darksabre

They don't lose the asset. He's still their property until his contract expires. The only way he becomes a UFA is if they waive him. He's still their asset if they void his contract.

I don't know what part of this you don't understand, but your logic is terribly flawed.

No. They won't. Because if they do, then it would be a tacit admission that they now accept the risk of the ADR procedure. Which they never will. If Jack gets the ADR surgery, his contract will be terminated before he's out of the operating room. The team doctors will never look at him. And his NHL career will be over until his contract with the Sabres is up.

It's not very clear, but the section on termination of the SPC via waivers explicitly states that the player becomes a UFA, whereas the section he Sabres would use to terminate his SPC for getting the ADR surgery doesn't make any indication that the club would give up their signing rights to the player.

Yup. I also wouldn't be surprised if the end result of this process is that the league and the NHLPA come back to Jack and his agent and say "sorry guys, we can't make this work" and his only option is fusion, retire, or get suspended without pay by the Sabres for the remaining length of his contract. He's very much stuck. I don't envy him. His entire career is in jeopardy.

Yup. I suspect the league and the NHLPA are trying to figure out a way to let Jack have the ADR that he wants in a way that is acceptable to the Sabres and Jack, and that doesn't make the rest of the league owners and players furious.

I also want to add that I expect the Sabres have no interest in helping Jack make a mockery of the CBA. The only way Jack gets the ADR as a Sabre is if an agreement can be arrived at that respects the framework of the CBA.

They wouldn't clear him. No chance. The only way it happens is if they come to an agreement ahead of time, which is what the lawyers are for.

The Sabres will never assume that risk. They would void his contract immediately.

What are the metrics for determining the procedure is a success? Is it not possible that there would be points down the road where the ADR fails and suddenly Jack is no longer able to play while still under contract? The team would absolutely void the contract immediately if he got surgery they haven't approved. There's no way he goes this route without knowing how it will affect his financial situation going forward.

Yup. Unfortunately I think evidence indicates that Peter Fish was not equal to the task and ultimately held this process up longer than needed.

I still feel like it could go either way, but it's going to come down to some kind of massive legal agreement that doesn't yet exist. It makes sense now why Jack would have changed agents, whether it was his idea or the league's idea. He needed to be represented by a much more capable agency because they likely retain better legal counsel who can work with the leagues lawyers, the NHLPA, the insurance companies, and the Sabres lawyers to figure out something that is amenable to everyone. I would bet this situation is mostly out of Adams' hands for the time being.

The other thing I want to note regarding the Sabres being in this for the long haul is their cap situation. They have made no moves that would put them in a spot where Eichel coming off LTIR would be a problem for them. I think they fully anticipate that he might be here when his NMC kicks in, and they don't want his cap hit to force them to do anything they don't want to do with respect to that NMC. They want him to waive it and they aren't going to give him any leverage to prevent that from happening.

And to expand on this, I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere, which is that if anyone thinks this situation will be resolved quickly, they're going to be disappointed. We have, at this point, both a GM (and owners) and a player who no longer want that player on this team. KA wants him gone, but the injuries screwed the whole thing up, and despite the fact that I don't believe Jack wanted out prior to the injuries, he certainly wants out now that the injuries are keeping him from playing hockey at all. Adams doesn't care about Jack's feelings or his desire to get back on the ice, he only cares about maximizing the trade value to move on from a player they don't want around. The problem with being focused on Jack as an asset and nothing else, is that right now his value is absolutely the lowest it's ever been. So the only choice they have is to rehabilitate the asset's value. They aren't just going to "rid themselves of the problem" like some people think they must be itching to do. I assure you they do not give a damn. So don't be surprised if Jack is still here in December. Or May. Or August... Or October.... Some don't think he'll ever play for the Sabres again. I think...it depends.

I believe the Sabres have been trying to trade Eichel since Adams was hired and the reason he's sticking to his guns now is because he didn't get good offers before the injuries and he's definitely not getting them now. This is why I'm sure they'll keep Jack here as long as necessary to get the value for him they want. Surgery, no surgery, whatever. It's a siege.

I'm so tired of this intellectually dishonest BS. NS is posting factually untrue stuff. Actual scientific evidence has disproved what he says. Unless he wants to provide new research that supports it he should refrain from engaging in such conjecture.

If you're not going to get information from reliable sources then maybe you shouldn't regurgitate it.

I'm sorry, I have to log back in to tell you that this is 100% not true. Please do better.

Outside of international competition it's just completely irrelevant to sports.

Grow up

Agreed. The game is so international that the anthems are a joke. Just play the game.

I really don't know how a conditions-based trade would work in this case. Jack is on track to get a surgery that might not only cause immediate issues, but also issues many years down the road. Do the conditions extend to the end of his contract? Can you ask to be awarded picks in 5 years because he finished the contract without issues from the surgery? I don't know how the Sabres get a fair return for Jack without having conditions that extend all the way to the end of his contract. And what team would agree to a trade like that? I feel like it would be unprecedented.

I can't imagine such a thing even exists