darksabre

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

There's one very good reason why he wouldn't do this: money. Jack is stuck. He wants the surgery, but he also wants to get paid. If he does the ADR, it goes wrong and ends his playing career, and the Sabres void his contract, he's broke and out of a job. That's why he wants the Sabres to approve it. He doesn't want to lose that money if he ends up as damaged goods.

This is why I have maintained that if Jack is traded it will be because management wants him gone, not because he wants out. He might want out... but they've never been obligated to do that for him...

My buddy who works as an engineer for Toyota says things might not get back to normal until 2023.

I was thinking about this exchange specifically today. I believe, now more than ever, that what Jack was trying to do was force the surgery AND the trade, and now, over 4 months later, he has not gotten either. It seems very possible that this timeline (wait and see on the hernia, fusion surgery in the fall, no Olympics) was what Adams proposed to him way back in May and caused Jack and his team to go nuclear because Jack wanted to be back on the ice (and for a different team) ASAP. Regardless of how this all eventually shakes out, I don't think this was the result Jack wanted. Which is why he and his team did what they did.

Sure. We're in a bit of a gray area here. People have gotten very obsessed with throwing the work tank around whenever a team looks like it'll be bad. This isn't a tank in the traditional sense, but it's not like they've got a team assembled that is unlikely to finish in the bottom 6. It's not a tank, they just aren't planning to be very good. The pressure is off the kids in this way. Fans won't be cheering for them to lose (I hope...) but there won't be an expectation that they'll win either. Just show up and put in the work. It'll be a lost season for anyone who expects the playoffs, and so people will just call it a tank instead I guess.

I firmly believe they expected to sign Ullmark and he pulled the rug out from under them. I like Linus, but he kinda effed the Sabres. They also aren't looking to "replace Eichel". They've already done so. They believe Cozens is going to be the number 1 center going forward. It could not be more clear. They will be bad this year, and will probably pick high. But there's no way picking 1st overall is the plan. It's just not entirely out of the question looking at where the roster is right now. The "let the kids drive it" philosophy will probably result in a bad team, but not on purpose. It's just the development philosophy they've agreed on.

I'm neither here nor there on whether or not Adams is succeeding. I just think this whole thing was sort of...inevitable. Which is why I haven't been killing myself to debate it much or worry about if/when it was going to get done. An extremely valuable player wanting to be traded while simultaneously very injured was always going to be a heavy lift. A quick resolution, knowing the facts of the situation, just seemed out of the question. And that is bearing itself out. I don't think the Pegulas care at this point if it makes them look bad, the damage is done. They'll hold Jack hostage as long as they need to. This turned from a skirmish into a siege months ago and it won't be ending anytime soon. And the longer it goes on, the less newsworthy it will be when he is finally traded. He won't be around the team so that's all that matters to them I think.

At this point I expect that Jack won't be traded until the spring at the earliest. He'll get a surgery of some kind once he realizes the Sabres are fine with holding him hostage on LTIR for as long as needed or he actually wins a medical arbitration case. Then he can rehab and get back to 100%. Then he gets traded.

I mean, we know the team doesn't care what the fans think anyway.

That's just it. He wouldn't be the Captain. No one would be the Captain. The result is exactly the same but without any of the circus. They're already not going to have a Captain this season. The players know there won't be a Captain this season. They know Jack won't be the Captain because he's not coming back. So just let it be.

That's not the point. The point is that it would have been very easy to say: Jack is hurt and as a result we are going to start the season without assigning a captain. And then eventually he gets traded and you just let it happen organically. It's that simple and drama free.

She's sneaky good in the movie HANNA