For the majority of the prolonged Jack Eichel trade negotiations, the Sabres hadn’t been sharing medical information with other teams. However, as TSN’s Darren Dreger noted in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment, that has now changed and interested teams are now receiving Eichel’s medical information as it’s collected. It’s a small step as the stalemate continues with Eichel’s camp wanting artificial disc replacement surgery with Buffalo insisting on fusion surgery and the Sabres have the final say on the matter. It’s unknown if the exchanging of medical info will make other teams suddenly increase their offers for the disgruntled center but at least they’ll have updated information to work off of.
More from the Atlantic:
- While things can change, the current expectation is that veteran Tyler Ennis will be able to land a contract and a roster spot off of his PTO with the Senators, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 31-year-old had a tough year last season with Edmonton where he had just nine points in 30 games but in 2019-20, Ennis spent most of the year with Ottawa and head coach D.J. Smith where he collected 33 points in 61 contests. At this point, a contract would be at or close to the league minimum and Ennis would give the Sens another capable veteran after just adding Zach Sanford over the weekend.
- The Panthers are engaged in extension talks with captain Aleksander Barkov, report David Dwork of WPLG and David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is entering the final year of what has been a very team-friendly deal that carries an AAV of $5.9MM and he will be eyeing a substantial raise – potentially past the $10MM mark. Both Dwork and Pagnotta peg the discussions as progressing very slowly so it appears there’s still a lot of work to be done before Florida can get their franchise forward to put pen to paper on a new contract.
Could definitely do worse than Ennis. *cough* Paquette *cough* Galchenyuk
They’ve definitely raised the floor over where they started last year with the depth moves, but that’s not saying much considering the bodies that were brought in to begin last season.
Even if someone deals for Eichel, they’re still going to have to wait 1-2 years for him to heal with whatever surgery is performed. Not sure I’d wait that long and take a cap hit in the process.
The surgery he wants has a recovery time of less than 3 months I believe.
It does, but it’s the back and not sure whoever allows him to get it would rush him back.
Disk replacement surgery is shorter but fusion is the longest recovery time. If he has it soon he could be back before the playoffs with fusion (or sooner).
Any teams interested in gambling $50 million? Step right up.
Toronto loves highly paid forwards, what’s one more?
I understand barkov wants to get paid, but where he plays in Florida if he gets 8 mil per he makes more them McDavid due to the tax situation. Point being player in those states ( Texas and Florida) were taxes are less should take slightly less AAV to make the team better as a whole as they will make as much or more then guys with higher AAV’s.
The Sabres will continue to lose the battle here with Eichel. The only way they get even a halfway decent return at this point is if they allow him to get the surgery he wants. Apart from that, they pay him big $$$ to stay home.
This is an ugly mess, but I have to side with Eichel on this one, yes I know but made an investment on him and they have a say when it comes to medical but that’s it. Yes I know but invested a lot into Eichel but that’s the risk they took, IMO they only have a limited say on what medical procedures are done. At the end of the day it isn’t buf fo sitting there in pain/regret at the end of the day or there bodies getting diced on, and at this point what dose buf have to prove on this. This whole thing is a mess and until buf pulls there head out of there a$$ and fix things from the ground up no stars or anyone you draft is going to want to stay long term.
From CBSSports.com: Teams are able to have the last word on how a player deals with and treats an injury, which is under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement.
WTH were the players thinking? Give the league the rights over their medical procedures? What did they get in return for that huge ‘give’?
What did the players get in return? Not being locked out.
If the Sabres are starting to give interested teams Eichel’s medicals it might be that Eichel’s agent is working behind the scenes to get a trade to materialize.