Speculation: Jack Eichel

[Mr Positive]

I don't see him bending and getting the fusion, at all. If it's a procedure that important you don't compromise.

So either he risks his financial future by getting the surgery and risking whatever comes, or Buffalo finds a suitor willing to take the risks involved. Perhaps the only way that happens is if the trade involves a lot of value tied in conditional picks, spanning several years.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Most likely nobody will even consider trading for him until he's healthy

This saga has made his trade value absolutely plummet, so I don't think it's smart for Buffalo to trade him yet anyways.

What an absolute clown show this whole thing has become though

 

[TS Quint]

It's a massive money issue.

The surgery that Eichel wants, if it does not go well, the team will be on the hook for it if they agree to let him have the procedure. I haven't seen anything that insurance would cover the contract if Eichel gets the surgery he wants. Most likely, insurance would only cover the standard procedures for his injury.

So, is Jack willing to risk the remainder of his contract if the surgery doesn't go as expected?

As of right now it’s not a massive money issue.

Any supporting evidence to any of this?

 

[TS Quint]

Supposedly they were shopping him last summer.... or at least listening. They could've gotten a good Pick + in either the 20 or 21 draft and be a year or 2 closer to seeing a reward from the trade. As it stands now it's going to be hard to trade him until the offseason... and at that point BUF is looking at paying 3/4 of his salary ($7.5m bonus) for 2022 to play on another team.

I wouldn't say they've "screwed themselves" but I doubt whatever they end up getting will be as good as what they would've gotten in 2020... and that's not even taking into account the 2 extra years of delayed gratification.

I guess hindsight is 20/20. Kind of pointless right now.

 

[TS Quint]

I cannot understand an employer can deny a man the right to get surgery if his health is at risk.

But I'm not American.

He can have any surgery he wants.

 

[Dr Quincy]

I guess hindsight is 20/20. Kind of pointless right now.

Great points. BUF is handling things just right. 10 year rebuild, trading their 2nd best F, having no NHL goalies, and now without their franchise player who they lost games on purpose to add.

3-D chess being played there.

 

[CaptainKirk]

That’s just wrong his value can only improve.

#1 who has doctors that will let him do the surgery that has never been done on a hockey player before?

#2 Why is another team any smarter than the Sabres to have the same problem?

Had the Sabres accepted any of the reportedly decent offers they received months ago, questions 1 and 2 wouldn’t matter to Buffalo. What the team wanted was equal value for a happy, healthy, Captain Eichel. He is none of those now. Now the team is still stuck with questions. Which surgery will he get? When will he get it? How will he play afterwards? How much distraction will all of this cause throughout the season? Will teams still want him? Will they offer MORE then they did previously? That’s a big gamble when they could have made a decent trade months ago and moved on.

 

[TS Quint]

Great points. BUF is handling things just right. 10 year rebuild, trading their 2nd best F, having no NHL goalies, and now without their franchise player who they lost games on purpose to add.

3-D chess being played there.

Not quite understanding your point.

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

What happens if Eichel just went ahead with the surgery? What would the Sabres do, terminate his contract?

 

[TS Quint]

Had the Sabres accepted any of the reportedly decent offers they received months ago, questions 1 and 2 wouldn’t matter to Buffalo. What the team wanted was equal value for a happy, healthy, Captain Eichel. He is none of those now. Now the team is still stuck with questions. Which surgery will he get? When will he get it? How will he play afterwards? How much distraction will all of this cause throughout the season? Will teams still want him? Will they offer MORE then they did previously? That’s a big gamble when they could have made a decent trade months ago and moved on.

What were the offers and from who?

Who decided they were decent offers and compared to what?

As of right now he’s not with the team so I don’t see the distraction.

you sure like to speculate.

 

[Dr Quincy]

.

 

[ORRFForever]

What happens if Eichel just went ahead with the surgery? What would the Sabres do, terminate his contract?

The Sabres would see how the surgery turned out. If it turns out well, Mazel Tov. If it turns out badly, the Sabres could/would walk away.

Simply put: Eichel will NOT do it on his own.

 

[Mr Positive]

What happens if Eichel just went ahead with the surgery? What would the Sabres do, terminate his contract?

That seems unlikely. They'd lose him for nothing. They'd likely wait to see how the recovery goes, and then terminate the deal if it goes badly

Edit: ORRforever beat me to it. But yeah, I dont see why there would be a deadline on contract termination

I also doubt Eichel would be so principled as to risk his contract so this is a pickle

 

[ORRFForever]

I recommend that posters who expect the Sabres to allow Eichel to have ADR start a Go Fund Me page to cover the insurance that will be lost.

If insurance covers 80%, it would be $40M so dig DEEP.

 

[Dr Quincy]

I recommend that posters who expect the Sabres to allow Eichel to have ADR start a Go Fund Me page and contribute heavily to cover the insurance that will be lost.

What proof do you have that insurance won't cover it?

 

[ORRFForever]

What proof do you have that insurance won't cover it?

It's been widely discussed online, in print and on TV.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

What happens if Eichel just went ahead with the surgery? What would the Sabres do, terminate his contract?

No they'd suspend him without pay until he was cleared if ever to play again

 

[Mr Positive]

What proof do you have that insurance won't cover it?

You're right that we dont know the exact contract but everything we know of insurance says that of course they'd wiggle out of paying. He goes against the team doctors. It's an experimental surgery. This is out of bounds

 

[TheNumber4]

Again, the Optimal Strategy for the Sabres is to find a way for him to get healthy and find a way for him to actually play some games to prove his health. This will get the largest return for the Sabres, which is EXACTLY what they should be shooting for. So the longer this goes, doesn't hurt the Sabres.

Look how long Sakic held out for his ask on Duchene. Took a while, but Sakic got an absolute HAUL for a player with much less potential than Eichel.

 

[Dr Quincy]

It's been widely discussed online, in print and on TV.

It's been speculated. Do you have a source that definitively stated it?

If you are correct then why would any team make any offers for Eichel at all, and we know that teams have? Aren't those other teams concerned about having a $50m contract uninsured?

 

[The Moose is Loose]

You're right that we dont know the exact contract but everything we know of insurance says that of course they'd wiggle out of paying. He goes against the team doctors. It's an experimental surgery. This is out of bounds

Its not an experimental surgery. It is the standard procedure for disk replacement for the past decade, with a success rate over 95%. Spinal fusion's success rate is 70-90% (granted its normally unhealthier patients being forced in fusions nowadays).

It just hasn't been preformed on a NHL player yet, doesn't make it experimental.

 

[Mr Positive]

Its not an experimental surgery. It is the standard procedure for disk replacement for the past decade, with a success rate over 95% (quite good considering the quality of health for patients undergoing such a procedure).

It just hasn't been preformed on a NHL player yet, doesn't make it experimental.

It makes it experimental in that an NHL player has very particular hazards that other people don't have. I don't know what sports have this procedure as common, so I could be wrong, but in the NHL you will be cross checked in the neck. Your head will bounce off the ice. There will be liberties with elbows. I don't know man. I know this seems harsh, but you wouldn't want the first player to get this to be one with this much prominence, and this huge contract.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

It makes it experimental in that an NHL player has very particular hazards that other people don't have. I don't know what sports have this procedure as common, so I could be wrong, but in the NHL you will be cross checked in the neck. Your head will bounce off the ice. There will be liberties with elbows. I don't know man. I know this seems harsh, but you wouldn't want the first player to get this to be one with this much prominence, and this huge contract.

Skiing/Snowboarding has a much higher incidence of spinal and head injuries than hockey and this procedure is recommend for those who are eligible for it even if they do a recreational sport like that.

The NHL being married to spinal fusions is just an example of not keeping up with the times from a medical standpoint. Yeah there is some risk, but there is to every surgery. If Eichel isn't the first someone else will be.

 

[Mr Positive]

Skiing/Snowboarding has a much higher incidence of spinal and head injuries than hockey and this procedure is recommend for those who are eligible for it even if they do a recreational sport like that.

The NHL being married to spinal fusions is just an example of not keeping up with the times from a medical standpoint. Yeah there is some risk, but there is to every surgery. If Eichel isn't the first someone else will be.

I have to plead ignorance here, because I tend to trust expert opinions. But, you seem right about it if a sport like skiing has it already. I'd still hope for a player at the end of their career to try this in the NHL first, before someone as young and prominent as Eichel.

But, if Eichel believes it is as safe as you do, he should just do it and risk his financial security. It would make him more tradeable if he went through the surgery and it were successful.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

I have to plead ignorance here, because I tend to trust expert opinions. But, you seem right about it if a sport like skiing has it already. I'd still hope for a player at the end of their career to try this in the NHL first, before someone as young and prominent as Eichel.

But, if Eichel believes it is as safe as you do, he should just do it and risk his financial security. It would make him more tradeable if he went through the surgery and it were successful.

Oh I agree, it is much higher stakes since its a young superstar who is set to make 9 figures in his career instead of some 4th liner.
But at this point it is an inevitability that athletes in general will migrate away from fusions to more progressive procedures like ADR. There is simply a lot more upside like extended range, flexibility, and decreased pain.

The fact it is allowed for skiers speaks volumes to the surgery's durability in my opinion. A colloquialism I've heard while in medical school is that skiing pays for every neurosurgeons second house (which speaks to the volume of spine/brain cases the sport generates).