nfreeman

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.

But there is no reason for the Sabres to do this. Right now, they are looking at a $12.5MM loss (assuming 75% insurance coverage on Eichel's $50MM deal). It only makes sense for them to change the status if either their financial exposure is reduced or if they get a compelling trade package, or some combination of those 2 items. They aren't going to do anything that worsens their position. From their perspective, they can sit back and let the inaction drive Jack crazy and let the pressure build on GMs of losing teams.

That doesn't strike me as realistic either. I don't think the 30 other owners would view it as in their interests to help the Sabres or Eichel, or at least not $50MM in their interests (or $20MM or whatever their piece would be), and I doubt the players would want much if any of the financial obligation either.

Respectfully, I don't think this is realistic. If he goes on LTIR, someone is paying him a non-insured $50MM. If the plan is for the Sabres to be protected, that means that it's a different team that is paying the $50MM -- and has agreed to do so AFTER the ADR has failed and left Jack unable to play. The only reason a team would do so, as you point out, would be for the cap space. If a wealthy team would be willing to pay $10MM in cash per year x 5 years for nothing except cap space -- and I think there are maybe 2 or 3 teams in the NHL who would do this, and TB isn't one of them -- in order to create this cap space, they'd need to send $10MM per year in contracts back to the Sabres in exchange for Jack's $10MM in LTIR space. So who would the Sabres get? At that point, the Sabres would have zero leverage, since they'd be left with a broken Eichel. They wouldn't get the other team's best prospects and rising star RFAs -- they'd get the other team's Okposo or Skinner. Bottom line IMHO is that there is no way for the Sabres not to end up bearing the risk if they allow Jack to have the ADR while he is under contract with them. For that matter, even if his contract is voided, the Sabres are still worse off than they are now in all scenarios other than a full recovery that is somehow demonstrably sustainable.

With the Sabres bearing the risk?

TIL that if you want to bring your dog to France…your dog needs a passport!