Eichel landing spot

[als_revenge]

So as time passes, the value/price for Eichel keeps dropping. First, waiting until after the FA frenzy means fewer teams have cap space. Second, asking for four assets - yeah, that’s over. Buffalo can’t afford to keep him on LTIR - the fan base would revolt. So, which of these work?

1) Jake Guentzel + 2nd-round picks in 2022 and 2023, that each become 1st rounders when Eichel plays 60 games or one playoff round. BUF retains $3million.

2) Sean Monahan + Mikael Backlund + 2023 1st round pick

3) Nico Hischier + Alexander Holtz + PK Subban + 2022 2nd round, which becomes 1st (same conditions as for PIT).

Clearly more fun to think about than reality…. but SOMETHING has to give, and Adams needs to be fired if he blows this more than he’s already done.

As a Buffalo fan, I would revolt if either of your first two offers were even considered as starting points. I could work with the NJD offer, but not with any type of conditional pick. Better off to just hold him and wait for the surgery, or rehab, or whatever....and deal him when he's good to go.

[Dr.Brad]

As a Buffalo fan, I would revolt if either of your first two offers were even considered as starting points. I could work with the NJD offer, but not with any type of conditional pick. Better off to just hold him and wait for the surgery, or rehab, or whatever....and deal him when he's good to go.

I agree with you in theory, but so far it’s been nothing. And any team that trades 2 firsts and a quality player, without knowing that Eichel can even play??? Buffalo needs to prove that before he’s worth more than a couple Powerball tickets.

[Axeman33]

I agree with you in theory, but so far it’s been nothing. And any team that trades 2 firsts and a quality player, without knowing that Eichel can even play??? Buffalo needs to prove that before he’s worth more than a couple Powerball tickets.

But Eichel is a long term investment. you KNOW he's going to play at some point, and probably end up being the better asset after all the dust settles on the players going the other way once it happens.

[tweetdrivr]

But Eichel is a long term investment. you KNOW he's going to play at some point, and probably end up being the better asset after all the dust settles on the players going the other way once it happens.

That's part of the problem with Buffalo's reluctance to release medical info - potential trade partners do not know that he's going to play and be fine. Otherwise we would not be at this point.

[Axeman33]

That's part of the problem with Buffalo's reluctance to release medical info - potential trade partners do not know that he's going to play and be fine. Otherwise we would not be at this point.

All you have to do is listen to Eichel's agents in the media. They are telling the other teams all the info they need to know.

What is being left out of the discussion is that Jack would be able to play in the NHL for the start of the season pending medical clearance if he were allowed to have the surgery he desires as of this date.

What else do the other teams needs to know?

[tweetdrivr]

All you have to do is listen to Eichel's agents in the media. They are telling the other teams all the info they need to know.



What else do the other teams needs to know?

Seems like, if I'm a GM thinking about this trade, I want more than statements from his agents on whether or not he's a medical risk...

[Axeman33]

Seems like, if I'm a GM thinking about this trade, I want more than statements from his agents on whether or not he's a medical risk...

Well sure, but the point stands that Eichel isn't that far from playing again, assuming he can get the surgery he is looking for.

[Dennis]

All you have to do is listen to Eichel's agents in the media. They are telling the other teams all the info they need to know.

What else do the other teams needs to know?

I mean, if he is traded, that pending medical clearance to have him start the season would have to come from the organisation trading for him, which presently may not know anything, so I'd think they need to know everything the Sabres know to evaluate whether they could reasonably clear him to play in a few months.

[tweetdrivr]

Well sure, but the point stands that Eichel isn't that far from playing again, assuming he can get the surgery he is looking for.

Man I hope we can get some sort of resolution on this. I own him in a 12 team partial keeper H2H and our keeper deadline is 20 August. I don't know what to do with him.

[Daydream Nation]

Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay. Both Buffalo and Eichel need to figure out how to increase his value. Personally, I think they need to let him get the replacement disc surgery and maybe even play half the season in order to get maximum value for him. And both sides are under pressure. Doing nothing decreases his value and while Eichel will still get paid, he will lose a season or a big chunk of it in his prime if they do not hurry up and figure out this medical issue. While I dislike Eichel and am mostly indifferent to Buffalo, I do find this story fascinating.

[Axeman33]

Man I hope we can get some sort of resolution on this. I own him in a 12 team partial keeper H2H and our keeper deadline is 20 August. I don't know what to do with him.

One of the few money leagues I am in (in my signature), I also own him so yeah, I want him playing too.

[kovalchuk17]

Man I hope we can get some sort of resolution on this. I own him in a 12 team partial keeper H2H and our keeper deadline is 20 August. I don't know what to do with him.

You probs should be keeping him as long as your league keeps 3-4? players each. He's too good when healthy and even if he doesn't start the season on time he'd be quite the mid-season acquisition for h2h playoffs

Id say both the GM and Jack's agents played this all wrong. If Jack were healthy, teams would have no problem shelling out 3-4 assets. The cap hit is what it is, Seth Jones got 3 assets and a 9.5m AAV contract right away anyways since he is healthy. If Buffalo was really really against the surgery as they seem to be, why would you purposely keep your player 'hurt' while still asking for 4 assets still. If you want the next team to take the risk that medical risk, your asking price should be lower. As for Jack's agents, they should not have put Adams on blast. Some GMs/people take it really really personally when you do something like that.

I am currently super glad I did not acquire Jack earlier in the offseason. while i won the league, i didnt want to rest on my laurels since i felt my keepers werent as strong as some of the teams i squeaked out victory over. i made what i thought was a sizable offer for jack but got outbid by a re-tooling team. phew lol

[dejeanneret]

Delicate situation here. Contrary to what some in the media are saying, I fail to see how or why the Sabres need to trade Eichel. They'd like to. He'd like them to. But they don't really need to.

This isn't a situation where the contract is soon expiring, or the owners lack the funds to pay the contract even if Jack is put on LTIR for a while, or the Sabres realistically are confidently eyeing a playoff spot (much less a deep run) in the next year or two with/without Jack as a member of the organization.

The Sabres arguably haven't had an asset as important as Eichel that they're looking to move since the days of Pierre Turgeon some 30 years ago. That trade netted them Pat LaFontaine. The return for trading away Eichel has to have a similar type of impact (or at least be as close as possible). There's so much at stake here for the Sabres as an organization, they really can't afford to "sell low."

So if the return they're being offered isn't yet what they want, I think they're smart to hold off. In fact, when a player of that caliber is traded, I think all GMs are wise to wait for the "right" return, rather than jumping at the best available "current return." For once, that seems to be the smart long-term play rather than the short-term "maybe this'll save my job" play -- which usually ends as a colossal mistake soon before that group of team execs is shown the door.

So I agree completely with what Dobber had to say about the recent airing of grievances by Jack's agent -- stupid move. If that makes other GMs lower their offer, I don't think Jack is going anywhere. And he can thank his agent for that.

[rangersfury]

I have no doubt that Adams was ready to trade him at any given point as long as he could get his asking price. I can only assume (I am not a NHL GM so I cant say anything for certain) that GMs are trying to lowball Adams, or at least get Eichel at a discount and Adams isn't havent any of that.

None of us truly know his asking price, we only know what the media sends out as a possible asking price, but whatever it is, it sounds like he's going to be firm on it, and I cant blame him. I would be too if I was in his shoes.

100% agree. I thought this came from Larry Brooks (aka, the Rangers' personal Minister of NHL Propaganda) but looks like it may have instead come from Friedman's podcast, that the Rangers aren't even entertaining either Nils Lundkvist or Braden Schneider as part of the return for Eichel. I don't know what that means in the context of the rest of the proposed trade package, but it tells me that Drury (and Guerin, and all the other potential trade partners) are definitely lowballing Adams, and are working to drive the Eichel price down.

In my personal opinion, it's a bit of a catch-22. The Sabres want young, high-upside, cost-controlled talent. The team taking on Eichel's cap hit needs the same to balance out his AAV to ice a competitive team. I originally was thinking this would get resolved this offseason, now I'm starting to lean 60/40 that a trade will happen next offseason instead.

[Daydream Nation]

Maybe Adams should share with Eichel's camp what the lowball offers are.