Trettioåtta

Empty stadium

Refusing team ordered medical treatment. I believe under the CBA the team has the final say on what treatment should be, and the player can elect medical arbitration.

For this season to not be ugly, we need: Cozens to have taken a big step up in the offseason Skinner to be close to his old pre-Kruger self Bjork to have a breakout season Thompson to have a breakout season Mitts to play to his draft-day expectations Dahlin to play to his draft-day expectations UPL to have taken a big step up in the offseason Anderson to have a chip on his shoulder and want to retire on a high I don't like our odds

The league will also have a hand in this - they won't be happy if a player knowingly and deliberately breaks the CBA and there is no punishment. He could be suspended by the NHL for it. If they let Jack have the surgery and it partially works, such that he can come back and play but not nearly to the same level, his value is tanked and we are saddled with $10 million cap dump. Not to mention his salary must be paid. Letting him get the surgery holds massive risk for the Sabres, and almost none of Jack, which is why it hasn't happened. Jack is clearly hesitant about the surgery / the consequences of it (both legal and medical), otherwise he would have got it by now and done just what you said. If the Sabres don't budge, Jack has three options - 1) Get the fusion. 2) Sit out the next five years of his prime, until he is 30 and potentially never play in the NHL again / not to the level he could have (and potentially get into legal dispute if he is refusing to fix the issue) 3) Get the ADR and risk the consequences, which could be substantial. Right or wrong, the players negotiated away their medical autonomy for guaranteed contracts and that won't change. My understanding is that the Sabres medical doctor is regarded as a world class specialist on neck issues - he thinks fusion is safer for Jack (not just for the Sabres). The independent NHLPA (who looks after Jack) specialist thinks he should get a fusion. The third party independent thinks he should get the fusion. The rest of the doctors he has canvassed have varying thoughts - but no clear consensus. The guy who would do the ADR surgery thinks Jack should get the ADR. This is a massively complicated situation

As for part two, they could suspend him without pay for breach of contract. Therefore they would not be on the hook to pay Jack, and Jack would not be able to sign with another team. This is the same logic that stops players refusing to report to terminate their contract and sign with a new team. Should they do this, they could then unsuspend him when he passed a medical - however, I don't know what would happen if Jack then got paralysed from the ADR slipping whilst making a hockey play. Perhaps the Sabres could refuse to pay the rest of the contract? Voiding the contract would require full negotiation of a new contract I believe. Technicalities aside the point is clear - if Eichel gets the surgery without Sabres' approval, he is no longer guaranteed the $50 million he is owed. Which is why he hasn't done it.

Nah, the Sabres front office are seen as incompetent morons, this will increase his trade value as it will affirm to the rest of the league Eichel is the perfect captain.

What’s the Sabres vaccination status? 17 teams are now fully vaccinated. Considering the heavy Canadian travel for the Sabres, and the fact Covid de-railed our season last year, I hope we join the complete list

I don't care if this is $1 million over payment (which it is at most). We don't need that money over the next few years, and I would rather use it to keep Dahlin sweet than nickel and dime him now. He remains an RFA at the end of the deal, so we can retain his rights and sign a long-term deal through his prime.

The Sabres offered them contract extensions and they turned them down. Obviously no details on salaries etc have been revealed. But I wonder if Peters / Rivet simply thought they were worth more

I think the Sabres may need to take on a contract like Gibson's to justify the unknown regarding Eichel

Don't Leafs fans come in droves to Buffalo home games anyway?

My point is that in comparison to whatever teams were willing to over 6 weeks ago, I think the current offers will be worse. Now maybe the best offer anyone ever put on the table was a late second round pick for Jack - now it will be a third rounder. Second point, that everyone knows the Sabres can't start the season with Jack on the team - it will be too toxic and set the mood wrong from the start, of what will likely be the worse season in Sabres history. Third point, as a result I think the Sabres are between a rock and a hard place. No offer was good enough to trade Jack 6 weeks ago. But I think the current offers will be worse (because of point two, and the fact Jack will now miss nearly half a season). Therefore, the Sabres have overplayed their hand and we will get a low return for Jack.

As in the offer we received / was in discussion 6 weeks ago will have been better than the current offers in discussion. sadly because Eichel is our captain, this can’t just be put aside and have him represent the city whilst wanting out

I think the Sabres have missed the sell on this. I expect a fairly low return now.

Whilst I agree with the Sabres course of rehab it first. If they now agree he needs surgery, I don't know why they don't go for the artificial disk. It is not experimental, has been done on high-end players (including MMA, which is pretty brutal) and worse comes to worse, if it doesn't work you can always fuse it afterwards.

Distraction from playing in a post-Eichel team. The issue with the tank was how hard we steered into losing. I don’t want that to happen again. I want the team to play to win every night. And instilling tjay culture on a poor team is a hard thing to do. Therefore, I think it will be critical Eichel is not around to disrupt that.

I think it will be a huge distraction for the whole team if he isn't. That's bad when you're trying to reestablish a culture about people who want to be here, and teach them a new system etc.

Their best bet is a contract dump in an Eichel trade

I think Eichel was the wrong person for us to try and build a franchise on. That’s not to say he isn’t talented, or doesn’t work very hard. But I think his response to the whole affair is fairly telling, and not something I want to see from my captain.

Phew - back to normal. Signing a player I have never heard of for league minimum

Good signing - and cheap

He is also (generally) one of the more connected insider sources (but only for the Wild). Like Friedman, I mostly take what he says as true until otherwise proven.

Lol this story is a copy pasta in the hockey community. Eichel didn’t do this

Georgiev has requested a trade from NYR. Maybe they can get him?

So far a pretty lacklustre FA for us. We currently have the second lowest cap hit in the league. However, we have signed 23 players, whereas Ottawa (the lowest), are about 5 mil below and have 5 more players to sign. Also, our goalies - woof!