The center skated on a line with extra forwards Nolan Patrick and Michael Amadio. He is recovering from artificial disk replacement surgery Nov. 12 and had been practicing since Jan. 11 but held out of contact drills.
"He's been cleared for contact," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "That's the first day of full contact he's had, is it 17 or 18 months or something like that? So now it's a matter of, how does he respond? Do a little bit more the next day, a little bit more the next day. Hope for no setbacks. He feels great right now in talking to him. He's excited.
"I don't know what the timeline will be, but at least the process has started."
Vegas, which acquired Eichel in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 4, has not provided a timeline for when the 25-year-old might make his season debut. The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (28-16-3) defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 on Tuesday and play at the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. They're home next week against the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 16 and Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 18,
"The further along [Eichel] gets with this, the more exciting it gets for us," Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said Friday during the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. "This is a big step for him, big change. I think he's excited to be on a team that can compete year in and year out. That's the big thing for him. Different culture for him to come here where we've been successful since the franchise [has] begun.
"The trickle-down effect of having [him in] the lineup, it's going to be fun to see. It's going to bring some good depth. We like where our lineup is, and when you add guys like him of his caliber, it's only going to make us better."
Eichel scored 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 21 games for Buffalo last season. He has not played since March 7, 2021.
"[Eichel] is one of the best skaters I've ever seen, easiest skaters I've ever seen," Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. "I think he's going to help in pretty much every part of the game. He's going to help us score goals, he's going to help on the power play, [present] matchup problems. You're adding one of the best centermen in the world into your lineup, however long it is, a month, two weeks, whatever it is.
"You're adding one of the best players on the planet."
Selected by Buffalo with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Eichel has scored 355 points (139 goals, 216 assists) in 375 NHL games. He scored at least 24 goals in each of his first five NHL seasons, including a career-high 36 in 2019-20.
"I think he can just come in and do his thing," DeBoer said Friday. "He doesn't have the pressure to carry a team, and I talked to him the other day. He's never played an NHL playoff game yet, and I know that's exciting for him. That's a whole different level of hockey when you get to that time of year. So I'm excited for him because I think he's going to excel in that type of game and I know he's excited about the opportunity to play playoff hockey."
NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika, staff writer Tom Gulitti, senior fantasy editor Pete Jensen and independent correspondent Danny Webster contributed to this report
