K-9

If they were smart, they’d put him on IR.

I left out one key group the clock is also ticking for; the media.

I think that clock is ticking only for Eichel and impatient fans.

Yeah, the “generational” label needs to be saved for players who truly are. I don’t recall a lot of people saying Eichel was generational coming out, just that he would have been first overall if not for McDavid. I can count on one hand the number of players that compare with McDavid in my 50+ years of watching the NHL, so Eichel certainly has nothing to apologize for in that regard. He’s a great player. That said, he wasn’t part of a solution in turning this team around and it was time to move on. Clearly.

That works for me. Bergeron is a great player.

Okposo, for all his lack of fading skills and ability, always seems to make good decisions, mostly because there is no panic in his game. When these younger guys start learning to keep their heads up, take an extra second to assess the situation and then make the play, then we will turn the corner.

He’s been gone for a while now, but he’s still on the team.

That makes sense on a certain level, but that’s also saying the conclusions reached by the medical team and the best medical practices they advised would have been different. For that reason, I have to think the injury dictated the medical course of action and not whether Jack was staying or not.

Same here.

Why wouldn’t minimizing the risks be paramount if Eichel was gonna be a part of things moving forward? Seems even more of a reason to minimize the risk.

Nice period. Lotsa jam. And a Blutarsky to show for it.

I totally agree and I’m not looking to judge any player based on highlight reels. That simply cannot be done. I’m only saying the highlights that McKenzie showed didn’t show me much other than a nice wrist shot. There’s usually a great handle, pass, or fast, fancy skating when they talk about great forwards projected to go #1 and I didn’t see any of that. Those particular highlights left me underwhelmed is all.

Missed wristers

Nothing in McKenzie’s highlight videos of Wright had me thinking “wow.” It was mostly video of him shooting wristers at inferior goalies and he does seem to have an accurate shot. But I didn’t see blazing speed, puck handling in a phone booth, or amazing passes. Not saying he doesn’t possess that ability and I haven’t seen the kid play at all, but that McKenzie breakdown did little to impress me.

Interesting question and I’d say no, it wouldn’t have any bearing at all because I believe a finding by the medical staff does not depend on whether or not a player is in the good graces of the organization. Their adherence to medical best practices is adherence to medical best practices, period. And from what I’ve been able to gather in my cursory research into the issue over the last several months is that the majority of the medical community seems to agree. I’m not swayed at all by these reports that there are teams whose medical staffs are so willing to let him undergo the ADR procedure. I’ll believe that when they actually go on the record with that opinion.

I submit that KA and Co. got on with the business of rebuilding the Buffalo Sabres the moment they sent Krueger packing, unloaded the deadweight that failed at the task of winning, and committed to the current youth movement. I just don’t agree with some that see the Eichel situation as some sort of albatross preventing the team from moving forward. He will be gone when the time is right. It’s a shame he’s injured because he’d have been gone already along with some other previous core players that failed at turning the franchise around.

AlWright AlWright AlWright

It’s not so much he wants them to fail as it is saying they already have and will continue to do so. Personally, I’m always a bit leery of fans so heavily invested in negative outcomes.

I don’t think the Sabres need to dignify anything Brisson says publicly with a response, but that’s been the team’s stance the whole time it seems to me. Maybe it’s time for Lehner to get involved.😄

Apologies for the confusion, so I’ll try to explain. When Brisson says that Jack is a “depleted” asset and a lesser deal is all that’s feasible, imo that is trying to establish the market. At the very least, it’s market manipulation. It’s interesting that Eichel and Britton think so little of their product, too. Of course they don’t really and I assume both are anticipating a return to full health and superstardom. Not saying you or anyone here is saying this, but KA is out of line for believing the same thing? I don’t buy that.

True, but what’s a couple more months in the grand scheme of things. Point is, it’s a helluva lot more complicated for the Sabres than simply saying, “Well, if they only would have allowed Eichel to have his ADR back in the spring like he wanted.”

I agree entirely. But again, why do Eichel and Brisson get to determine the market?

Same could be said about the fusion if Jack would have done that in the spring as well. He’d be on track for a December return.

Why do Eichel/Brisson get to determine what the Sabres need to “understand” about what kind of deal can be made? KA can just as easily turn that logic back on them. A lesser deal has been there since day one, even before Eichel hired Brisson in the first place. Sounds more like Jack has once again reached his max level of patience and, like before with Fish, is having his agent conduct a propaganda campaign thru the media. As evidenced by the bs piece by Vogl, again, just like in the summer with Fish. The only thing I can think of that would prevent KA from continuing to be patient is that the Pegulas just don’t want to pay $10m for a player to sit out the year and would force him to make a lesser deal just to remove Jack from their books. But they would have paid him as an injured player needing to sit out the year anyway if bad blood didn’t exist, so it can’t be just about the money.

Can Vogl be any more obvious in his bias against the Sabres organization with that first sentence? What an absolute joke he is as a reporter; a disgrace to the profession.