If the Lindros trade happened in a salary cap era, with Lindros 5 years into his career and a $10m annual cap hit, that trade would have looked much different.
When star players get traded, even the rare instances where it was a megastar, the return is never what fans hope it will be. If your young star wants out of town, you lost the trade the moment he made those wishes known
Eichel would get a crazy good package of prospects and young players, no doubt. But he's not getting Lafreniere/Kakko/Fox/Zibanejad/2 1sts/3 prospects, etc. He's not even getting traded for a cost controlled potential superstar like Lafreniere unless it was a 1 for 1, and even then I don't see it.
Also, Eichel isn't going anywhere for at least another season. Can't see the divorce happening now, based on what they've already paid him in bonuses. Let's assume the Sabres get worst next year and have a bad offseason right after, and Eichel demands a trade.
Let's say that Kakko has a breakout year, maybe 60ish points, to show that he's still on pace to be a star winger. And other top NYR prospects continue to improve.
If the deal happened with NYR, you're likely looking at a package similar to: Kakko/Kreider (Salary reasons, plus he's an elite top 6 and a proven leader)/Nils Lundqvist/Chytil (especially if he has an improved season showing he's capable of at least being a #2 center, if not more), plus 2 unprotected 1st rounders.
In other words: a top line veteran forward, two young potential stars under the age of 22 (one of whom is legitimately one of the 5 best players under 21 in hockey), one of the 10 best defensive prospects in the game, and two unprotected firsts.
It'll be the same type of deal from LA, and whoever else. And honestly, it might not even be as good of a deal as I just described.
Not trying to troll Sabres fans here, and I honestly don't think Eichel's going to be traded, but we know the history of how deals like this go down, and it isn't pretty.