Jack Eichel to debut for Knights this week; star forward on IR

Almost every time the Golden Knights faced adversity this season, which has been often, something else comes along to compound the issue.

At least the latest concern for the Pacific Division points leader was offset Monday by a positive development.

On the day the team announced captain Mark Stone is headed for long-term injured reserve because of a recurring back injury, it was revealed center Jack Eichel will make his debut Wednesday when the Knights host the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena.

“It’s bittersweet,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “I feel for (Stone) and he’s begun a program of care with certain specialists starting today.

“Independent of that, we’re tremendously excited about Jack Eichel hitting the ice. It’s been a long wait, but well worth it.”

Stone was shut down for the second time with an issue that stems back to last season’s playoff run when he was held without a point in six games during the Stanley Cup semifinals against Montreal.

The back injury limited Stone during training camp and the preseason before he had to be helped to the locker room midway through the second game of the season at Los Angeles. Stone missed the next 12 games and returned Nov. 13, but clearly hasn’t been himself since.

He missed four straight games after the extended holiday break, and McCrimmon said the team made the decision to cut back Stone’s ice time in January.

After appearing in his first All-Star Game at T-Mobile Arena on Feb. 5, Stone played 15:44 against Edmonton on Feb. 8 and was scratched the following night at Calgary.

“It’s difficult to define exactly what the issue is,” McCrimmon said. “I think that’s been really frustrating for Mark. And yet that’s the types of things that we’ve got to try to get to the bottom of.”

Stone has seen six specialists across North America, according to McCrimmon, and undergone 10 to 12 diagnostic exams. The Knights remain hopeful Stone doesn’t need surgery and that he’ll be ready for the postseason in May, but there is no timeline for his return.

“I don’t think it’s a case where further damage has been done or we’re regretting that we played him when we played him or anything like that,” McCrimmon said. “I think it’s just a time where realistically he felt he had no chance of getting through March. When you look ahead, he just really felt that was going to be incredibly challenging. I look at it from a general manager’s perspective, the month of May is going to be harder than the month of March.”

Sending Stone’s $9.5 million salary cap hit to long-term IR frees up more than enough space for the Knights to activate Eichel, who was acquired from Buffalo in November and underwent artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck.

Eichel hasn’t played since March 7.

“I always kind of had the date circled for awhile,” Eichel said of Wednesday’s game. “Just had to go through all the protocols, and obviously it’s a process and you want everything to go pretty smoothly. I just feel like I’m at the point where I’m ready to play.”

Eichel was cleared for full contact Feb. 7 and acknowledged he will have to absorb a couple of hits to clear the mental hurdle that comes with returning from any injury.

He was the first NHL player to have the artificial disk replacement surgery, and Eichel is reminding himself it will take some time until he returns to his peak.

The Knights have 34 games remaining, which is plenty of time for Eichel to find his entering the postseason. McCrimmon admitted that when the trade was finalized, the organization was unsure how many regular-season games, if any, Eichel would play.

“I’m ready to rock,” Eichel said.

During Monday’s practice, Eichel skated on the first line with left wing Max Pacioretty and right wing Evgenii Dadonov.

Coach Pete DeBoer also experimented with breaking up the Misfit Line, placing Mattias Janmark at wing with William Karlsson and Reilly Smith.

Leading scorer Chandler Stephenson and top goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault were joined on the third line by Nicolas Roy, who had success filling in as a winger two seasons ago.

DeBoer said the Knights will have to manage Eichel’s playing time at first and ease him back into carrying a full, 20-minute workload.

“I think what Jack allows us to do is really gives us some center depth there to potentially create some mismatches,” DeBoer said. “Those are all things we’re throwing in the blender here right now and we’ll see.

”I don’t know what’ll stick and what won’t. We’re going to try some things.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.