Dreger: Things heating up with jack eichel

[57special]

Trade the Pegulas

Tough...they have negative value right now. Don't think I'd even go for a Parise for Pegula swap right now, which is saying something.

 

[kinghock]

Fair, but Eichel himself said he wants the surgury, so what now? I would think there are 0 teams interested in sending assets and the day after send Eichel under the knife. The GM should be fired if he does that trade.

Eichel is a real pain in the neck for Buffalo. Pun intended.
I do not believe other NHL teams’ wants to have this experience at the moment.

 

[57special]

I have seen Eichel be the best player on the ice in some nyi/Sabre games.

Teams don't like the Sabres asking price? Then trade for or sign some other 24 yr old franchise center.
Oh,wait...those types are so rarely available.

A healthy Eichel, sure. Right now we are talking about a player with a herniated disc in his neck, which he insists on trying to fix with a procedure that has an uncertain outcome on athletes in a contact sport. If an acquiring GM ignores that fact, he's an idiot.

 

[Team Cozens]

Eichel is a real pain in the neck for Buffalo. Pun intended.
I do not believe other NHL teams’ wants to have this experience at the moment.

Marty Biron said 2 months ago that Eichel would be a trade deadline deal. I believe him.

 

[Seanaconda]

I can see it working out this way, but there is the issue of the neck and how he wants to treat it... and the team's reluctance to go that route.

If rest and PT haven't worked then what? I don't think he's going to do the fusion surgery. BUF has recently said they haven't changed their stance on the replacement surgery. So how does that resolve to the point where he plays?

It will come to a head when training camp opens. Jack doesn't report and says he isn't healthy. The team DRs examine him and say he is. At that point it goes through the process as outlined in the CBA. Now this assumes Jack can find a doctor to say his neck isn't healthy to play NHL level hockey. But that probably isn't much of a challenge.

Once the NHLPA and the league get involved and there starts to be acrimony, that soap opera stuff does happen. Again, this in no way means BUF should get ripped off or make a deal that doesn't fit. But they've started this ball rolling and there is something to be said for organizational momentum. Once a group starts down a road it takes a lot to change that. Jack's going to be dealt and I really don't think it will be in November. Everyone wants to get this done, so it will be done.

No doctor is going to clear him if he says its bad because they will be sued into oblivion if he gets hurt because of it.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I think if you swapped cozens and zegras

and changed the package to
Cozens + 3rd overall + comtois + dostal
for
Eichel

cozens is good enough I’d prob be content keeping those pieces

 

[CREW99AW]

A healthy Eichel, sure. Right now we are talking about a player with a herniated disc in his neck, which he insists on trying to fix with a procedure that has an uncertain outcome on athletes in a contact sport. If an acquiring GM ignores that fact, he's an idiot.

Meanwhile, the press says there are several GMs pushing to aquire Eichel and his $10m salary.
Injury and all.

 

[Flash20]

I think if you swapped cozens and zegras

and changed the package to
Cozens + 3rd overall + comtois + dostal
for
Eichel

cozens is good enough I’d prob be content keeping those pieces

I would trade that package in a second for him

 

[Seanaconda]

Agreed. That was my point. No team is going to trade for him if they believe surgery is the only remedy for his neck. And I doubt there are many teams who believe that just rest and rehab will cure him.

Buffalo should just let him do his surgery make amends, if it sidelines him for a while they are rebuilding anyways . If he never plays again you are trying to sell broken goods, broken goods that don't want to play for you

 

[duxfan1101]

Marty Biron said 2 months ago that Eichel would be a trade deadline deal. I believe him.

How many teams in a position to acquire Eichel will have that much cap space at the deadline? No chance Buffalo is retaining anything.

 

[is the answer jesus]

Agreed, but I just wonder why they started going down this road at all.

A year ago, wouldn't Jack have been "untouchable"... not even worth talking about? Now he's clearly on the block. They have to know that the odds are that they won't win this deal. So why do it at all? It's a business and athletes (and GMs) have to always keep that in mind.... but dangling your franchise player out there for 5 months and then in October saying "Yeah nevermind we'll just keep you"....that's going to have some kind of impact and if the whole point was just to put him on the market to see if someone would overpay....then they should've done a much better job keeping it quiet.

Which makes me thinks either Jack did ask out, they have decided they want to move on from him or both. I don't think this is a theoretical exercise "Hey what do you think we can get for Jack?"

Yeah I think connecting the dots you're probably right on most of what you've laid out. Eichel's time in Buffalo is coming to an end. I wouldn't rush the deal though. They have a year before his NMC kicks in. According to TSN they are working towards a resolution regarding his neck injury. So we'll possibly get some more clarity on that front. I don't think he plays the "I'm unable to play card", he'll want to play if he can, if only to demonstrate his worth to another team.

 

[AirGut]

How many teams in a position to acquire Eichel will have that much cap space at the deadline? No chance Buffalo is retaining anything.

They might if the return coming back means it's worth it

 

[57special]

Meanwhile, the press says there are several GMs pushing to aquire Eichel and his $10m salary.
Injury and all.

Sure, but at what price? You are being simplistic, and pretending that a perfectly healthy Eichel who had a normal, productive season is worth the same as a problematically injured Eichel who only played 21 games.

 

[kinghock]

Marty Biron said 2 months ago that Eichel would be a trade deadline deal. I believe him.

You are entitle to your opinion.

 

[Headshot77]

Jack eichel for Andrew Ladd, Thomas Hickey, the rest of rick dipietros contract and charles wang's soul

fund it

Ok I know this is just a meme post but it got me thinking....can you trade a bought out player?

 

[CREW99AW]

Sure, but at what price? You are being simplistic, and pretending that a perfectly healthy Eichel who had a normal, productive season is worth the same as a problematically injured Eichel who only played 21 games.

I am not pretending Eichel is not injured. I have posted a few times in this thread that Buffalo may have to hold off on an Eichel trade until the season starts and he is playing,showing teams he is past the injury.

His nmc doesn't start until next offseason. Posters are acting as if it starts this September or October.

And keep in mind that Eichel's caphit is $10m, in a cap league. So, any GM trying to aquire Eichel likely feels confident he will get past the neck injury and play at a high level for them.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I would trade that package in a second for him

Easy to say now… but in ducks situation or Buffalo situation it’s an awful move

 

[GreenLine]

Ok I know this is just a meme post but it got me thinking....can you trade a bought out player?

No. You can trade LTIR players that haven't played in years (and this has happened), but a buyout means the team no longer has any rights to that player so they can't trade him.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

I am not pretending Eichel is not injured. I have posted a few times in this thread that Buffalo may have to hold off on an Eichel trade until the season starts and he is playing,showing teams he is past the injury.

His nmc doesn't start until next offseason. Posters are acting as if it starts this September or October.

And keep in mind that Eichel's caphit is $10m, in a cap league. So, any GM trying to aquire Eichel likely feels confident he will get past the neck injury and play at a high level for them.

That isn't much time. If there's term it's been difficult to make a move for a $5 million player, doubling that isn't gonna help. At the very best it means Buffalo is probably taking back some garbage contracts, they'd pretty much have to.

I also hate the next bit of logic. In terms of interest, sure, but in terms of value it isn't going to be that binary. That level of uncertainty is always going to have an effect on the value of something.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Delete

 

[CREW99AW]

That isn't much time. If there's term it's been difficult to make a move for a $5 million player, doubling that isn't gonna help. At the very best it means Buffalo is probably taking back some garbage contracts, they'd pretty much have to.

I also hate the next bit of logic. In terms of interest, sure, but in terms of value it isn't going to be that binary. That level of uncertainty is always going to have an effect on the value of something.

If Buffalo anounces teams are leery of Eichel's injury and the Sabres will hold onto Eichel to show he is healthy and look to trade him during the season...I think it is a good bet that the teams dreaming of landing a 24 yr old franchise center will keep enough cap flexibility, to get a deal done.

How often do 24 yr old, franchise centers become available?

 

[ForsbergMoDo21]

Buffalo should just let him do his surgery make amends, if it sidelines him for a while they are rebuilding anyways . If he never plays again you are trying to sell broken goods, broken goods that don't want to play for you

The Pegulas won’t even pay for a full front office like most NHL teams have. They’re definitely not going to void the insurance on Eichel’s deal and risk paying $50 million for someone who never plays hockey again.

 

[Uberpecker]

Sure, I've seen Backlund be the best player on the ice in some Flames/Oilers games. Doesn't mean he should be valued as a number 1 center.

Eichel isn't the franchise player he's made out to be. He's a very average #1 center.

Did you mean this in all seriouness?

If yes, you have never seen him play or simply don't know hockey.

Is his injury a concern? Sure. But to call him "a very average #1C" is simply comical.

 

[Double Dion]

Did you mean this in all seriouness?

If yes, you have never seen him play or simply don't know hockey.

Is his injury a concern? Sure. But to call him "a very average #1C" is simply comical.

Lol. Is this the only response Sabres fans have to criticisms of Jack? He's well below 15th in center scoring and doesn't do anything else well. He's ok at best of the forecheck, bad in his own end, brutal in the dot and not super physical. How in the world could an objective person think he's an elite #1 center? What is the thing Eichel is really good at? He's 33rd in scoring over the last 3 years and I'd say that's what he does best.

Would you say he's better than any of these 10 centers?

McDavid, Matthews, Mackinnon, Barkov, Aho, Point, Draisaitl, Crosby, Scheifele, Bergeron?

If not, he's an average #1 center. That's without even getting into 2 way guys like Couturier, ROR, Kopitar ect.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

If Buffalo anounces teams are leery of Eichel's injury and the Sabres will hold onto Eichel to show he is healthy and look to trade him during the season...I think it is a good bet that the teams dreaming of landing a 24 yr old franchise center will keep enough cap flexibility, to get a deal done.

How often do 24 yr old, franchise centers become available?

Never but teams are willfully not in on it already, that should be a sign. Not only that, but you're suggesting Buffalo does this to try and get teams to cave, which doesn't really jive, considering they'd have to maintain a huge level of restraint to keep that level of flexibility.

But this is all kind of meaningless as it isn't really a realistic hypothetical scenario. He isn't healthy and if the Sabres get their way he probably doesn't play next season, so there's no way of alleviating that concern. I suppose they could cave to him but it seems they'd rather just trade him now.