nfreeman

I can see this happening but wasn't confident enough to predict it. I thought his play was solid last year if unspectacular and he generally gave me the impression of quiet, rock-solid backstopping strength. I've also heard a couple of his coaches -- I can't recall who it was specifically -- interviewed about him and they raved about him and said they expect him to be in the NHL next year. He might be one of the young guys that low-key becomes an important part of the rebuild.

I think Samuelsson will be in the top 6 by New Year's, I like Bryson and I have never been a fan of Pysyk's. So: LD - RD Dahlin-Jokiharju Butcher-Miller Samuelsson-Hagg Bryson Pysyk Hagg moves over to his off hand as Samuelsson forces his way into the lineup.

Although I think both of your suggested reasons are quite plausible, there is a 3rd possibility IMHO: Adams is resigned to the market-driven need to show a healthy Jack to the rest of the NHL before he can be traded for a rich package, but Adams, based on advice from team doctors, wants him to have the traditional fusion surgery, and Jack wants the newfangled disk replacement surgery.

Gentlemen -- I think these posts indicate a black-or-white view of his injury and its effect on other GMs' willingness to acquire him -- i.e. he's either seriously injured or he's not, he'll either regain his prior form or he won't, and he's either worth trading the farm for or he's not -- and I don't think that's the correct perspective here, nor do I think the comparisons to Seth Jones, McCabe, Tuch, etc are relevant. Those guys either weren't injured or aren't being sold off at huge prices. IMHO, we're in much more of a gray area. The injury is without question a serious matter. I think it's clearly the primary reason he hasn't been traded yet. If he'd played a full season last year and had, say, 25-38-63 in 52 games, does anyone doubt that other teams would've ponied up rich packages to get him? Even so, I think for many (admittedly not all) GMs, the injury, and now-almost-certain spinal surgery, aren't "NFW are we trading for this guy" barriers. Those GMs are taking a perspective that is more "trading for this guy is risky; there's a decent chance he regains his MVP-contender form but also a decent chance he doesn't -- so I'll take the risk on his contract if our doctors and our owner sign off, but only if the price to acquire him isn't too high." That's why Anaheim isn't delivering Zegras and the Rangers aren't delivering LaFreniere. For you 2 guys and anyone else who disagrees that the injury is a major factor: if you don't think it's the injury, then why hasn't he been traded yet?

I’d rather have @inkman around than Jack Eichel anyway.

Good.

So our last poll on this asked whether Jack would be traded by the draft. The noes, including your humble narrator, won that poll 58%-42%, with heavy voter turnout. A few things have happened since then: - The draft and the start of FA, both of which are high-action events and thus good oppportunities for major trades to be made, have come and gone. - Eichel's injury has apparently not responded to rest/rehab, making some kind of surgery very likely. - The tone emanating from Eichel's camp has become pretty aggressive, with several statements openly urging a trade and challenging the Sabres' medical approach. - KA has publicly and firmly stated that Eichel is under contract, that KA is fine with Eichel coming to camp and that the Sabres are only going to trade Eichel if it's a deal that is good for the Sabres. - Teams have seemingly conducted a fair amount of negotiating through the media, with teams allegedly dropping out because the price is too high, the injury risk is too great, etc. - Some teams, like Vegas, have most likely taken themselves out of the bidding by spending their assets/cap space elsewhere. So where does that leave us? I continue to think that the injury is a major factor and has depressed the prices that other GMs are willing to pay -- to the point where their offers simply aren't good enough for KA to accept. That could change between now and Sept. 12, but I think it's more likely that the other GMs will not increase their offers without seeing Jack healthy and ready to play. On the other hand, if Jack won't be healthy until he has surgery, that puts KA in a bind. I don't think KA wants the Sabres to be on risk for Eichel's surgery. I think he (and TP) wants to trade Eichel and let his new team take the risk. But if no team is willing to increase its offer until after Jack has surgery and recovers, then KA either has to accept a lower offer than he wants, or allow Jack to have some kind of surgery, so he can recover and show the other teams that he's healthy. It's a tricky situation. I'm sure KA wants to avoid another ROR-type trade in which the Sabres get lousy value and look like buffoons, but he probably also wants Jack not to have surgery while he's the Sabres' property. (I think KA would also like to avoid an ugly situation in which the 2 sides are publicly flaming each other and Jack is creating a problem in camp, but I think the other 2 factors are more important to him.) I'm going to predict that the "let someone else take the injury risk" factor wins out and KA takes the best offer he can get before camp starts, but I don't have much confidence in the prediction. I can easily see it going well into the season.

I don't think the NFL will contribute a dime towards a new stadium. It may extend a loan, and I believe the NFL has a program designed for this, but it will be a loan that needs to be repaid, not a grant or a contribution.

I love the Ralph and I think building a new stadium in WNY would be enormously wasteful. However, no one should kid himself/herself about the risk of losing the Bills if they don’t get a new stadium on a good deal with plenty of public money. There are plenty of cities that would deliver a sweetheart deal and a stadium that would make much more $$ than whatever the Bills will make here. And the other NFL owners will not stand in the way. You can have an NFL team, or you can insist that no public money be spent on a new stadium. You can’t have both.

This is also highly unlikely IMHO. I think one of KA's priorities here is to let whoever acquires Eichel take the risk on the surgery.

Dude. You keep saying this like it's a simple solution. It's not going to happen. Eichel has zero interest in risking $50MM on the surgery. He wants the Sabres (or whoever they trade him to) to take the risk.

Was he accused of betting against SJ in those games?

My 2 cents: - The Agents' statement was pretty carefully worded. It didn't say that the Sabres' docs had recommended the surgery that Jack wants -- only that they had determined that "a surgical procedure was required." So I don't think the Sabres were ever on board with the disk replacement that Jack wants. - It now seems pretty clear that Jack hasn't responded to rest/rehab and that some kind of surgery will be needed. That means the risk has increased that he doesn't regain his previous form, and it makes other GMs less willing to spend big to acquire Jack. This in turn means that if KA sticks to his guns a trade before the season starts is less likely. - It does not sound like Jack has initiated the appeal procedure provided in the CBA. I would guess that is because his agents think he would likely lose the appeal -- and once that happens, they will have zero rights to influence the medical process. It would also hurt their ability to pressure the Sabres or any other team to let him have the surgery, because another adjudicator will have ruled against it. - Jack still has no interest in taking the $50MM risk that the surgery fails. This is all about him pushing the Sabres to take that risk. - Bottom line is that Jack has zero real rights here and the agents are trying to use the media to pressure the Sabres into doing something that is against their interests. This is what his agents should do, but there is no need for KA to give in.

I would be very surprised if a $2MM salary chunk were all that stands between KA and an Eichel deal.

I think the bolded is likely correct and I think it's a terrible plan. But maybe UPL will prove me wrong. That would be nice. Well, there were posters here saying that the Sabres and Linus were very close to a deal, but I didn't interpret KA's words on Linus this way. I interpreted his statements as "we want Linus, and we hope we can reach a deal with him, but it needs to be on a deal that makes sense for us." Based on Vogl's tweets, which were probably sourced from Linus' agent, and based on KA's repeated statements about prioritizing flexibility and not boxing out younger players, I don't think the Sabres were willing to go longer than 2 years -- which made Linus' decision on the Bruins' offer a no-brainer. I think there is a very good likelihood that KA's decision on how much term to offer Linus turns out to be catastrophic. We'll see.

In theory yes. Not sure how likely it is. KA also said he wanted to sign Dahlin to a long-term deal, which could still be a prep-for-sale move but probably not consistent with an expected sale in the next year. I guess we’ll see. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right.

This is obnoxious.

Well, Vogl tweeted earlier today something to the effect that the Sabres only wanted another 1-year (or perhaps 2-year) deal -- so if that's true, KA wasn't willing to go to 4 years, which would be consistent with not wanting to "box out" UPL.

I think you're off target here. You made this point early and often in the Risto context -- and Risto was traded for a handsome return, followed quickly by Reinhart, who also wanted out. Holding onto Eichel for a few months longer than would be ideal in order to maximize the return doesn't belie KA's assertion that he only wants guys who want to be here. It just doesn't. Do you not think he'll be traded?

Dammit. I can't help it. I like KA. Either he's lying through his teeth and slashing costs at TP's directive in anticipation of a sale of the team, which means I'm getting played, or he really believes in his plan, including believing that a 4-year deal for Ullmark would've interfered with the plan, and he's determined to see it through. I still need to see a real goalie brought in.

https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloSabres/videos/312179293927016

Thanks PTR. Sorry for looking a gift link in the mouth, but I was hoping for a video link -- anyone got one of those?

Anyone got a link?

The most precious thing of all -- an NHL team that could one day reward us for all of this anguish.

I hate to say it, but I think @GASabresIUFAN might get his wish. As @dudacek has been saying, it just seems hard to avoid the conclusion that TP has decided to sell the team and is keeping costs down and avoiding long-term commitments in order to make the financial picture attractive to potential buyers. To which I'll say: be careful what you wish for. I hope I'm wrong.