Any team acquiring Eichel could conceivably LTIR and rehab him all season after letting him have his ADR-procedure, in hopes of having him healthy prior to the start of the playoffs. Could the Blues survive a season w/o Thomas, knowing they have a long-term, young replacement for top-6 center duties?
Regular Season:
Kyrou-ROR-Perron
Neighbors/Neal-Schenn-Buchnevich
Saad-Bozak-Tarasenko
Clifford-Joshua/Brown-Barby
LTIR: Eichel, Sunqvist
Playoffs:
Schenn-Eichel-Buchnevich
Kyrou-ROR-Perron
Saad-Bozak-Tarasenko
Neal-Sundqvist-Barbashev
To Buffalo: Thomas, 2022 1st (protected top-3), Bolduc/Kostin, conditional 1st ('23 or '24) based on games played or Eichel's perfermance post-surgery.
Give Tarasenko a full year to prove his heath and re-establish some value; and so long as he's dealt by next off-season, the salary cap issues are pretty much resolved.
Regular Season:
Kyrou-ROR-Perron
Neighbors/Neal-Schenn-Buchnevich
Saad-Bozak-Tarasenko
Clifford-Joshua/Brown-Barby
LTIR: Eichel, Sunqvist
Playoffs:
Schenn-Eichel-Buchnevich
Kyrou-ROR-Perron
Saad-Bozak-Tarasenko
Neal-Sundqvist-Barbashev
To Buffalo: Thomas, 2022 1st (protected top-3), Bolduc/Kostin, conditional 1st ('23 or '24) based on games played or Eichel's perfermance post-surgery.
Give Tarasenko a full year to prove his heath and re-establish some value; and so long as he's dealt by next off-season, the salary cap issues are pretty much resolved.