EXCLUSIVE: Knights’ Eichel talks being part of new Amazon NHL series
Jack Eichel was in disbelief.
The second period just ended in Game 7 of the Golden Knights’ first-round series against the Dallas Stars. Eichel missed a surefire goal that would’ve given the Knights a lead heading into the third period.
Instead, the Knights lost 2-1, and their season ended earlier than anticipated.
“Jesus Christ!” he yelled with some expletives sprinkled in. He put his head against the nameplate on his locker, cameras capturing his emotion in the moment.
That wasn’t seen on TV. Fans will get to see what Eichel and the Knights went through last season, as well as a peak into Eichel’s private life, in the new docuseries “FACEOFF: Inside the NHL” that will premiere on Prime Video on Friday.
The series was produced by Box to Box Productions, the company that created the Formula One “Drive to Survive” and golf “Full Swing” Netflix series.
Eichel is one of 12 players featured in the six-episode series.
The Knights’ center shares the spotlight with Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg in the second episode, “As Tough As it Gets.”
“He’s the face of American hockey,” TNT commentator Paul Bissonnette said. “A remarkable player at both ends of the ice.”
It’s not the first time Eichel has had cameras in his face. He was part of ESPN’s “Quest for the Cup” series chronicling the Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup in 2023, and was in the “Road to the Winter Classic” series created by the NHL.
This one is different. Eichel had to peel back the curtain to show his life away from the rink.
That includes time with longtime girlfriend Erin Basil and one of their two French Bulldogs, Harold.
“I feel hockey players, in general, are pretty private people,” Eichel said in a phone interview with the Review-Journal. “It took some guys getting out of their comfort zone to be able to do it, and then communicating and working with them to get as much good content as possible.
“They’re just looking for good content, and at the same time, we’re trying to be ourselves. It’s definitely interesting having a camera around you for an extended amount of time, but they were really good and super easy to work with.”
‘I love it here’
It begins at Piero’s Italian Cuisine. Eichel, Basil, defenseman Noah Hanifin and his wife, Monique, order dinner, and Eichel is asked if he’s going to have wine.
“Does a bear s— in the woods?” he replies with a laugh.
Eichel promises he’s not a wine connoisseur, but he knows what he likes. He ordered a bottle of Sassicaia.
While ordering food, the show cuts to a glimpse into Eichel’s hockey journey, from winning the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top college player, to being drafted second by the Buffalo Sabres in 2015.
Eichel’s time in Buffalo is shown, including getting stripped of the team’s captaincy in 2021 for refusing to undergo a neck fusion surgery.
The show highlights Eichel moving forward with artificial disk replacement surgery, considered unconventional for a hockey player at the time, to then getting traded to the Knights in November 2021.
While he wasn’t in Las Vegas in the Knights’ first year, he told Hanifin that it’s a city full of die-hard fans, pointing to the number of Knights license plates throughout the city.
“I love it here,” Eichel said. “It’s fun, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. If you don’t produce, the organization will always move on.”
Detail-oriented
Hockey players can be creatures of habit. They have a routine they abide by.
Eichel is no different. Most of it is what he eats on gamedays. Basil was tired of Eichel eating the same meals over and over again, so he hired a chef to cook for him and his teammates whenever they come over.
“When you’re doing the same thing over and over, it becomes monotonous and you get sick of a routine,” Eichel said. “It’s no different for me. Sometimes it takes changing it up to change the way things are going, but for the most part, I think everyone keeps a similar routine.”
Moving forward
The missed net in Game 7 at Dallas is the classic “what if?” scenario.
If Eichel scores, maybe the Knights knock off the top seed in the Western Conference and continue their run for a second straight Stanley Cup.
While it was something Eichel was mad at about at the time, it’s not something he’s carrying as motivation into this season.
“It’s in the past. I have no control over what happened there,” Eichel said. “For me, it’s about the present and what I can do moving forward.”
It was an authentic moment captured in the heat of the moment, which is something Eichel enjoyed about the show.
He anticipates people asking more questions once the show is released.
“It was a cool experience,” he said. “Hopefully the fans enjoy it, and it continues to grow our game.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.