"You saw him today. He's not that far off," Foley told the podcast. "... He's going to be ready to play."
The center skated with the Golden Knights on Jan. 11 for the first time since having artificial disk replacement surgery Nov. 12, eight days after Vegas acquired him in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. He told NHL Network on Nov. 5 he thought he'd be able to return to play three months after surgery, which would be the second week of February.
Eichel was projected to be the center on a line with Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, but Pacioretty, who scored 12 goals in 16 games, is out indefinitely after having wrist surgery Dec. 30. He, Eichel, and defensemen Nicolas Hague (wrist) and Alec Martinez (face) are on long-term injured reserve.
"We're going to have to make some adjustments, but we do have a lot of guys that are kind of hurt," Foley said, referring to the NHL salary cap. "And we're kind of looking at that and making sure we don't do something prematurely with whoever's hurt and when they come back. We've had bad luck this year in terms of people getting injured. So, we do have a plan, some alternatives, but we're trying to hold off until we just really see how the injuries sort out over the next 25-30 days."
Eichel was traded to Vegas for forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, a top 10 protected first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, with the Golden Knights also receiving a third-round pick in the 2023 draft.
"We got really serious about it during preseason (in mid-September) because [the Sabres] kind of shopped him all around and there was so much cap pressure from a lot of the teams that were interested," Foley said. "And Buffalo wanted a lot, but then they started getting more realistic. ... Buffalo was smart. They held out, and they got a lot from us. ... They got a couple really good players, an up-and-coming guy and a guy who's proven he can already do it. And they got our first-round pick."
Eichel has not played since March 7, 2021. He scored 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 21 games last season and 355 points (139 goals, 216 assists) in 375 games in six seasons with Buffalo, including NHL career-highs in goals (36), assists (42) and points (78) in 68 games before the 2019-20 season was paused due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee said Jan. 11 that Eichel's timeline to play is unknown.
"We're two months today post-surgery, and we know that he's going to be able to come back between three and five months," McPhee told Sportsnet 590. "I think he feels fantastic. It couldn't have gone any better than it has so far. But the next part will be probably the hardest in terms of when is he ready for contact and that sort of thing. So we don't have a specific date in mind, and that's probably a good thing so as to not put any pressure on him. ... Whenever he's ready, he's ready, and we'll get him in there."
