Curt

Even better is to see what both have to say, watch the players, and decide for yourself.

Who even was the last lone C before Eichel?

Agree that Adams wants to rebuild. Seems obvious to me. I disagree that means re-adopting a tank mentality. For me, whether it’s a mistake will be born out in the execution.

No! No, I say! He is not! Was he given too much, too fast, too soon? Perhaps. But that’s not his fault. Has he made mistakes? No doubt. Everyone has. Is he a good captain. Maybe not, he is pretty young. Maybe he grows into leadership with age. In the end, he is a very very good hockey player, and if the Buffalo Sabres had been able to assemble a good team around him, I have no doubt Eichel would be an important part of that.

What constitutes being negative on Eichel? Does coming here and saying something not positive about him make me negative on Eichel?

They are trading Eichel to cut expenses?

It’s not too uncommon for an NHL team to not name a captain. Every year there are teams without one. To me it’s a long term investment. You don’t just throw it on someone for now. It should be someone who you are confident will be a leader on the team for years going forward.

I’m sure it will be.

Basically agree with this. I just don’t think he did the young guys any real favors when playing with them.

I would not give it to anyone next season, excepting some unforeseen veteran leader addition. In 2022 give it to whoever shows they deserve it.

Can’t be any later than 31 this draft! 😋

No. They would be 1st rounders, although very likely to be late in the round.

My point wasn’t necessarily to criticize Eichel, but to point out that it seems a lot more likely that trading him would be more for culture reasons than money reasons. I do agree with a lot of what you say here, but I also think that it is an extremely common mindset amongst hockey players/humans age 18-24. Most of us make a lot of mistakes and learn a lot during those years. Its not Jack’s fault, but I don’t think he was quite ready to be placed in the elevated position of face of the franchise and captain, despite his great on ice results.

I think that the chances that it mostly has to do with “character” issues is much much more likely than it being a money issue.

Nah, because they then went ahead and spent as much as they possibly could on Free Agents.

It’s probably that Hamilton is awful and Reinhart isn’t the kind of guy who will just humor him over and over again. Some people don’t suffer fools well.

Yeah, Ullmark seems like pretty much the nicest guy ever. It’s Hamilton. Every time he asks a question it has three parts, and he tells you the answer he wants you to give.

I must be crazy because I think that would be ok. I doubt they will make a trade that good.

He has some mathematical definition that stems from his model. There are charts involved.

Only weird part is that Lebrun was assuming that it wouldn’t be for futures. I think most here already felt it would be mostly a picks/prospects/young players return, as opposed to a star for star trade. Especially since it was already reported (by Friedman?) that Adams was looking for the equivalent of 4 1st round picks in an Eichel trade.

Comtois is 26 months older than Turcotte, not just a year. It doesn’t invalidate your opinion, but I’m a stickler for facts.

Performative? I mean, it’s a real strength training exercise. Eichel is well known for lifting a lot of weights. I don’t think he stopped when he got to the NHL.

The Hasek Era The Post Hasek Era The Post Lockout Era The Middling Era The Tank Fruit Era The Post Tank Fruit Era

I can’t muster the energy to care. The nuances of Eichel’s workout habits will soon be something for another NHL team (fan base) to concern themselves with.

Disgusting.