LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights will open their 2025-26 season tonight against the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena. Perhaps the biggest storyline off the ice involves star centerman Jack Eichel, who has been eligible to sign a new contract with the team since July 1.
Negotiations on a possible long-term extension have been ongoing between the Golden Knights front office and Eichel’s agent, Pat Brisson. Asked on Tuesday if that could become a distraction now that the season is getting underway, Eichel quickly and sternly replied, “No.”
“I talk to Pat (Brisson) every day, and he’s in communication with the team,” Eichel explained on Tuesday. “My job as a player is just to play hockey, be a good teammate, and be ready to play, and all of the other stuff takes care of itself.”
This is a big season for Eichel, entering the final year of the eight-year deal he signed with Buffalo in 2017. He is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and now that Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov have both signed extensions, Eichel could become the biggest name on the market.
All signs have pointed to that not happening, at least to this point.
“I obviously love it here in Vegas with this organization,” Eichel said early in training camp. “The people involved in it, from ownership, down through all of our training staff and everyone you work with on a daily basis. The community has been great to me. I love living here.”
Eichel led the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup in 2023 and has completely rewritten the narrative of his career. Under the tutelage of coach Bruce Cassidy, Eichel has flourished into one of the best two-way centers in the NHL and set a new career high and franchise record with 94 points a year ago. He has plenty of reasons to want to remain in Vegas, and the Golden Knights have just as many reasons to want to keep him. To this point, though, the sides have yet to agree on a deal.
“It’s the day before the season, and obviously we don’t have a deal right now,” he said. “It’s something that we’ll just continue to work at. In my situation, just be as good of a player and teammate every night as I can and try to help our hockey team win games.”
Eichel enters 2025-26 facing sky-high expectations, both for the team and for him individually. He’ll be paired with the most talented linemate he’s ever played with in more than a decade in the NHL: Newly signed winger Mitch Marner.
Marner signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Golden Knights in July, and by far the most exciting aspect of the new season in Vegas is how Marner and Eichel will play together.
“He’s a superstar player and he’s really easy to read off,” Eichel said of playing with Marner. “We’re just trying to figure each other’s tendencies out and get better every day we’re on the ice together.”
“It’s definitely gotten better,” Marner said of the chemistry between the two. “We’re finding out where each other like to be in all three zones. We’re slowly getting better at finding each other in good spots, and I think it’s only going to grow.”
Eichel and Marner are both exceptional at holding onto the puck and buying time for their teammates, and they hope to use that specific skill to create a clear identity for Vegas’ top line.
“Both of us like to have the puck on our stick, so the first thing I think about is possession,” Eichel said. “I think there’s a lot of creativity that you can see off the rush, making plays, but also being able to hold onto pucks down low, create plays off the cycle, and then just be sound defensively.”
The underlying metrics for each player paint a picture of what could be one of the most possession-dominant lines in the NHL. Over the last four years, since the league started publishing player-tracking data, Eichel and Marner have never finished below league average in offensive zone time — and they’ve often finished near the top. This chart shows what percentile of forwards in the NHL Eichel and Marner have finished above in offensive zone time.
Offensive zone time percentiles
| Season | Jack Eichel | Mitch Marner |
|---|---|---|
|
2024-25 |
68% |
53% |
|
2023-24 |
72% |
71% |
|
2022-23 |
76% |
72% |
|
2021-22 |
87% |
95% |
The two have done that separately, and theoretically could be even more puck-dominant playing together.
They’ve already flashed moments of brilliance in their limited preseason action together. They’ve dazzled in transition, where they’re obviously a nightmare to defend in space. They’ve also shown an ability to score with sustained zone time, like on this goal by Eichel in the preseason:
Jack Eichel from Mitch Marner‼️
How many times will we hear that said this season? pic.twitter.com/pJ6kxNNHUq
— NHL (@NHL) September 26, 2025
“I’m hoping their dangerous every time they’re on the ice, because they have it in them offensively,” Cassidy said. “I know what they can do defensively, so there’s never a worry for me (about) who the matchup is on the other side.”
The two have even starred in the NHL’s latest “work from home” commercial.
On the ice, while they’re both excited to play together, they also realize it will take time to develop chemistry.
“When you put two guys together who want to be very successful and want to push each other, you want things to click right away,” Marner said. “There will be moments where it does click well, but others where it doesn’t. The good thing about it is we’re both very talkative. We’re just going to explain to one another and try to figure out where each other like to go, and keep getting better.”
With two of the best passers in the sport on one line, the biggest question could be who is going to actually shoot the puck. Their projected linemate, Ivan Barbashev, will help drive the forecheck and serve as a net-front presence.
“They need to be shooters,” Cassidy said of Eichel and Marner. “That will play itself out. Somebody has to shoot the puck. At the end of the day, I do believe they’ll both have to have a little bit of that in them.”
The potential to be one of the best lines in hockey is incredibly exciting as the season gets underway. Even amidst the most high-profile contract negotiations in the NHL (now that McDavid and Kaprizov have signed), Eichel is still soaking in the wonder of opening day.
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “This is an unbelievable time of year. You feel like a kid on the first day of school or Christmas. You’re just getting back in the swing of things. A new season has so many possibilities.”