Curt

I feel pretty confident that this information is known to Eichel and Adams. I would think that Eichel is being evaluated at regular intervals.

Yeah, not McDavid/Crosby, I don’t think. I’d say he is a definite above average #1 pick though. Like Matthews/MacKinion/Tavares/Stamkos level. Probably never going to be the best player in the league, but a near lock to be a top-10 C and perennial all-star. I think he would have #1 no doubt in every draft since 2016. However, he has barely played in a year, so we’ll see how he looks next season.

Quinn- maybe, but doubt it. Routsalainen- almost definitely You think he doesn’t play defense in favor of focusing on offense?

I have no idea if Peca is/will be a good coach. This move feels right though.

The problem is that I don’t think it works like that. They are still possibly financially liable. If Eichel gets the surgery, recovers, is traded, and then 2 years from now has some catastrophic occurrence as a result of the artificial disk, could he sue the Sabres for approving this surgery that’s never been performed on an NHL player before?

No way. How? Wouldn’t Sabres come out and say that if it was true?

In our hot takes thread, I predicted that R2 would lead the team in ES goals.

At this point, I have no freaking idea when a trade will happen. I think it’s entirely possible that Adams can’t get the trade value he wants until Eichel is healthy and playing. Eichel won’t be healthy and playing unless he gets surgery. Adams doesn’t want to be financially on the hook for a “risky” surgery, and would rather trade him first and let another team assume that risk. But Adams can’t get the trade value he wants until Eichel is healthy and playing. As you can see it’s a bit of a self perpetuating, circular problem without a natural end point. So, what can break this circle? (1) A team could take the risk and give up enough trade assets for an injured Eichel. They would need to have a belief that things will turn out well with disk replacement surgery and be willing to put a lot of money on that. (2) Adams could lower his ask and/or accept the best offer he can get to put an end to this situation. So far he has seemed to stand firm, but will there come a time where taking less is worth it to put an end to this toxic situation. (3) Adams (Pegula?)could let Eichel have disk replacement surgery and show he is healthy to restore trade value, then trade him. In this case the Sabres assume a lot of financial risks associated with the surgery. They would need some level of confidence that it will work out well. So far they haven’t been willing to do it. (4) Eichel’s camp files for injury arbitration and a third party can determine whether or not he can have disk replacement surgery. (A combination of #1 and #2 could occur, where a team and Adams are kind of able to compromise, and each give a little more/get a little less than they’d like. This is probably more likely than either #1 and #2.) One of these scenarios listed above will need to happen eventually. If not, then Eichel will just continue to need surgery, Sabres will continue trying to trade him for high value, and other teams will continue to be unwilling to pay that price. Stuck. Finally, when you think about it, it definitely sucks for Eichel. I was just able to write all that without including any choices that he can make. He is just kind of stuck in the big sticky, circular problem. He has no control over it, he is only an asset involved in it. This is the trouble with a private company having control over the health decisions of an employee. The employee ceases to become person, and instead must be looked at as a financial asset or risk. In a sense it’s almost unavoidable because a company will look at a situation through the lens of their short term financial well being, without real regard for Eichel’s wishes or career. However, this type of situation is all around terrible from an humanity standpoint and a PR standpoint. It doesn’t make anyone look good. Hopefully this is rectified by changes to the CBA as soon as possible to create more equitable outcomes where players have a little more control over their bodies.

Could be. I guess it all depends on whether any particular GM thinks that KA will fold, or if they think he will hold fire. As of right now, they were all pumping the brakes on raising to his ask already.

Eh, I don’t think it lowers his trade value any. The other GMs already knew that Adams was sticking to his ask, and they weren’t willing to go there. You think they going to offer less today than they did last week, knowing that what they offered last week wasn’t enough? Personally, I doubt it.

Why do you think that the statement released on Friday “torpedoed” the chances of a trade this offseason?

What prospects did Murray acquire in trades? Fasching- horrible value on that trade Kasdorf Larsson Carrier I’m sure I’m missing some. I’m not going to take the time to sift through it all. I doubt it helps his case as a talent evaluator much.

I can’t agree, because basically all of the guys drafted by Murray who actually made it to the AHL arrived there after Taylor was already in place. The problem wasn’t so much that a bunch of promising prospects were stagnating in the AHL. It was more so that there were not a lot of prospects who ended up being good enough to even sign with the Sabres and then come play in the AHL.

Well, I suppose that would be acceptable if he actually hit on an acceptable number of these big swings. So far, Botterill’s drafts have looked way better.

I seriously question whether he was in fact a good scout. His drafting as Sabres GM was quite poor.

It may have been a ship that existed only in our hearts and minds. I have to think that if any put forth a “max value” offer in the past 5 months, Adams would have accepted.

Who is this Sabres doctor that you are talking about?

To be fair, any team trading for Eichel will know how his rehab is progressing and whether he needs surgery. That was only news to us. It was already know to interested GM’s.

It’s not unacceptable to me for Eichel to get surgery and start the season with the Sabres to show he is healthy, then trade him.

Happens all the time. Oh wait.........

I have no idea what you are talking about. We are talking about this Evandro Kane accusation, not your past.

....and you lobbed one back at her. I believe that is @Hoss point.

Eichel can always make his own decision. No one can stop him from having a surgery. However, if he does so against orders from the Sabres medical staff, that could be grounds for voiding his contract, if the Sabres choose to do so.

You mean 20 goals and 20 assists? I think that would be fantastic production for him. I doubt he hits that. Mitts is more likely to get there.

They may, likely do, but is an insurance company going fork over a $50M payment to compensate a team for the poor result of an “experimental” surgery? I feel like they would fight it for sure.