nfreeman

Well, he wasn't my first choice, but he knows enough hockey and has coached enough that it might work. If he succeeds it will be a great story. I sure hope KA gives him a better roster than we saw last year.

That might be the right career move for him. I heard him call a Sabres game and he was indeed good at it. Somewhat related: I listened to a podcast with Dunleavy from a month or so ago and I actually found him quite likable.

Excellent breakdown in the OP. I think they are probably going to trade both of them, and Eichel will bring more in return. But the injury discount will bring Eichel's return much closer to Reino's return than would've been the case before last season.

But there are a lot of spoken words supporting the theory that the injury is the main issue — at least as many as support your interpretation.

It’s certainly possible that Eichel’s attitude is the primary driver. I do think though that KA understands how precious a franchise center is, that he had a front row seat to the ROR debacle and understands what a crippling blow it was, and that as a former player he knows that young players can change their minds and often do when the environment around them improves. I also think that KA is smart and ruthless enough to realize that it may be impossible for Jack to regain his prior form and that it therefore may be in the Sabres’ best interests to let somebody else bear the risk and hope for the best on the injury. I also think that if the injury is KA’s primary driver, it’s in KA’s best interests not to make that known.

This could be negotiation through the media, or it could align pretty well with what I and others have been saying about the injury: it's a big freaking deal, it's probably the driver of KA's decision to move on from Eichel, and it's going to affect what the Sabres get in return.

Awesome. Is that Tiger Williams chasing him?

How about Scandella for a 4th from the Habs, who almost immediately flipped him for a 2nd and a 4th? That one was pretty close to a firing offense.

Sir. The Sabres won at least 1 round in the playoffs every year from 74-75 to 80-81 except once -- so 6 out of 7 years -- and made the conf finals twice and the SC finals once. Comparing that culture to the current abomination is a bridge too far. Please report to the principal's office immediately. I can't argue with the bolded, but I'm still PO'd. I loved that team. Those were my childhood heroes that Scotty sent away. And as you alluded to, it didn't produce anything worthwhile. The Sabres' playoff results got worse, not better -- they won one stinking playoff round from 1982 to 1992. Just like when the Bills thought they were so clever and released Thurman, Bruce and Andre, and immediately embarked on a 20-year playoff drought. Perfectly stated. As for Rico, he was my favorite player. Clinically, even though Rico had 45 goals the previous year, Scotty did well in assessing the situation and deciding that Rico's knee injury and age made it highly likely that he was done -- and he turned him into Barrasso, which on paper is an enormous win. But this wasn't fantasy hockey, and this was Rico. For an expansion team, and a city in love with that team, there was only one Perreault, but there was also only one Rico. It stands with Black Sunday as the worst betrayal in Sabres history.

I've mellowed with age, and when I see Scotty interviewed, he seems like a good guy, but I still can't forgive him for crashing into town like a hurricane and blowing up that team. The idea of trading Rico, RR, Gare and Schoeny still infuriates me. Who TF did he think he was?

Rob Ray pronounces it Vehgas (first syllable rhymes with “meh”).

The great ones from earlier generations continue to slip through our fingers. We’ll miss you Rene. You were a great Sabre. Thanks for the memories. Gone but not forgotten.

This is obnoxious.

This adds zero value to the conversation. Any details on Comtois and his game, production, stats, etc as to why he might not be as good as some think?

So limiting his involvement in hockey operations to a 30-minute call a couple of weeks before the draft in which the top prospects are summarized is too much meddling?

I think the question needs to include: "...but if the 50% chance comes through for you, you keep your high-paying dream job for an indefinite period, and if you don't make a big splashy move like this, you're probably fired in 1 year or less?"

Well, someone else asked the (presumably rhetorical) "hoodwinking" question recently, and my answer remains that I don't think there is any attempt to hoodwink anyone. I would expect any trading partner to have full access to Eichel's medical reports. More importantly, I would guess that (i) those medical reports say that there is no way to be sure of any outcome, but there is a significant likelihood that he never regains full and stable physical function, (ii) trading partners would have their own doctors review the medical reports and advise them and (iii) there will be teams who are smitten enough with the visions of 2-years-ago Eichel that they are more willing than the Sabres are to shop around for the medical advice they want to hear and generally to take the injury risk -- but that the risk will be priced into the offers they make for Eichel, which is why we will inevitably be disappointed in the return.

This wasn't my takeaway at all -- if TP's only "maneuver to be included in hockey operations" was a 30-minute conference call, that sounds like someone who is pretty disconnected -- i.e. the opposite of a meddler, @PASabreFan.

Of course Eichel says he thinks he'll be fine. I don't think that statement is meaningful in considering how likely it is that he will in fact be fine. Do you have a list of MVP-level 24-year-olds who had unprecedented spinal surgery? Or any spinal surgery? I don't have a list, but a bit of google reveals: - Nick Bjugstad had back surgery in March 2015 at age 23. He had just come off 43 pts in 72 games in his 2nd full NHL season. Since the surgery, he's played 54, 82, 64, 13 and 44 games, scoring 34, 49, 14, 26, 2 and 17 pts. - Dave Bolland had back surgery in November 2009 at age 23. He had just come off 52 pts in 81 games in his 2nd full NHL season. He played 7 seasons after the surgery, 39, 76, 61, 35, 23, 53 and 25 games, scoring 16, 37, 37, 14, 12, 23 and 5 pts. - Joffrey Lupul had back surgery in December 2009 at age 26. He had just come off 50 pts in 79 games in his 5th full NHL season. He played 6 seasons after the surgery, 54, 66, 16, 69, 55 and 46 games, scoring 31, 67, 18, 44, 21, and 14 pts. I will also note that a google search for "NHL back surgery" comes up with very few hits -- so I think there are very few precedents for this. As for the bolded -- we are quite far from knowing this for a fact. Unless I have missed something, the sole source for this assertion was Wawrow's appearance last week on Tim Graham's podcast, which I went back and listed to just now. Wawrow did NOT report or say that his sources have told him that Eichel was being shopped prior to the injury. He said "I believe..." and "there's a belief that..." and similar qualifiers, and the only fact, or anything close to a fact, that he mentioned was Bob McKenzie's reporting from months ago that the Sabres were NOT shopping Eichel, but were listening to offers -- which we broke down in detail on this board when it happened. So I think we are nowhere near a well-supported determination that KA wants to trade Eichel for any reason other than the injury. (BTW, I think TG is a reasonably solid reporter, but there is way too much unfunny yukkin' it up on his podcast for my taste.)

Not trying to be argumentative -- why do you think this? He was a shell of himself last season, a month ago he was openly pushing for an unprecedented type of spinal surgery because the rehab wasn't working and we've heard nothing to indicate that there has been any improvement -- and if the rehab had worked, it would've been in the Sabres' interest to make that known since that would've increased the price other teams are willing to pay in trade. As for certainty and wanting the other party to bear the risk -- sure, in a perfect world both of those would happen, but this is a much grayer situation than a black-and-white one IMHO. I.e. there is no way for KA, a doctor or anyone else to be certain. IMHO, if KA has consulted with the docs and has been advised that it's 80% likely that Eichel won't regain his top form, he has to act on that.

Serious question: do you not think the injury is real? Your posts read like you expect Eichel to resume his MVP-contender-level performance next season like nothing happened.

When a notification pops up that PASabreFan has replied to one of my posts, I hurriedly click, with bated breath, hoping for one of your solid gold witticisms. I suppose they can't all be gems.

Here’s an Adams quote from that article that might reflect his view of Eichel: “…an identity of team first, really believing in each other. Getting away from anyone in this organization or on this team that's more concerned about themselves.”

I think if we're saying 10 more wins, it refers to 10 more wins than last year, when Linus got hurt again and Hutton plus a bunch of stiffs played a lot of games -- so maybe it's not the standard wins above replacement, in which I assume the replacement is an average goalie, but rather wins above catastrophically bad goaltending.

Based on what you’ve heard, how likely is it that they resign Reino?