darksabre

I think we can safely infer. Some here have posted that the fusion might require additional surgeries since he's so young, whereas if the disc replacement is successful it could last a lot longer. I could see that being a real good reason to have the cost/benefit analysis come down in favor of the ADR in Jack's mind. He's well within his rights to believe that a certain course of treatment, as outlined by the medical professionals whose advice he has sought, is the correct one for him, without suffering much criticism over it. It just doesn't matter as long as the pro sports team that he is contracted to play for gets to override him.

Ullmark never gave them a chance though. He used the Sabres to get the deal he wanted. They miscalculated his desire to actually re-sign here.

I mean, ultimately Jack should be allowed to assume the risks of getting the ADR if he wants to. The problem is that they have to figure out how to actually put that risk on Jack instead of on the team.

He certainly won't be getting in the way if UPL plays even reasonably well... I wouldn't be mad about an Anderson - UPL tandem this year. They won't win a lot but I'd take it over watching Tokarski or Dell.

I mean, listen, I could be wrong. But given the language of the CBA and how things have played out so far between Jack and the team, I believe that there is no way Jack goes rogue and gets the ADR. I just don't see him doing it unless he accepts that he won't be in the NHL for quite some time. I think if he wanted to do it, he would have done so by now. That's why I believe this whole situation is in the hands of a great number of lawyers. I believe they are trying to find a way to make the ADR surgery acceptable to everyone involved or, failing that, make if very clear to Jack that he has no choice but the fusion.

I see Jack's side of it, for sure. I understand fully why he feels like he should be able to get the surgery he wants. But the tradeoff for big sports money tends to be handing over control of your body to the machinery of the league. That's why the NHLPA and the league negotiate the CBA: to try to balance the players interests vs the leagues interests. It's not always perfect though. This is one of those times.

You say that, but you need to go read the CBA. The CBA expressly states what happens when a contract is terminated via the waiver process. The player becomes a UFA. It is very clearly laid out. When a team voids a players contract for a "material breach" it doesn't not expressly state that the player becomes a UFA, which by default means the team still possesses his signing rights until what would have been the end of that contract. Unless some kind of internal clarification has been issued that we are not privy to as fans, the CBA maintains that voiding a player's contract due to "material breach" does not make them a UFA.

I don't know how many more times I have to explain this. Jack's health in the immediate aftermath of the surgery is not the only deciding factor. Jack's health over the length of the contract is the concern. If Jack gets the ADR surgery against the terms of the CBA, and then the Sabres doctors decide to accept the surgery and clear him to play, other teams could then turn around and say "well, let's just see how this goes". And then the Sabres could be stuck with Jack not just for a few games but for as much as the length of his contract. And if the ADR suddenly fails after, let's say, a year, the Sabres can no longer void his contract or suspend him or take ANY recourse. They become fully liable because they allowed him to be cleared by their doctors. They will NEVER do this. It's insane to me that anyone could conceive of the Sabres doing anything other than voiding Jack's contract if he violates the CBA. Because not only would the Sabres want to not be seen making a mockery of it, the league AND the NHLPA won't want it. They will support the Sabres voiding his contract and the "nothing" the Sabres get is, in fact, that Jack will not be playing ANYWHERE in the NHL for the remainder of his contract and they don't have to pay him or deal with his cap hit. Sure, it's not picks and prospects, but denying other teams the opportunity to have him if he's healthy will be good enough. There's politics involved here that are not insignificant, not to mention all the liability issues.

The sticking point is not an unreasonable one, in my opinion anyway. I think Jack believes the ADR is the surgery that is the best for him. Even if it would have been the quickest recovery, I don't think that was the only factor. I think he's convinced that it's the one that offers him the best quality of life. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's just that the team is not necessarily obligated to care about Jack's long term health. They only care about his viability as a hockey player. It is what it is.

I had similar thoughts about Cozens...

Each team had to use one of their trash goalies and it just sorta evened out

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.