Sabres Strip Eichel of Captaincy, Plus Dahlin Signs

The Buffalo Sabres are a team that has struggled for quite some time, but this offseason is undoubtedly the lowest point they have found themselves in.

It started almost immediately after the season when Jack Eichel made comments in his end of the year media availability which seemed to suggest he wanted to be traded. That has since been confirmed and has gotten very ugly. The 24-year-old wants surgery done to correct his neck injury, but the team thinks it is too risky. As a result, Eichel remains injured and will not be able to play until he has the procedure done. Whenever he does finally play, it will almost certainly be in a different uniform, though the Sabres have not been able to find a trading partner yet.

Given the big distraction this has caused, along with the fact he won’t be able to play anyway, Elliotte Friedman wrote in his ’32 thoughts’ blog that the Sabres were expected to strip Eichel of his captaincy. On Thursday morning, that rumor became official news. GM Kevyn Adams address the media and said that Eichel failed his physical and that surgery is required. Unfortunately, Eichel will not accept Sabres’ desire for fusion surgery. He adds:

“I spoke to Jack two days ago, I spoke to the team yesterday and addressed this, Jack Eichel is no longer the captain of the Buffalo Sabres. From our perspective, the captain is your heartbeat of your team, and we are in a situation where we felt we needed to make that decision.”