nfreeman

But if Jack never plays again, the insurance (based on what we've heard, which sounds reasonable IMHO) will cover 75%, so TP's exposure is $12.5MM. If another team acquires him and he has ADR, the exposure jumps to $50MM, minus whatever the Sabres take back, which will probably be $12.5MM or less. If you agree that no one is going to give up their crown jewels for Jack even if TP somehow bears the $50MM risk (which again I don't think is possible), then what's in it for TP to increase his risk above the $12.5MM? Because some teams are willing to risk $50MM, minus whatever the Sabres take back, but so far no one is willing to risk more than that -- i.e. not the money AND their best prospects.

But TP doesn't believe in ADR enough to take on the $50MM risk, and I don't see how a deal could be engineered under which the Sabres bear the $50MM risk in exchange for a Zegras/Drysdale/1st rounder or similar rich trade package. For that matter, I don't think any GM is going to give up his crown jewels for a pre-full-recovery Eichel regardless of how much the $50MM risk will be reduced. My point was that a GM with a stinking rich and risk-tolerant owner might be willing to risk the $50MM, or most of it, but not the $50MM AND the crown jewels, which, to an owner like that, are more precious and harder to replace than the $50MM.

I agree generally that good advanced metrics over a small sample size don't mean much, and that it's way too soon to be giddy about the Sabres, but I will say that their style of play looks much faster, in both ends of the rink, much closer to the net on offense and much more puck-possession-oriented than RK's did.

I would guess that: - those 5 teams are not willing to give up good assets in trade for Eichel - those 5 teams, in any trade for Eichel, will require the Sabres to take some combination of bad contracts (which are also not insured, so every dollar they unload that way offsets a dollar of Eichel's cost) and Eichel salary retention - any insurance coverage that those 5 teams would be able to get for ADR would cost much more and pay much less than the Sabres' coverage for fusion - those 5 teams are all deep-pocketed teams (Vegas, Rangers, Habs, Philly, etc.) who can live with up to a $50MM uninsured risk, minus whatever retention/bad contracts they get the Sabres to take back.

But the article @Thorny cited said:

Well, I don't think "proof" in this case will be obtainable, since we'll never get to see the policy, although Vogl or Hammy or someone should ask KA the question. But we all know how insurance companies work. It seems almost certain that if the policyholder's doctors recommend against a surgical procedure, but the policyholder consents to it, coverage will be voided.

I think the bolded is overstating the matter. If he voids his contract, but the surgery works, he will still make a very handsome living playing hockey. And if it doesn’t work, his inability to play hockey for a living will not be the result of anything the Sabres did.

Interesting. A promotion for Bjork. Good for him.

This is obnoxious.

Well, it sounds like the owners/teams' rights end where prevailing medical advice ends -- i.e. the owners can't instruct a player to undergo some radical unproven surgery -- they can just prevent the player from both having that type of surgery AND making the team bear the risk. If ADR was the prevailing consensus treatment, he'd win the medical grievance procedure and be able to make the Sabres bear the risk. To use an absurd example, should Jack have the right to visit a witch doctor and follow that doctor's instructions to chop off half of his toes and eat them, while making the Sabres bear the risk on his contract? The players agreed that the owners have the right not to bear the economic risk if a player wants to have a procedure that os not supported by the prevailing majority of medical experts in the field. That's all they gave away. It doesn't seem like that big of a concession to me, and it seems reasonable from the owners' perspective.

Good to see ya @MODO Hockey!!

In addition to being the first good team the Sabres will have played, I also expect the Bruins to bring their A game. Ullmark's homecoming plus Hall's return to the scene of his suckitude plus the opportunity to lay the smack down on an undefeated team on the road will motivate them.

So far, I've found ESPN+ to be significantly better than nhl.tv. Separately: I wonder if Samuelsson skates with the Sabres for the next couple of days and then, depending on how he looks, goes straight into the lineup vs NJ (presumably an easier opponent than Boston)?

BTW, I read yesterday that Hayden went to Yale, continuing a somewhat interesting (to me, anyway) string of NHL enforcers from top universities (e.g. George Parros from Princeton, Tanner Glass from Dartmouth, etc.)

Well, look who's a Sabres optimist alluva sudden! Donnie Meatballs just might justify your love.

Leaving aside the civil lawsuits, is Watson not accused of rape by multiple women? And are there not 10 criminal complaints? If he gets convicted on multiple rape counts, he's going to prison for a real amount of time -- enough so that his career probably is over. The problem, of course, is evidence.

Right now they are good enough that I am looking forward to the next game, which is substantially better than I expected.

Well, we're only a few games into the season. My thinking was that there would be real pressure after, say, 15-20 games.

Also: I've been plenty critical of Mike Harrington, but that was a pretty good article. I found this in particular kinda interesting: So maybe there is something to the "lousy leaders" theory about those 2.

So far this is looking pretty GD prescient. Well done.

But again: why is now the time to reduce his price? Sure, many fans and sports media types are sick of the whole thing and want to move on, but that's not a good reason from KA's perspective. From his perspective, if he waits, say, 6 weeks, the offers he's getting won't get any worse, but there is a decent chance that his situation will improve, because either (i) teams like the Habs, the Rangers and Vegas will have crappy starts and feel the pressure to make a move, thus increasing their offers to KA or (ii) Eichel will get antsy and have fusion surgery. I just don't see any reason for him to do anything now. He clearly isn't feeling any pressure from TP to bring in players in trade to help the team this year. And right now the team looks much improved (although the air will probably leak out of the balloon at some point). This seems like more agent BS that's been fed to Friedman. They've had months to "collect evidence." They haven't launched the medical grievance procedure because they know they will lose. I don't blame Brisson for fabricating stuff in an attempt to pressure KA to lower his price -- that is what Brisson is supposed to do -- but it seems pretty clear that KA, rightly, sees through it and isn't going to be swayed by it. This could very well prove out, but there is no reason in the world for KA to make a move now. Time is on his side for at least the next couple of months.

Better than Pysyk (i.e. JAG/regular healthy scratch candidate) though?

The tone of the OP -- "See, Reinhart stinks, the Sabres were smart to trade him" -- is the classic bitter-fan-of-a-losing-team crapola.

There are quite a few straws on Evander’s camel’s back at this point. The fake vax card is only the most recent allegation that we’ve heard about.

I don't either. I think it's simply that no one is willing to both take the risk on the $50MM (minus whatever modest retention is agreed) AND pony up a rich trade package.