NHL Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Jack Eichel Deal, Vladimir Tarasenko

At the start of the past NHL offseason, there were two players at the center of many trade rumors: Jack Eichel and Vladimir Tarasenko. And yet, more than three weeks into the 2021-22 season, neither player has been dealt.

Eichel and Tarasenko are currently in much different situations, with the former still yet to play for the Buffalo Sabres because of a neck injury and the latter still taking the ice for the St. Louis Blues. But one thing hasn't changed: There are still rumors swirling about the pair of talented players.

Here's some of the latest buzz surrounding both Eichel and Tarasenko.

Golden Knights to Trade for Eichel

A bunch of teams had been reported to be potential suitors for Eichel over the past few months, but it appears the Vegas Golden Knights won out in a deal sending Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, a first-round draft pick in 2022 and a third-round pick in 2023 back to Buffalo, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

According to ESPN's Emily Kaplan, the Calgary Flames and the Golden Knights were the finalists to acquire Eichel in a deal with the Sabres. 

"There was a lot of work done over the weekend," Kaplan said during an appearance on ESPN earlier this week. "... I was told the trade is at the 1-yard line, that there's still some final details they've got to figure out. I am told that Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams is working extremely hard on this, to get a trade done. However, he's also been very firm in his stance, and neither Calgary nor Vegas has met him on his full demands yet."

One of the reasons that Eichel and the Sabres were seeking a trade is that there's been some disagreement over which procedure he should get to fix his neck issue. Eichel wants to get an artificial disk replacement surgery, while Buffalo wanted him to get a neck fusion surgery.

After the trade to Vegas, Dreger reports Eichel is expected to have surgery in the near future with the hope of returning to the ice in four months.

Tarasenko Still Unhappy with Situation in St. Louis?

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At the beginning of the offseason, Tarasenko requested to be traded from the Blues. However, that didn't happen. And now, the 29-year-old forward is playing his 10th season for St. Louis, as he has four goals and five assists in his first seven games.

But that doesn't mean Tarasenko now wants to stay with the Blues long term. In fact, it appears he'd still like to be playing for a new team sooner rather than later, according to a recent report by The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford on Sportsnet's The Jeff Marek Show.

"Yes to my knowledge talking to people close to the situation for the past several months and even as recent as yesterday, Vladimir Tarasenko still requests a trade from the Blues," Rutherford said (h/t Sportsnet's Rory Boylen). "He realizes that may not happen soon, it may not happen this year, it could happen next off-season, or maybe [GM] Doug Armstrong never finds the right deal for Vladimir Tarasenko and he plays out the last two years of his contract.

"The desire for Tarasenko remains the same."

Tarasenko was left unprotected by the Blues ahead of the Seattle Kraken's expansion draft, but he wasn't selected. Part of the reason for that could be the fact that he had been limited to 34 games over the previous two seasons due to injury.

But St. Louis is off to a 6-1-1 start, and Tarasenko has been playing well. So perhaps there would now be more interested suitors, even though he still has another season after this one on his eight-year, $60 million contract.

Or the Blues may just want to keep him around. Either way, there could be plenty more buzz regarding Tarasenko's situation before the trade deadline on March 21.