Shootica

Not only did Fish fail to get Jack traded in time to have surgery and be ready for opening night, he muddied Jack's public image and turned this situation into a circus in the process. He overplayed his hand and failed miserably. Makes perfect sense to fire Fish and switch to arguably the most reputable agent in the game in Brisson. Someone who already represents many of the game's elite talents, and someone who helped facilitate Duchene's trade in a similar situation. I don't think this means a trade is more or less imminent, or that it means anything in regards to his recovery. He gave the small town Boston agent a try, watched him fail, and has decided he needs higher caliber representation.

A few thoughts: You don't need to play or have played hockey to properly diagnose and treat hockey injuries. It is generally recommended to keep using a sprained ankle for non-weightbearing activity (like a low resistance exercise bike) soon after injury to promote bloodflow/healing and maintain flexibility. You could have at least googled it before whining on a podcast years later. Sorry Robin but call me back once you get your degree in orthopedics.

Should also add that ADR leads to a better long-term quality of life, as you keep your full range of motion. I'm roughly Jack's age, and if I had a herniated cervical disc that would be the bigger motivating factor to me. Agree with the rest, I just wanted to add that point. Carry on!

If that's the case then I can understand it. 6 years is a lot. I wrote that about the idea that we wouldn't offer more than 2.

I'm starting to get the sense that we (both the org and much of the fanbase) are so enamored with the idea of UPL that we're losing sight of who he currently is. I like him and believe in his development, but at this point he still hasn't even posted an AHL season north of .900. Refusing to give Ullmark more that 2 years to create room for UPL, if that's what they did, seems incredibly optimistic. They need to allow him proper developmental time, and they need to plan around the possibility that he may not develop into a surefire #1 goalie.

*****, it's beyond even the Pegulas at this point. The whole organization just reeks.

Or if you want to still lose but without completely demoralizing everyone on the roster.

I'm not reading too much into that quote other than that his agent is helping him out. Jack wants a trade. Trade progress seems to be getting held up over the injury concerns. So his agent is working in his interests to put it out there that he feels great, to try to get trade juices flowing again.

The only thing losing Borgen should dictate is how many cheap depth defensemen we sign in free agency. Not who we draft. Not if we trade Risto/Miller. All of that should be a completely separate discussion.

Risto just screams Flyers to me. He embodies that team. Is probably a touch less likely after the Ellis deal, but I hope he goes there.

I'll throw out a prediction: Reinhart and Risto get moves, Eichel does not.

I'd put good money that they have filmed takes for a whole bunch of players, and this leak is just one of those takes.

They would have to do some serious maneuvering in the coming years, but it should be noted that this opens up just over $10M for them next year. I'd argue it puts them deeper in the Eichel conversation.

Definitely a possibility. Although I bet that if this were the case, we'd be hearing rumblings about it in hockey media as both sides use their outlets to own the narrative. The fact that there has been radio silence on this in the past couple weeks feels like a very good sign to me. As Pi said, at this point if the news wasn't positive and Jack's doc is still hollering for surgery, I feel like we would have heard about it.

I haven't checked back on this site in a couple weeks so this thread is a shade old, but thanks for the info. I didn't realize the timeline was that long. Also, I figure I'll link another article on this subject, authored by a PT that has done injury analyses about the Sabres and Bills before. I found it interesting. https://www.diebytheblade.com/2021/5/19/22443208/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichels-artificial-disc-conundrum

You're right, the article doesn't dabble on fusion surgery. Friedman is just reporting that Eichel is exploring ADR surgery and that the Sabres are reluctant on that procedure given the lack of similar athletes who have undergone it. And he says that they've agreed on a pause to see how he reacts to rest and if it improves on its own. But that injury was almost two months ago now, so I'd have to imagine that they have a pretty good idea of if rest and recovery will do the trick here. And if Jack is still at odds with the team and pushing for ADR surgery, I'm inclined to believe that rest has not fixed the issue. The reason I mentioned fusion is that as far as I know there aren't a ton of options when it comes to a herniated disc if rest/rehab don't do the trick, and fusion seems to be the most common surgical procedure. So I don't see it as too huge a leap to say that if rest didn't do the trick, that would be where the team docs look to next. Now maybe they're at a point where the team docs are happy with how he has responded to rest and feel that he does not need surgery of any sort, and Eichel is still strongly in favor of surgery. I could see that being a reasonable case as well.

Maybe you're right and I'm reading too far between the lines there. But to my knowledge, the common practice for this sort of thing is to rehab it for 4 to 8 weeks and see how your body responds. If you respond well, the pain goes away, and imaging says you don't have a huge risk of further damage, then you're good without surgery. If that doesn't happen withing that timeframe, you look to surgery. That 4-8 weeks has pretty much passed for Eichel. So at this point if he and the team are still at odds over the treatment route, and with Friedman highlighting the newer ADR procedure in his article, I'm inclined to believe that they disagree on the surgical route. I could be wrong, I'm far from a medical expert, but that's how I came to that conclusion.

Just inferring from Friedman's piece. There wouldn't be this big of an argument if they didn't wholly disagree on a treatment path, and from what I take of that article it goes beyond just PT.

That's really interesting. Makes it sound like the crux of the issue isn't that the team wanted him to try PT before electing for surgery, but that the team docs are recommending a more traditional fusion surgery if that is necessary whereas Eichel wants to go for the more cutting-edge tech with potential for the best possible outcome. If that's the case, I do kinda see Jack's point. Especially if there are other high profile athletes who have had success with replacement.

But two things here: 1. This isn't KA's call. This gets delegated to the folks with medical degrees, and for good reason. You don't want the GM to have authority over medical decisions, that opens up huge conflicts of interest. 2. If you're a team orthopedist and are changing your recommended course of action to maximize a player's trade value, I'd have some serious doubts about your credibility to be in that position.

I'd wager that it has more to do with him not being able to train. Jack is a known gym rat and probably has an off-season regiment he wants to get in. He wants to get surgery with enough time to rehab, recover, and get some training in before the start of next season. And it's probably driving him crazy that he's been sitting around for a month and a half without the ability to do anything, just watching time go by.

I'd rather have the dart throws than not. Wish we could've gotten a 2nd, but it doesn't surprise me that the market for Montour doesn't exist.

I'd presume they're in this to balance out contracts.

I don't see Linus pulling in a Demko-level contract. I'd wager he gets something in the realm of 3 years, $4-4.5M AAV. Demko is younger, has had considerable hype at every step in his progression, and had justified that hype at every level. He is viewed as a long-term franchise goalie, and I think he is one. I'd bet that Linus is looked at as a goalie on the rise and a capable starter, but one with question marks. Teams want stability in net, his injury history is going to scare people off. There is associated risk there that will bring his value down. And for that price, I'd absolutely bring him back.

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I don't see it in this thread. If we were to start holding him out of games today, can we start the clock ticking on the required quarantine period he'd need to go through before joining a new team? That would have to assume he gets a private charter or is within driving distance to the new city. We're less than a week from the deadline, I'd imagine that it would be valuable for any new team if he could jump right in after a trade goes through.