Jack Eichel has been on the trade block for what seems like forever and has not been on the ice for the Buffalo Sabres this preseason as he continues to await neck surgery. Yet, his market is heating back up. As TSN’s Darren Dreger wrote earlier this week, the Sabres have been pushed by Eichel’s new agent, Pat Brisson, to share medical files with interested parties. The result has been more clarity as to Eichel’s serious suitors, which could finally lead to a trade.
Eichel’s desired surgical cure, which has been at the center of his ongoing feud with the Sabres, is a disc replacement surgery that has never been attempted on an NHL player. By sharing the specifics of Eichel’s injury, teams can gain more insight into the nature of Eichel’s condition and whether they would agree to his preferred route rather than the typical fusion procedure. As Pierre LeBrun reports for The Athletic, this has helped Kevyn Adams and the Sabres strengthen their trade pitch, as some of the unknowns of an Eichel deal have been cleared up. While LeBrun believes that there will still be a conditional aspect to any deal, Buffalo now finally has a chance to finally close a deal and closer to full value.
Among the teams that LeBrun feels have backed off of the Eichel pursuit are the Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia, and even the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings who seemed like top contenders at one point. However, LeBrun notes that the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames have done their due diligence on Eichel’s condition and the ADR surgery and remain interested in the star center.
Though the cost for Eichel remains a mystery, especially with the suspected conditional component, there will still be a considerable price to pay. Anaheim offers a number of young roster forwards, as well as numerous talented prospects. Calgary offers more current star talent, some of whom would have to move for cap purposes, as well as some top prospects. Both teams would be able to make a strong pitch for Eichel and have good reason for doing so. The Flames may be one major piece away from jumping into Stanley Cup contention, while the Ducks have a budding young core and know that Eichel has expressed some desire to play on the west coast.
While LeBrun stops short of saying a trade is imminent, this is first time that concrete conversations have been had with a media source confirming that Eichel talks are occurring. Eichel needed surgery “like yesterday” per LeBrun and both he and the Sabres desperately need to move on, so for the good of all involved, including NHL fans, hopefully this situation will be resolved before too long.
Adams will make a horrible trade,but if he had a brain,he would ask for 4 pieces 2F,1D,1G from Anaheim. No Zegras,no Drysdale. ZG included w/JE.
And the Ducks would be smart to not include Zegras or Drysdale for Eichel… especially since their is no guarantee that he will be healthy again no matter what procedure he chooses. Any Buffalo fan that thinks they are getting either of those two are delusional.
Then again this is Bob Murray we are talking about… so anything can happen.
I hear the asking price is a top Prospect, a roster player, and a 1st round pick. so if in Anaheim, I’d start lowish and offer Tracey, Silverburg, and a 2023 first. they’d probably say no, so i would switch Silverburg for Gibson. I’d hope at that point they say yes, but if not, swap Tracey for McTavish. if they still say no after that then they’re asking for too much
“forwhomjoshbelltolled
3 days ago
Whichever team is willing to roll the dice on the surgery Eichel wants can probably sneak in and get him at a discount, but who’d be desperate enough (ie. GM is getting fired soon anyway if they don’t turn things around) to do it?
I’m looking at Bob Murray and Brad Treliving.”
Sounds right to me.
Teams like NYR, LA and MIN have other paths to being good. Ducks and Flames have little to lose with a big shakeup.
Flames make no sense IMO. They don’t have the prospects to get a deal done even if they include an established star like Gaudreau. That and Eichel is NOT a Sutter-type player. He would drive Sutter nuts and vice-versa.
If Cal offers Monahan and 2 firsts I bet Buf doesn’t hang up at this point.
And why is Monahan waiving his NTC?
I can’t see what Calgary would have that would interest Buffalo. Most of their skilled players are too old to fit into the Buffalo rebuild and are on expiring contracts and none of their prospects are top tier. But an overrated player to an overrated team seems to have chemistry.
Would Murray be prepared to offer McTavish, Dostal, Zellweger and the Ducks’ 2022 1st round pick (if top 3, then Sabres get the Ducks’ 2023 1st round pick)?
If Zegras doesn’t go to Buffalo then it would need to be the team’s second best centre prospect which is McTavish. Starting with McTavish, the Ducks simply need to build the package if they seriously want Eichel
If I’m Bob Murray, I offer McTavish and two seconds. CGY doesn’t have a piece as good as McTavish to include. Squeeze Adams, I’ll bet he folds.
I agree, I don’t know why people think they’re getting 4 players when there is almost no demand to drive the price up.
. Until he is traded still think he somehow ends up in vegas. They traded Fluery to get Eichel.
It’s F-L-E-U-R-Y ffs
Eichel is most probably going west. So Vegas is a good destination from Buffalo’s perspective. But I believe that the Sabres want mostly high end prospects, something that Vegas doesn’t really have.
Two teams out west are super rich with prospects or good young NHLers: L.A. and Anaheim. L.A. has more good young centres, but they seem to have taken a step back from the trade table probably because Sabres keep mentioning Byfield.
Ducks have two centre prospects who are almost interchangeable… Zegras and McTavish. So it’s probably easier to keep a conversation going with Buffalo.
Such a necessary and important comment. You enrich this board with your presence.
Johnny hockey, 2 firsts, and Jakob Pelletier or Matthew coronato, Oliver kylinton
Gaudreau has a NTC and is a free agent at seasons end. He won’t be traded to Buffalo. Kylington is a 7th D and has minimal value.
Switch Gaudreau with Monahan
Once again, why would Monahan waive his NTC?
It’s only a 5 team non trade list it really depends if Buffalo is on it
Or there’s a 3rd team involved
Its a 10 team and id bet your house Buffalo is on it ;)
It’s a 10 team list and Buffalo is likely the 1st team on anyone’s MNTC. Who wants to play a) In Buffalo. b) For that disaster. c) For a team projected to be that bad.
And Johnny has a 5 team trade list. He can list 5 teams he will accept a trade to, not 5 teams he will not accept a trade to.
oh yeah, he’ll LOVE being a Duck.
He has expressed an interest in the past in the westcoast.
But, in any event, I don’t think Eichel will be consulted in regards to the destination. For the Sabres it’s simple: whichever team offers a reasonable package in return for Eichel, reasonable from the Sabres’ perspective, will get Eichel. For Eichel, it’s a question of getting to a team that will accept his surgery of choice.
Let’s get creative. Both teams have cap space. Mix in a 3rd team that wants to unload some cap space. Buffalo can also sweeten the offer with a player or two.
If talking about Calgary, they have less than a million in space.
Adams will settle for minor players and low draft picks.
Only way Rangers match up which I don’t think they even want to at this point is to move one contract to Buffalo and in all honesty the big contracts (Trouba 8 mil, Kreider 6.5 mil, Panarin 11 mil) all have no trade clauses and wouldn’t be included in any deal anyway with regards to Panarin.
The Rangers would have to consider moving Zibanajed in a deal to Buffalo but he only has one year left which is this season and no way will he stay with Buffalo plus I can’t see the Rangers adding him in if they think they are a playoff team this season. Zibanajed unfortunately thinks he’s a 10 mill per season center and if I’m Rangers I wouldn’t go anywhere more than 8 mill at 5 years with his concussion history. Rangers may just have to walk away from Eichel talk.
There’s going to have to be multiple conditional picks if an Eichel deal gets done. Conditions based on availability as well as ones based on performance. Any team that wants to go get him would be taking a massive risk on so many levels.
Although, BUF really has no leverage either, so maybe we will see a deal get done with a laughable return.
Random question about how awful BUF is going to be this year…when is the last time a team had a tandem as bad as Anderson (almost retired) and Dell (waiver wire frequent flyer)?
Temp name change to Shyte or Offal for this season.
David Poile straight up for Eichel:! Oh, it has to be a player going back the other way. Darn. :/