Golden Knights' Eichel Opens Up About Struggling Season

Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel is ready to hit reset. Eichel admitted last season in Vegas was rough and injuries were the reason behind his struggles. The veteran forward didn't want to make excuses, but it's hard to perform when you're not at 100% health.

Eichel spoke with NHL.com's Jackie Spiegel and opened up about what went on last season:

Listen, I'm not going to make excuses. I don't think I played well last year in terms of my expectation of myself, and I'm sure the opinion of the public is probably pretty similar. They expect more out of me, and rightfully so. With that being said, I came off a major surgery after not playing for a year, and I had major spine surgery and played three months after and, so, that's pretty quick and, you know, like anybody that's had surgery or went through an injury, it takes a lot of time for you to get back to feeling like yourself. Just because you have surgery, (and) you get opened up, doesn't mean everything goes back to normal. I was injured before having surgery for a long time, and you build a lot of compensations, and you get into a lot of poor patterns, and other things start to act up. So it's been a nice summer of trying to unwind a lot of things that maybe came with the injury and just giving myself more time to heal and more time to do rehab and continue to just try and get back to feeling as much as myself as I can

Eichel's comeback started slow, however the soon-to-be 26-year-old was able to find his scoring touch, finishing the season with 25 points in 34 games. Look for the dynamic talent to get back to a point-a-game player and with some new line mates on the Golden Knights, he could be in for a monster season. Considering the shakeup in Vegas and with Robin Lehner out for the year, Eichel needs to be at his best or the team stands no chance.

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports