nfreeman

Maybe, but given surgery/rehab time, it's at least 50/50 that Jack provides zero help to anyone on the ice this season. However, I can certainly see a GM thinking that a Jack trade will buy him time, since the team probably won't see the fruits of the trade until next season. I think they'll probably put him on IR, but I don't think in any case that the cap floor will drive their decisions. They can always trade for someone else's bad contract if needed to reach the floor.

I don't think any of the key facts has changed, and I don't expect a trade anytime soon.

Not sure what happened, but I assume it was some kinda ghost in the machine. We now resume regularly scheduled programming.

Well, I did say it was unlikely. I'm just hoping that the unlikely happens, primarily for his kids' sake. As for whether another team would give him a chance -- there's always someone.

You're probably right. OTOH, he's 30 and has young kids. If he gets his act together he can be a good father to them and have a huge positive influence on their lives. As for his hockey career, if SJ voids his contract, he can catch on with another team, and if he becomes a good teammate there and doesn't alienate his teammates he can still probably play 3-4 more years at decent money. Not bloody likely, but possible.

As always, you're a kind soul. I agree that he's squandered his gifts, and it's a shame. And he probably didn't get what he needed from his parents in terms of morals, judgment, etc. Still, at some point he's accountable for his actions. Hopefully he'll realize what he needs to do before it's too late.

He’s being investigated by the NHL for allegedly using a fake vaccine card, per the Athletic. Unbelievable. Great job, GMTM!

Bump.

I don’t think much of Dreger and do not expect a speedy resolution.

I think the broader point is that attendance will be lousy until the team shows signs of life, at which point it will rebound pretty strongly. In the meantime the low attendance will cost TP quite a bit of cash, but not enough to cause him a problem.

And both passes too!

OK, but that is a common occurrence with that type of company. If it happens, the investors lose their transaction costs, but not the bulk of their investments -- that money has been sitting in a trust account and is returned to the investors. His losses would be minimal and a million miles away from a level where he'd need to sell the Sabres.

Someone kneecapped him at the meetup? @Eleven is volatile, but still. I thought Skinner created a lot of chances last year, but simply couldn't finish. I think he's lost his confidence. Granato might be the guy who can help Skinner get his mojo back, or Skinner might be too far gone, or he might be an odd enough bird as to be unreachable. I give it about a 25% chance.

I can't remember a game in which the Bills had this many interceptions.

dudacek beat me to it (assuming he was referring to the bolded). I haven't heard anyone from the Sabres referring to the insurance. And while the insurance is surely a significant factor, I think the biggest factor is the medical advice the Sabres have been getting -- i.e. that fusion surgery is more likely to get Jack playing again, and thus restore value to the asset, than ADR surgery is. In other words, even if the insurance policy would pay in the event of a failed ADR that left Jack unable to play, the Sabres would probably still not approve the ADR.

Dude!

I wonder how many of the posters criticizing Lehner in this thread actually listened to that clip. I don't think he said anything out of line, although as @SwampD notes upthread, his "sign a waiver" point is pretty clueless.

This may be true with respect to annual salary, but not, I would guess, on length of the contract. Vogl reported that the Sabres offered only 1 or 2 years. Any UFA in reasonable demand is going to want more term than that. KA has royally screwed up at the most important position on the ice 2 years in a row. He wears that, IMHO, and there's a decent likelihood that the Sabres have the worst goaltending in the NHL this year, and that it hurts the kids' development.

Haters gonna hate, but I like it. Keep 'em coming.

Serious question for cord-cutters: if you're already paying for internet service at home, isn't cable TV as an add-on to your internet bill the cheapest TV option? Every time I look into it, that is the case for me.

So you're saying that if Jack has ADR surgery without the Sabres' consent, the CBA says specifically that the Sabres don't have to pay him but they continue to control his rights? I think that's probably right, but I haven't read that anywhere.

What is this based on? I don't think the Sabres would agree to this, nor should they. There is no way to know whether a solid check in, say, Eichel's 12th game post-ADR would screw up his back irreparably. Right now, 100% of the risk of an ADR is on Eichel. I don't think the Sabres are interested in taking any of that risk. I don't think other GMs would give up a KA-acceptable package for him without seeing him play. I think this is probably the way KA is thinking, and more particularly, I think he's thinking that the surgery will be fusion. Separately, while I see the appeal of an agreement between Jack and the Sabres that changes the current situation, I am skeptical that it will happen. From the Sabres' perspective, there is no reason for them to agree to an ADR, even if Jack assumes all of the economic risk. As matters stand currently, if Jack wants to play again, he needs to have the fusion surgery. The most likely outcome, if he has that surgery, is that he plays well enough to make him tradable for a good package. The ADR, OTOH, represents a great unknown. There is no reason for the Sabres to move from the likelihood of a good trade package in a fusion scenario to a great unknown. From the NHL's perspective, I don't think the league is interested in supporting an outcome in which a team's position is worsened simply because a player wants a different operation than the one the team wants, especially if the CBA's medical dispute resolution process would favor the team (which would almost certainly be the case here if Jack initiated that process). So I think that leaves us watching as KA simply waits out Jack.

I think Jack caving on fusion surgery is more likely than the Sabres caving on ADR surgery. Not trying to be funny -- I just mis-read Brawndo's post. I do think though that no one is offering much for Eichel. Hamilton has reported that the ROR return (i.e. a low #1 and a team's 4th-best prospect) is available.

I think the bolded assumes that such a resolution exists, and that unfortunately a resolution doesn't exist. I think the most likely fact pattern is: - Surgery is needed as rest/rehab have not worked. - Jack wants ADR and is dead set against fusion. - The Sabres want fusion and are dead set against ADR. - No one is willing to take Jack's contract, let him have ADR and give the Sabres much more than a dry-erase board. I think this has pretty much been the situation for months now. As for why hasn't KA made it known that Jack is off the market until the issue is resolved -- if the above fact pattern is accurate, I'm not sure what the point of doing so would be. KA's goal is to trade Jack for a good return, not to just unload him so the Sabres can move on. I would expect that multiple teams kicked the tires on Jack. KA would have wanted to keep those talks going in the hope that someone would take the plunge. As I've said before, KA is ultimately accountable for solving difficult problems and for the team's success or failure. The Eichel injury very well could be a problem without a solution. Even if he loses that battle, though, he still needs to win the war, or else he's just another failed Sabres GM.

Well, based on @Brawndo’s description and Russo’s and Burnside’s reporting, it seems likely that the Wild were willing to trade for Jack and allow him to have the ADR surgery he wants — but the trade return for the Sabres wouldn’t be much more than a dry erase board. So they would’ve taken the headache off of the Sabres’ hands, but for a minimal return in trade — and who knows how much of the contract they would’ve required the Sabres to retain. For those criticizing KA here: would you be OK with Eichel being traded for a 2nd round pick, no salary retention and that’s all? I think this kind of trade is pretty likely the only offer that is available to KA right now, and I don’t think that is going to change until Jack shows that he’s healthy. I also think that KA has decided that rather than making that type of trade, he is going to let Jack sit and stew until he gets fusion surgery, at which point he presumably will be able to play again and be traded. It’s a crappy situation all around.