Jack Eichel's Gambit

[Crusader1969]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Jack can still wear the "C" for this team. Say the next time he speaks in front of the media, he does a 180 in tone and it's all about sacrificing for the team, for example. Plenty will welcome him "back" with open arms. "What have you done for me lately." Never mind if he comes back and we make the playoffs next year and win a round - he'll be captain Jack again. 

This isn't at all to say those scenarios are likely, but it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that he stays and continues wearing it. People aren't going to give a damn about this latest conference once we are a winning team. 

Presumably the gambit was his attempt to get one, in perception 

Couldn't they have just cancelled his Zoom call?

[rickshaw]

19 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Hopefully not.

You send him to wherever you get the best return from. Out west?  In your division? Boston or Toronto? Doesn't matter...wherever you get the best return.

I disagree. There is no way you want him anywhere near your division and conference IMO. He would most definitely be getting everything he wants if that’s the case. Nope, you find a way to get him out west and if he wants to be a Bruin so bad, he can do so in FA. 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Couldn't they have just cancelled his Zoom call?

Yeah, no one would have noticed.

[Curt]

2 hours ago, rickshaw said:

I disagree. There is no way you want him anywhere near your division and conference IMO. He would most definitely be getting everything he wants if that’s the case. Nope, you find a way to get him out west and if he wants to be a Bruin so bad, he can do so in FA. 

To me, if I was trading Eichel, I don’t care what he wants.  My goal in the trade would not be exact some form of revenge on him, it would be to get the best deal for the team.  Anything else is misplaced effort. 

[Pimlach]

On 5/12/2021 at 3:49 PM, Taro T said:

While it MIGHT have been calculated, it could also be a frustrated 24 yo having to be grilled by people he doesn't respect right after a long, disappointing/frustrating meeting with his bosses.

Remember, the conversation started out on a pretty even keel & then ~10 minutes in went kerboom.

Anybody else here glad they didn't have to speak publicly right after not seeing eye to eye with their boss for an hour or so?  Yours truly could definitely have been goaded into saying something that sounded really bad & might not even have been reflective of how things really are in such a situation.

It was DEFINITELY calculated by Jack and his agent.  

Anybody else here make $10,000,000 a year and get paid to not work or talk to your boss for months?  Anybody else here make more money than your boss?   Anybody else here go to work with a designation pinned on your chest defining you as the leader?  

How was he goaded?   What questions came up that surprised him?  The press conference was planned in advance.  He knew the schedule of events and what questions were coming.  He knows what his contract says.  
 

Press conferences are part of the job.  Dealing with the media is part of the job.  He was prepared to say what he said.  He said what he feels.  

Why are you making excuses your him?  He spoke his mind.  We all know he wears his heart in his sleeve. 

[dudacek]

After watching it, I didn’t think that that press conference was calculated at all.

He was prepared to be easy and relaxed and was making it work until he dropped “whoever I am playing for” at the tail end of a response to a Hamilton question that pricked him at least 5 minutes in.

As you say, his wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t have great impulse control. He was mad at the team for not letting him what he wanted to do, and he vented.

[I-90 W]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

After watching it, I didn’t think that that press conference was calculated at all.

He was prepared to be easy and relaxed and was making it work until he dropped “whoever I am playing for” at the tail end of a response to a Hamilton question that pricked him at least 5 minutes in.

As you say, his wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t have great impulse control. He was mad at the team for not letting him what he wanted to do, and he vented.

You see that’s the thing though, it didn’t seem like venting IMO. There was a general sense of calmness and peace about him that leads me to believe he had decided that he wants to be moved and is at peace with that. He actually seemed pretty chill the entire time. 

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, I-90 W said:

You see that’s the thing though, it didn’t seem like venting IMO. There was a general sense of calmness and peace about him that leads me to believe he had decided that he wants to be moved and is at peace with that. He actually seemed pretty chill the entire time. 

Venting is the wrong word. Slipped, perhaps?

It was the chill that was calculated. The underlying heat was about the injury.

The desire to move was never clearly articulated. About his future with the Sabres, I thought he was decidedly dispassionate.

 

[spndnchz]

On 5/13/2021 at 12:16 AM, SwampD said:

So, you only have a right nut?

Doc’s still in conference on that one. lol 

[darksabre]

Bumping this again because I've been thinking more about what it would mean for the team if the Sabres were dead-set on playing hardball with Eichel.

If they want to trade him, but they can't get the price they want, what does Eichel do? Does he refuse to report to camp? What if he's recovered from his injury but doesn't want to play? Can the team suspend him? What are the cap implications of this?

Edited July 26, 2021 by darksabre

[Thorny]

I honestly think eventually Adams would back down from the price because he'd start to weight the ramifications of exactly the things you've just laid out - taking less would begin to appear to KA as the lesser of two evils and the ask would shrink a bit. That's my guess

[Doohickie]

I think the most likely scenario would be that either his neck is fine and he plays, or that there is still an issue and he sits.  If there's still an issue it's IR, possibly LTIR.

The decision tree for the Sabres is:  Has the surgery Jack wants ever been done an an NHL player?  No.  Therefore follow the conservative and recognized treatment of rest.  If Eichel really wants surgery, allow him to get fusion surgery which has been done on other NHLers.

The alternative is that they do allow the surgery and it goes badly, the team bears the liability for Jack's lost wages, plus they get nothing for that money and no return from another team.

Even if it takes a year of Jack sitting, the rest or fusion option is preferred to what I'll call the "experimental surgery" option.

I don't even see it as playing hardball.  It's basic corporate risk management and it's driven by the lawyers.

[Doohickie]

If the neck injury really is the problem, though, then the ask by KA to move him will have to go down if they want to move him prior to his full recovery.  If the Sabres have Eichel, they bear the risk that he will never be the same.  For another team to assume that risk they will insist on paying a reduced price.

It's not unlike the Reino deal:  Sure Reinhart is worth more than what the Sabres got back as a player, but his contract status includes considerable risk, and the Panthers paid less because of that risk.

[darksabre]

I guess what I'm getting at is: if Eichel is deemed healthy (because Adams decided it was better to wait to try to trade him or make him play), will he refuse to play? If he refuses to play, what are the Sabres' options?

I'm just wondering if some of the moves Buffalo is making right now are in preparation for some kind of drawn out contract battle with Jack.

Edited July 26, 2021 by darksabre

[dudacek]

If a trade isn't done soon, I would imagine Jack's camp starts the ball rolling on contesting his treatment plan.

I suspect there is a current agreement to backburner that discussion until a trade, but that will expire very soon.

[darksabre]

Do we think the Sabres are ballsy enough to Kovalchuk him? Would he be mad enough about playing for Buffalo to retire from the NHL and go play in Russia or something? 

[ubkev]

6 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Do we think the Sabres are ballsy enough to Kovalchuk him? Would he be mad enough about playing for Buffalo to retire from the NHL and go play in Russia or something? 

I wouldn't trade him for all of King Midas' silver!

Seriously, keep him. We're still going to finish last, just like Adams and the Pegs want. I'm sure Terry doesn't want to pay him anymore, that's the only real catch for me.

[PASabreFan]

9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Do we think the Sabres are ballsy enough to Kovalchuk him? Would he be mad enough about playing for Buffalo to retire from the NHL and go play in Russia or something? 

What's to kovalchuk?

[darksabre]

9 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

What's to kovalchuk?

It's not quite the same situation, but we all remember that Kovi basically didn't want to play for the Devils anymore after the lockout. So he retired with like...12 seasons left on his contract to go play overseas.

I'm just spitballing about how far Eichel might be willing to take things if he really, truly doesn't want to play another game for the Sabres but they refuse to trade him for a bad return.

I have to suspect they wouldn't be too opposed to him simply leaving the NHL if they can't get what they want.

[SDS]

I’m not sure if this answers your question the way you were expecting, but here’s a point that I think it’s worthwhile that no one discusses…

I think Adams is a former player and not the hardnose GM that some people crave. I think he’ll treat players the way he thinks players want to be treated. We saw this in his treatment of Taylor Hall.

if true, this is obviously a double edge sword. The hope is that people see this team as a place where players get treated fairly and therefore would want to join, but in return that means we’re not putting the screws to everyone and everything in order to maximize outcomes.

[Doohickie]

32 minutes ago, darksabre said:

if Eichel is deemed healthy, will he refuse to play?

I would say no, he will buck up and play.  With KA being very firm in his desired return for Eichel, the best way to get a trade done would be for Eichel to show he hasn't lost a step.  If he refuses to play it hurts the chances of a trade occurring because (1) acquiring team still won't know if he's fully healthy, and (2) it will just confirm the impression that he's kind of a dick.

[PASabreFan]

3 minutes ago, darksabre said:

It's not quite the same situation, but we all remember that Kovi basically didn't want to play for the Devils anymore after the lockout. So he retired with like...12 seasons left on his contract to go play overseas.

I'm just spitballing about how far Eichel might be willing to take things if he really, truly doesn't want to play another game for the Sabres but they refuse to trade him for a bad return.

I have to suspect they wouldn't be too opposed to him simply leaving the NHL if they can't get what they want.

Clearly, I didn't remember. Thanks.

[WildCard]

8 minutes ago, SDS said:

I’m not sure if this answers your question the way you were expecting, but here’s a point that I think it’s worthwhile that no one discusses…

I think Adams is a former player and not the hardnose GM that some people crave. I think he’ll treat players the way he thinks players want to be treated. We saw this in his treatment of Taylor Hall.

if true, this is obviously a double edge sword. The hope is that people see this team as a place where players get treated fairly and therefore would want to join, but in return that means we’re not putting the screws to everyone and everything in order to maximize outcomes.

How do you mean?

[Doohickie]

Just now, WildCard said:

How do you mean?

I think the fact that he got his NMC, and that KA traded him for less than he might have gotten from another team and not pressured him/held onto him for a higher return.

[SDS]

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

How do you mean?

I mean I don’t think he is the type to say screw you Taylor Hall, the return isn’t good enough, you can sit and rot for the rest of the season for all I care.

Likewise, I don’t think he’ll put the screws to an unhappy Jack Eichel to maximize the return.

I think he will be a guy that is looking for fairness to all parties involved.