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Jake McCabe Out 6-8 Months with Knee Injury


Brawndo

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20 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

This cannot be. I was assured by posters here who played competitive hockey that McCabe had a manageable knee sprain.

Good thing we didn't trade Scandella or completely alienate Pilut so in the event of an injury we would have a left handed d to play up the lineup... 

Staring Episode 2 GIF by The Office

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Heart broken for Jake. He was playing his best hockey of his career and deserved the contract he was going to get. I hope his knee heals well and his rehab goes great.

As I’ve said before, one of the all-time most under-appreciated Sabres.

Edited by GASabresIUFAN
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3 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He was playing his best hockey of his career

Interesting thought.  I think you're right.

Several metrics indicate a career year.  Giveaways were way down and takeaways were way up over all previous years.  Point rates, shot rates, individual HDCF rate, all shot-based possession percentages, and penalties drawn were all up.  Lead Sabres D in CF%, FF%, HDCF%, HDGF%.

 

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12 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Get well soon Jake.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Sabres give him a better contract than he can get elsewhere -- maybe a 1- or 2-year bridge deal so he can make a good salary until he gets back to 100%.

It's always hard to tell how GMs value blue collar defensemen like McCabe, and there always seems to be the one or two GMs that wildly overvalue random players, which makes it harder.  Maybe analytics has smoothed that out over the years or maybe not.  Jake's an above-replacement defenseman that could theoretically improve most rosters at some price point and usage, but it'll be the teams desperate for defense and project a bigger role for him that drive the market.

Sabres obviously value him on the ice and in the lockerroom (he has an 'A') and are probably on the list of desperate teams that would drive the market.

But then things get all jumbled up about health and recovery and long term durability.  The access of the Sabres' team doctors likely gives the Sabres more insight into that status and allow them to make a more deliberate decision.

Unless the player is demonstrably excellent, I don't think teams are going to offer long term (6+ year) deals to 27 year olds.  But I think Jake is past the point of a prove-it contract, unless his health/recovery is bad enough to really cast serious doubts.  If recovery is good, the market will treat him like a known quantity and get him signed for 3-5 years for $3-4.25M.  If recovery is not good, it'll be obvious, as the Sabres might only offer one or two years like you said.

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55 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

So does he sign a multi-year deal in the off-season at a lower pay due to the injury, or a 1 year provide it deal?

Sucks for him. The timing could not have been worse. 

Exactly. It's already February, so he'll be hard-pressed to get anything better than a 1-year deal as first half of next season he'll be recovering and getting fully back into comfort. It won't be a prove-it deal, but it will be a "your knee must prove-it deal".

He was a UFA and wasn't going to break the bank anywhere. But he was on track for a good $3.2M type deal on the open market (ala STL and Scandella)... probably suppressed a bit because of COVID and the cap. Now, he's looking at a "veteran injury reclamation project" salary. And that stinks for McCabe.

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Crappy news, wish him a speedy recovery. 

3 hours ago, Curt said:

Poor guy.  I kinda hope to see him again in a Sabres uniform, but probably won’t.  It may actually be time for both sides to move on.

I don't think we need to move on from him, but Adams clearly made a mistake by not balancing out the left side/right side of the defense, one LHD injury and we are in big trouble there - and McCabe has a thorough, well documented history of injuries - this wasn't exacly unpredictable.  Any given year it is unlikely for him to stay healthy and it's now at the point it was with Bogosian - entering into the season relying on McCabe for a top 4 role is a mistake. 

I'd bring him back, but not in a top 4 role by necessity. Both McCabe and Risto are benefiting from Krueger's system (regardless of what you think of the system overall), so if he's going to be back, I think any McCabe replacement will have a running start as being likely to benefit from said system - so we should be careful not to give him a "player friendly" deal here, which has been alluded to a surprising amount in this thread, IMO. 

We cannot and should not be in that business. 

41 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Exactly. It's already February, so he'll be hard-pressed to get anything better than a 1-year deal as first half of next season he'll be recovering and getting fully back into comfort. It won't be a prove-it deal, but it will be a "your knee must prove-it deal".

He was a UFA and wasn't going to break the bank anywhere. But he was on track for a good $3.2M type deal on the open market (ala STL and Scandella)... probably suppressed a bit because of COVID and the cap. Now, he's looking at a "veteran injury reclamation project" salary. And that stinks for McCabe.

Isn't it 6-8 months? Isn't 6 months August? Doesn't this timeline put him on pace to be back for next season rather than recovering for half?

Edited by Thorny
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2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Isn't it 6-8 months? Isn't 6 months August? Doesn't this timeline put him on pace to be back for next season rather than recovering for half?

He'll be back for the start of the season, but players coming off full knees (ACL/MCL) often take several months after recovery to fully trust it and look normal again. He'll likely look like himself around middle of next season.

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6 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

He'll be back for the start of the season, but players coming off full knees (ACL/MCL) often take several months after recovery to fully trust it and look normal again. He'll likely look like himself around middle of next season.

Ah ic misread what you meant 

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I was afraid it was going to be really serious based on McCabe's shouting and reaction on the ice.  Not that he was in a lot of pain per se, but that he realized he was seriously hurt and was really frustrated by that.

So no surprise to see he's going to be out all this time.

 

 

 

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