Orthopedics This Month: Spine - Fall 2024 | Page 33

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the 2nd round , Eichel and the Knights defeated the Oilers in six games . The Knights were on a roll and moved through their next opponent , the Dallas Stars , in six games . Next to fall before the Eichel led Golden Knights were the Florida Panthers .

For the first time ever , both the Golden Knights and Jack Eichel , 26 years old , were in the Stanley Cup Playoffs .

In those playoffs , Eichel led the league in postseason scoring with 26 points , the third-most for any NHL player in their first playoffs . He finished second in voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP , behind linemate Jonathan Marchessault .

The Buffalo Sabres ended their 2023 season in 5th place in the Atlantic division , missing the playoffs yet again .

Eichel and the Golden Knights ? They won the whole thing . The Stanley Cup .

But not before Eichel endured a thunderbolt of a hit .

In the final game , of the 2023 Stanley Cup championship series .

His head down , the puck in his stick , speeding to the goal , Eichel crashed into Matthew Tkachut ’ s shoulder which not only stopped Eichel cold , but laid him flat on the ice and sent his helmet skittering across the rink .

It was a thunderous open ice hit .

Eichel picked himself up , held his shoulder , and went into the locker room to recover . Several minutes later , he returned to the ice . And scored his second goal of the game to rout the Panthers , winning 4 out of 5 games , and take-home hockey ’ s fabled Stanley Cup .

Jack Eichel ’ s Surgery Becomes the ‘ Tommy John Surgery ’ of Hockey

Among professional hockey players , total disc arthroplasty is now known as Jack Eichel ’ s surgery and is taking on the kind of mythical status that , in baseball , Tommy John surgery has .

The major league pitcher , Tommy John , famously had ulnar collateral ligament ( UCL ) surgery by Dr . Frank Jobe in 1974 that was so successful , it revived and extended his career . Since then , hundreds of major league pitchers also benefited significantly from “ Tommy John ” surgery .

Now , an increasing number of hockey players , who ’ ve endured years of tingling and numbness and outright pain as a result of severe herniation or degenerative disc disease , are asking for the “ Jack Eichel Surgery .”

“ A year ago nobody had had it , and now all of a sudden , three guys have had it ,” said Eichel , “ It ’ s a more common injury than you think and it ’ s a good way to resolve that injury , so I ’ m happy that guys had the opportunity to do it .”

Chicago forward Tyler Johnson had a total disc replacement in December 2022 , and Philadelphia ’ s Joel Farabee had it in June 2023 .

And , of course , the best way to cap off this Hollywood ending is to recognize the great surgeon , Harvard undergrad , Columbia and University of Miami trained , superstar in his own field , Chad Prusmack , M . D . of the Rocky Mountain Spine Clinic in Denver , who made sure Eichel got the right surgery , for the right indication and executed like the top rank professional he is . ♦