The Jack Eichel saga has been the unfortunate headline all summer. Nothing has happened other than public frustration coming out of both the star player and the Buffalo Sabres as they look for a solution to their failing marriage. Eichel disagrees with the Buffalo medical staff for his next treatment option, and an entire offseason was wasted without him getting any closer to getting back on the ice.
That could be changing though. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that “both sides are hopeful” they can reach an agreement soon to trade Eichel to an interested team. Dreger notes that there has been additional access given to Eichel’s medical file, one of the biggest hurdles in any negotiation this summer. Teams that have interest simply can’t trade for a player of Eichel’s stature (and cost) without knowing exactly what his medicals say and making a decision on how to move forward.
Remember, a trade doesn’t guarantee that Eichel gets to have the surgery he wants. His new team would then have the final decision just like Buffalo, though it follows logically that no team would spend the assets to acquire him without first knowing it can reach an agreement one way or the other. A $10M cap hit is a tricky trade to pull off when the player is healthy, even tougher when he’s embroiled in a complicated medical battle.
One thing to note with any potential trade is that the Sabres must take back some salary of their own. The team would be under the salary cap floor without Eichel’s $10M hit, meaning prospects and picks can't be the only return coming back. That would likely be the case anyway given there aren’t many teams that can slide in a cap hit as high as Eichel’s, but it is another complication to work through for the Sabres. Hopefully, this latest update will actually result in a trade of some sort, allowing both the player and the franchise to move forward.
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