It appears that Jack Eichel needs to spend some time in the offseason studying NBA stars from the 1980s and 1990s, or at least watching more television to see some of the commercials that contain Charles Barkley.
Because, according to Barkley, the Vegas Golden Knights center had "zero idea" who he was when the pair overlapped at the same hotel Friday in Florida.
"I said, 'Hey, Mr. Eichel, it's an honor. You're a great player,'" Barkley said in an interview with Sportsnet. "But he looked at me like, 'Who the hell are you?' It was pretty funny."
Barkley walked up to Eichel and told him "how great he was" and how it was "an honor" to meet him, he said.
The Sportsnet reporter was about to end the interview after one final question - "last one for you then on that," he told Barkley - but then Barkley cut him off, saying that "I gotta tell you something."
Charles Barkley got humbled by. Jack Eichel? ?? pic.twitter.com/PuMdISlS84
That's when Barkley, a member of TNT's "Inside the NBA" crew and one of NBA TV's pregame and postgame analysts for Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, proceeded recalled his encounter with Eichel.
The Golden Knights star, acquired by the team in November 2021 after six seasons with the Sabres, has compiled 23 points in 21 postseason games following 66 points in 67 regular-season games.
In Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final, though, he received a massive hit from Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk while trying to skate the puck out of the Vegas zone - tumbling to the ice as Tkachuk's shoulder collided with Eichel's shoulder area, dislodging his helmet and knocking it off his head.
Eichel, who'd already assisted on Vegas' first goal, later returned and assisted on Jonathan Marchessault's third-period tally in the Golden Knights' 7-2 win.
After its Game 4 victory Saturday, Vegas needs one more win in order to clinch the franchise's first Stanley Cup in just its sixth season since selecting an expansion team.