I don't think it IS within his rights. That's what is weird about this clause in the CBA. Well, I mean, if he wants to continue to receive a paycheque he has to follow their rules. If he wants to retire and get his surgery, all the power to him but as I mentioned earlier, Buffalo still owns his NHL rights so if he wants to play hockey in the NHL, it has to go through the Sabres. Here's a link to a write up that covers it pretty well:
https://thehockeywriters.com/sabres-...anger-for-nhl/
Some highlights from that link.
When surgery became the recommended solution, Eichel wanted a CADR implant, but team doctors recommended ACDF. This disc implant surgery has never been performed on an NHL player, which is part of Buffalo’s concern. It has been performed successfully on athletes in other sports, such as MMA fighters, but the Sabres’ well-respected team of physicians believes that ACDF is Eichel’s best option.
The success rates for both surgeries are in the 90 percent range, Dr. Prusmack said.In terms of informed medical consent, Eichel has the right to accept or refuse treatment options if he has been sufficiently informed about what is being offered. It’s considered unethical to force medical treatment of any kind. Of course, in some cases, patients do not have the legal right to say no to treatment. Persons with an altered mental state, children, those who are a threat to the community, and hockey players under the CBA’s dominion. NHL teams, after all, do have to mitigate risk to their assets.
But through the lens of patient care and postoperative success, Dr. Prusmack disagrees with the Sabres’ doctors and backs Eichel’s claim that CADR surgery would be the most beneficial path. The CBA should uphold Eichel’s right to choose what happens to his body if he has informed consent, Dr. Prusmack said.
“That could violate his human rights to feel that he is coerced to go back to a team or [hypothetically] not being cleared once he gets the artificial disc. As a doctor, I can’t fathom this. I don’t understand why the CBA has some discrepancies here…I mean, ok, so what are we going to do to start… anyone can tell me what surgery I can and can not perform and what surgeries get performed on me, and I don’t have a choice of my body. It’s absurd.”Khalid Keshavjee from The Win Column recently summed up the CBA rules on medical second opinions. At the end of the day, teams do, in fact, have the final say on what medical procedures a player must undergo if they have an NHL contract.
The CBA gives the team ultimate decision-making power, but players have the right to a second opinion. Eichel, or any other player who wishes to exercise that right, does not have to disclose to the team why they are seeking a second glance.Here’s how that works: The league has an extensive list of approved doctors who can give a second opinion, and according to the CBA, the team has to pay all expenses associated with that second opinion, including travel. If a player wants a second opinion from a doctor not on the list, that’s allowed, but in some cases, the player may not want to disclose that they are seeking a second opinion, in which case the expense is their own.
As Keshavjee points out, the tricky part is that team doctors are required under the CBA to give that second opinion “serious consideration,” and what that means is vague. If there is still a disagreement, players can take the dispute to a third party who would provide an opinion.
“However,” Keshavjee writes, “there is nothing in the CBA to say that the team doctor can be overruled by the third independent specialist. The problem is that… The whole point of the medical second opinion is that players have the right to understand what will be happening to their bodies from an independent practitioner. This allows them to better understand the situation and what the objectives of that treatment are. This should also theoretically give players more of a say in what happens to their bodies. However, this is not the case given that players cannot opt to have another course of treatment instead.”
It's an interesting case and as I say, I am not a legal expert. I am not sure what options Eichel has here. He can continue to sit out and hope for a trade or he can accept the Sabres Doctors recommendations and go through with the surgery they are recommending. I don't see that happening so his best bet is to wait and hope for a trade. I wonder how him sitting around without getting either surgery is a help to his long term health but I am not a Doctor either. In the end, this just sucks for everyone. Eichel wants surgery and wants to play, Buffalo wants him to have surgery and play or they want fair market value on what they feel he's worth and clearly they aren't getting those offers right now.
This is going to be interesting to see who moves first in this game of chicken.