five games.

Then there’s his usage. Eichel led all Golden Knights forwards in average ice time (a career high of 20:32 per game), 5-on-5 ice time and power-play minutes. As for short-handed minutes? Eichel led all forwards in that too, by a margin of 35 minutes more than Howden. He was second in defensive zone faceoffs taken.

There was also an underlying theme of limiting mistakes. Vegas finished the regular season with the second-fewest penalty minutes in the NHL. And yes, Eichel was at the heart of that too, as he had only eight penalty minutes.

“It helps when you have the puck a lot,” Stone said. “He’s good in the D-zone, but he has the puck on his stick more than he doesn’t. He plays the D-zone quick, but when you’re that good of a player, the other team is thinking about not making mistakes.”

Karlsson explained how Cassidy’s system can be physically demanding for anyone playing down the middle. He said there are the natural expectations that come with playing center in today’s NHL. But one of the reasons why the Golden Knights place such an emphasis on conditioning and strength training is so their centers are prepared to play those longer shifts in the event they can’t get off the ice.

Stone added that Cassidy’s structure means centers are doing “a lot of skating,” while the wingers are expected to deny the other team from getting shots from the point and being active in the top of the ice.

“He’s been handling it well this year,” Karlsson said. “He’s in Year 3 now of Butch and his assistants. It’s kind of natural to him now and he’s good. He’s good at picking up things like stripping a guy off the top as he’s a big, strong guy. He reads the game well, so he’s really turning into a 200-foot player.”

During Cassidy’s time with the Bruins, he worked with venerable two-way centers such as six-time Selke Trophy winner Patrice Bergeron and stalwart second-line pivot David Krejci. In discussing those two, Cassidy admitted that they “probably taught me more than I taught them.”

But when it came to his conversations with Eichel, Cassidy said that he talked about what he saw from Bergeron and Krejci — the value they saw and provided in efficient operations in the defensive zone.

Cassidy said he and his staff started seeing that investment in Eichel pay off during their championship season. He’s since grown in those responsibilities as a two-way player who can now be used in every situation.

“That’s on the player,” Cassidy said. “They’ve got to decide if that’s what they want to do because it’s not easy to check. It’s a mindset a lot of nights, and we’ve got to be going to work and he’s done it. He’s getting credit for it, and he should.”

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Olney: The X factors defining this year’s trade deadline

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May 12, 2025

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Olney: The X factors defining this year's trade deadline

  • Buster OlneyMay 12, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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    • Senior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com
    • Analyst/reporter ESPN television
    • Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”

Teams are traditionally split into two camps leading up to the Major League Baseball trade deadline — those acquiring talent and those trading it away. But the addition of a third wild-card team for each league in 2022, which created a 12-team playoff field, has helped foster a third category: opportunists.

These clubs are on the fringe of contention, aiming to take advantage of a thin trade market by putting high asking prices on some of their players, hoping a desperate contender buys in — for maximum value.

Adders. Dealers. Opportunists.

This is just one of a number of developing conditions that are helping to form the 2025 trade market. Let’s dig into all the X factors that will rule this year’s July 31 deadline based on what executives around the league are saying.

1. There could be more opportunists this year.

The Milwaukee Brewers are hovering around .500 in an absolutely stacked National League, and even though they could be within range of the division lead in July, it would be with diminished hope if the Chicago Cubs continue to build on their strong start. Additionally, it might be unlikely that in an NL packed with playoff-caliber teams — the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves in the East, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks in the West — that Milwaukee could even win a wild-card spot. The Brewers have better chances of taking the NL Central (13%) than earning a wild-card berth (5.3%), according to Fangraphs.

This could lead to the Brewers doing what the Tampa Bay Rays did at the trade deadline last year — capitalize on there being so few dealers on the market. Freddy Peralta has been one of the league’s best starters this year, and he’s earning a very affordable $8 million this year, with Milwaukee holding an $8 million option for next season. If the Orioles landed him, he would instantly become their ace. For the Yankees, he could be a bedrock behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodon. If Peralta stays healthy, his value will never be higher than it is now.

The Rays were the opportunists of last summer, flipping Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners with two-and-a-half years of team control remaining and trading Isaac Paredes to the Cubs despite trailing by just 1½ games for the third wild card on the last Sunday of July. Tampa Bay didn’t go into full sell mode; rather, it saw a stark trade market — “There are no good players available,” one executive said in the middle of last July — and capitalized.

It’s possible — maybe even likely — that the Brewers won’t choose this path. Owner Mark Attanasio is seen by his peers as competitive, someone who places a high value on making the playoffs. Some rival execs don’t believe Milwaukee would consider trading Peralta if the team is still within range of the Cubs, who are managed by former Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell.

But for some of the teams stuck amid the pack of contenders, it’s something worth considering:

  • St. Louis Cardinals: They’re on a winning streak, and they’ve communicated to other teams that even if they aren’t a front-runner, they might keep their tradable players in what is the last season of John Mozeliak’s tenure as head of baseball operations.

  • Minnesota Twins: They could dangle Byron Buxton, their dynamic and oft-injured center fielder, into the trade conversations. Buxton is healthy and playing well, and he’s under contract for the next three seasons at $15.1 million per year.

  • Toronto Blue Jays: Now that they’ve signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to anchor their team for a long time, they could look at the best ways to shape a future around him, and weigh offers for players such as Chris Bassitt.

One exec working for a contender doesn’t believe the list of opportunists will be long.

“Usually, what they ask for is unrealistic,” he said. “They’ll ask for your four best prospects and you say no and they move on and keep the player.”

2. The general mediocrity of the American League could greatly reduce its number of dealers.

The Chicago White Sox are rebuilding and open for business, but the front office of any other team in the AL could convince itself that a playoff bid is possible — because it just seems like there are few, if any, great teams.

The Baltimore Orioles might be the best working example of this phenomenon. The start of the season has been disastrous for Baltimore, which has a rotation that has been pummeled regularly. But it’s hard to imagine the Orioles surrendering early, given their success of the past two seasons and their roster of young position players. So, they could be a club that is unwilling to part ways with talent at the deadline, even if they have a losing record.

3. The teams already viewed as potential subtractors might not have the talent contenders want.

Clubs such as the Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins and White Sox don’t have much to offer in the eyes of rival evaluators. Other teams have monitored Marlins righty Sandy Alcantara and White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr., but both are struggling early in the season. Alcantara has an 8.42 ERA in seven starts since his return from elbow surgery, while Robert’s early slash line is .186/.293/.326, which doesn’t boost other teams’ interest — nor the leverage of the White Sox.

4. It appears the market for outfielders will be very thin.

Typically, the upcoming free agent class serves as a tool to define most of the players who could be traded before that year’s deadline — and quite simply, in the outfield, the pickings beyond Kyle Tucker are few.

The would-be opportunists could take advantage of a really soft outfield market and get value if they’re willing to dangle outfielders under team control beyond this season. For example, the Twins could set a solid price for Buxton and the Jays would probably draw a lot of interest for Daulton Varsho, an elite defender who won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2026 season.

5. Very few good starting pitchers are expected to be available.

If the Cardinals decide to deal players, right-hander Erick Fedde, who has a 3.86 ERA this season, could draw some interest. Fellow right-handed starter Sonny Gray is a three-time All-Star, but his contract is very backloaded — he’s owed $35 million in 2026 — and the last time he was traded to a contender midseason (from the Athletics to New York Yankees in 2017), it did not go well.

6. A Nolan Arenado trade could still be possible.

Conditions are emerging to foster this possibility, if Arenado waives his no-trade clause and if the Cardinals are willing to deal him. Normally, it’s not easy to move a position player with money attached at midseason, but contenders could be interested in acquiring the eight-time All-Star third baseman. The Cubs haven’t found a solution at third base, and the Yankees will soon try DJ LeMahieu in their ongoing attempt to fill the position. The Los Angeles Dodgers waited last season for Max Muncy to turn around a slow start, and he eventually did; this year, they’re waiting again.

Arenado, who killed a possible trade to the Houston Astros last winter, is owed about $24 million for the rest of this year, $27 million in 2026 ($5 million paid by the Rockies) and $15 million in 2027.

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