The center, who will be traveling with the team on its four-game road trip next week, skated with the Golden Knights on Jan. 11 for the first time since having artificial disk replacement surgery Nov. 12.
Eichel has been a no-contact participant but has been involved in every full team practice since returning.
"It's going to be at least a month or two months before he plays," DeBoer said. "(Being) around the guys every day, he's going to be coming on the road with us, on the trip at the end of the month here and start traveling with us, which provides great team-building opportunities."
If Eichel is out another two months, he would return around the time of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, which is March 21.
DeBoer's comments are the latest in what has become a varying timeline for when Eichel could make his season debut.
Last Friday, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley told "Vegas Hockey Hotline" that Eichel could make his debut with Vegas in "a few weeks."
"You saw him today. He's not that far off," Foley told the podcast. "... He's going to be ready to play."
Prior to that, Vegas president of hockey operations George McPhee told Sportsnet 590 on Jan. 11 that Eichel's timeline was unknown.
"We're two months today post surgery, and we know that he's going to be able to come back between three and five months," McPhee said. "I think he feels fantastic. It couldn't have gone any better than it has so far. But the next part will be probably the hardest in terms of when is he ready for contact and that sort of thing. So we don't have a specific date in mind, and that's probably a good thing so as to not put any pressure on him. ... Whenever he's ready, he's ready, and we'll get him in there."
Eichel, who was acquired by Vegas in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 4, told NHL Network the following day he thought he'd be able to return to play three months after surgery, which would be the second week of February. Last week, he said he didn't have a specific target date for when he planned to return.
"I think it's a see how you feel and see how you progress and how confident and comfortable you are," Eichel said Jan. 11. "I think at that point, you'll know. … I feel like I'll know mentally and physically and emotionally when I'm ready to go. The team and the organization has been so supportive not putting a hard date of when I need to be back or when they expect me to be back. Just very low pressure. You have different milestones you want to meet during this process.
"I want to make sure when I feel physically as confident as I can be that I can play my game. That just comes with practice time and reps. I'm not in a rush right now to get anywhere."
Eichel, who has not played since March 7, 2021, scored 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 21 games last season and 355 points (139 goals, 216 assists) in 375 games in six seasons with Buffalo.
The Golden Knights begin their road trip at the Washington Capitals on Monday, then play at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, at the Florida Panthers next Thursday, and at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 29.
