Confirmed with Link: [BUF/VGK] Jack Eichel & 3rd-2023(BUF) FOR Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, 1st-2022(VGK) & 2nd-2023(VGK)

[BuffaloGooner]

Pre-Trade: "I can't wait for this trade to be over with, I want to move on."

Post-Trade: continue to talk about Eichel, and comment on things that have nothing to do with us.

There's no way he's getting a better deal in his current living arrangement, than living rent free in Sabres fans' minds.

Why are you even on this board dude?

 

[Dirty Dog]

Pre-Trade: "I can't wait for this trade to be over with, I want to move on."

Post-Trade: continue to talk about Eichel, and comment on things that have nothing to do with us.

There's no way he's getting a better deal in his current living arrangement, than living rent free in Sabres fans' minds.

why does he want to live in heads??

 

[Jim Bob]

why does he want to live in heads??

He's a minimalist that is in to tiny homes?

 

[Dirty Dog]

He's a minimalist that is in to tiny homes?

Is Eichel expecting his head to fall off post-surgery!?!?

 

[Zman5778]

Is Eichel expecting his head to fall off post-surgery!?!?

I dunno. My head seems to be very attracted to my desk whenever I watch the Sabres.

Maybe he's having this surgery to correct the problem?

 

[OkimLom]

Why are you even on this board dude?

Because I'm a hockey fan that lives in Buffalo, and the main board is too crazy for me, and there's a few level-headed posters here that I enjoy reading their posts.

If you don't like my posts, I welcome you to ignore me.

 

[TehDoak]

Is Eichel expecting his head to fall off post-surgery!?!?

Wish i would have thought of this before the trade....

 

[BuffaloGooner]

This is from a little while ago but anyone interested, from 45 minutes in to about 47 minutes, Brian Gionta explains what life was like inside the Sabres locker room.

After Peters and Rivet buried Eichel last week on their pod, to hearing Gionta’s comments I’m starting to wonder whether PHam was right all this time. The locker room was a toxic mess. I ALWAYS stood up for Jack and Sam due to their on ice play and scoffed at perceived locker room issues but I don’t think a man like Gionta would exaggerate things.

 

[GrierIsGod123]

This is from a little while ago but anyone interested, from 45 minutes in to about 47 minutes, Brian Gionta explains what life was like inside the Sabres locker room.

After Peters and Rivet buried Eichel last week on their pod, to hearing Gionta’s comments I’m starting to wonder whether PHam was right all this time. The locker room was a toxic mess. I ALWAYS stood up for Jack and Sam due to their on ice play and scoffed at perceived locker room issues but I don’t think a man like Gionta would exaggerate things.

Yikes, that is pretty damning. Honestly Eichel is just an unlikable guy and it's just good to move on.

I've said this on the board before, but will say it again. I was part of the filming for one of the Beyond Blue and Gold episodes in the past year, and got to talking with some of the crew that cover both Buffalo teams. They didn't get specific, but would only say that Josh Allen is super genuine, a legit good dude and leader. They'd then say that Eichel simply was not Josh Allen, but you could tell that they thought he was an asshole.

I know he did stuff in the community, which is not lost on me. I don't think he's a horrible person or anything. He was building his brand here, but was not in it for the long haul, clearly. The reality is that he is not a good leader and will be looked back as one of, if not the worst captain in our history. There's more than enough smoke out there that tells you that the locker room with him is toxic. Of course it didn't help bringing in a guy like Kane early on in his career, but clearly Jack and co. were not willing to learn from a proven winner like Gionta.

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Other podcasts (Merriman/NRD) suggested he is a good guy, has many friends on the team and in the league and the bad locker room guy was prominently a narrative pushed from the Pegula's. So who knows what the truth is.

 

[Gabrielor]

Other podcasts (Merriman/NRD) suggested he is a good guy, has many friends on the team and in the league and the bad locker room guy was prominently a narrative pushed from the Pegula's. So who knows what the truth is.

Truth is definitely in the middle. There were clearly real problems with Eichel as a team leader / captain, or we wouldn't be here.

It wasn't all dumb Botterill moves.

 

[Jim Bob]

Other podcasts (Merriman/NRD) suggested he is a good guy, has many friends on the team and in the league and the bad locker room guy was prominently a narrative pushed from the Pegula's. So who knows what the truth is.

I wonder where Merriman/NRD are getting their info.

Gionta is talking from his experience being on the Sabres. And we know that Peters and Rivet still have contacts in the room.

I also have found it interesting to hear Okposo talk about how the mood with this year's team and their togetherness is different from the past.

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

I wonder where Merriman/NRD are getting their info.

Gionta is talking from his experience being on the Sabres. And we know that Peters and Rivet still have contacts in the room.

I also have found it interesting to hear Okposo talk about how the mood with this year's team and their togetherness is different from the past.

Yeah, no offense to NRD but I’ll take the word of actual NHL players who worked and played for the team over a Rando rumor guy whose name we don’t even know…

 

[Chainshot]

Adding this back in, J.S. Dea talked about how different Crosby is as a captain compared to someone who would publicly dress down a staff member for making a mistake. Also said Sid seeks out new arriving players and treats everyone with respect... unlike in Buffalo.

 

[Djp]

Lebrun posted a story on Athletic on the trade. I don’t pay so I can’t see it

 

[Jimmybarndoor2]

Jack should not have been appointed the chosen one and that is on the Sabres. He was made the captain when it should have been ROR. He became disgruntled and stopped striving to be elite.

He will go to Vegas where he will be a cog in the wheel with established captains. I am sure he will do great. I hope his surgery works out and it holds for him. He will never sadly be McDavid.

the Sabres can start with a new group with salary cap to make some moves. Best of luck to him

 

[Jim Bob]

Lebrun posted a story on Athletic on the trade. I don’t pay so I can’t see it

LeBrun: Sabres GM Kevyn Adams on the process behind moving Jack Eichel

“I don’t know if I’ve completely had enough time yet to decompress, to be honest with you,’’ the Sabres GM said Tuesday.

A day after completing the Jack Eichel trade with Vegas last Thursday, Adams was off to Michigan to watch Owen Power, the No. 1 pick from the 2021 NHL Draft, play Friday and Saturday.

Then, Adams got back to Buffalo on Sunday in time to have dinner with newly acquired Alex Tuch, just the two of them breaking bread.

“I thought it was really important to sit down with him and get to know each other personally, first of all,” said Adams. “I know from my days as a player that (after a trade) your head is spinning, what’s going through your mind, just to have that time for him to be able to ask questions and understand the vision and how we got here and where we’re going from here. I thought it was very important.

“Then Monday first thing, I went to Rochester because I did the same thing with Peyton Krebs (also acquired in the Eichel trade) after practice, we went to lunch and spent a couple of hours together.’’
So, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind since the big trade.

Krebs hasn't had to buy a meal yet since the trade.

The reality of the situation ended up being that a very small list of teams were actually willing to make the trade pre-surgery. As reported last week, we know that Calgary and Carolina joined Vegas as the top three suitors.

Given that limited field, the Sabres did their best to meet their asset checklist in the return.

One of the criticisms that many of us had in this process was that Buffalo perhaps should have made the deal back in July at the draft when more teams might have been willing to get involved because it’s easier to make large trades in the offseason.

But Adams insists that deal, the deal the Sabres needed, wasn’t there in July.

“For me, there was never a pressure point that we needed to do it by a certain time,” he said. “And I’ve said that all along. I never felt like, ‘Here we are at the draft, this is the time to make this deal.’ We were going to make the deal when it was the right deal for the franchise. There were a lot of conversations that day and I guess the intensity around the draft, especially when you’re talking about draft picks and knowing exactly where teams are sitting, that’s a pressure point per se because obviously there’s a lot of movement around that time.

“But for us, they were not the right offers that we were comfortable with,’’ added Adams. “Our best offer, the one that we felt made the most sense for our franchise, is the deal we made. I was never hung up on the time or pressure to make a deal. We were going to make a deal when it was the right time for our franchise and on our terms and we were not going to compromise on what we needed to get. And that’s what we did.’’

I doubt that will change the minds of people that think Eichel should have been traded over the summer, but it sure seems like two guys like Tuch & Krebs weren't on the table over the summer.

It really feels like it came down to two top offers: one from Vegas and one from Calgary, with Carolina at No. 3 staying in it but not stepping up in the same fashion (probably because I think the Sabres wanted either Martin Necas or Seth Jarvis as part of a package and I doubt the Hurricanes would have entertained that).

As I reported last week, the Golden Knights, for a while, thought Eichel was headed to Calgary last Wednesday.

Without naming teams, of course, Adams confirmed there was more than one offer to seriously consider.

“I had really serious discussions as we got closer to finalizing the deal with not just two teams, more than that. So, it did pick up in intensity, and I felt that we were getting close because, just for whatever reason, it seems like we were now getting to the point where teams were stepping up and ready to do this.’’

Eichel certainly sounded relieved Monday at his introductory news conference in Las Vegas. It was a dramatic divorce, but Adams says he’s happy for Eichel that he gets to move on.

“I don’t know if Jack has said this publicly or if I have said this publicly, but Jack and I had many discussions and face-to-face, sit-down meetings since I became general manager,’’ said Adams. “In my opinion, we always had an honest, open relationship. I truly want the best for Jack and I’m excited that Jack gets to move forward and get himself back to playing the game that he loves.

“I told Jack this from the very beginning, this was never personal, and it could never be personal. When you bring personal and emotional feelings into a situation like this, you can make mistakes. That’s why it was really important to separate that. As hard as that can be at times, that was critical in my mind through this.’’

Adams is a young GM still learning the ropes. Asked about what lessons he will take from the entire process, a couple jumped to mind.

“One was to make sure that the work that was done behind the scenes beforehand with our staff, that we felt strongly about, we weren’t going to compromise on, regardless of the pressure externally or what people were saying. So, that is a lesson, you have to trust the work that’s been done and block out the noise. That was a really important part of this.

“When you are in a position of a franchise decision, you have to really stay calm, you have to stick to what your core principles are and trust that. It is a very challenging process. It was difficult on so many levels because this wasn’t just a hockey player on our team we were trading, there’s so many different layers to this which made it so much more complex.

“But taking a breath, being patient, being calm, and then making the decision ultimately that we felt was right is what we had to do.’’

 

[Chainshot]

I can't help shake the parallels to the Mogilny trade: mercurial all-world talent traded for a hard working but less naturally talented player and futures.

 

[Fjordy]

I like it. Adams took his time and got a good return in this situation.

 

[dotcommunism]

It should be pretty apparent from the Blackhawks situation (if it wasn't clear already) that being a decent person and being an effective "leader" don't really have much to do with each other. In Chicago you had a leadership group that was praised for how great it was, and its ability to win multiple championships, yet they fostered a toxic environment, at least for one of their players (and it wasn't like no one else noticed). The NHL isn't a morality play. Beyond that, we've all seen people that were popular despite being complete assholes, that's most of what the high school experience is after all.

Even just when talking about who's a "good" or a "bad" locker room presence, things really aren't as simple as that. There have been numerous players over the years that were supposedly bad for the locker room one place (and supposedly held their team back on the ice as a result) but then moved on to somewhere else and immediately won the Stanley Cup. Ryan O'Reilly, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards are just a few examples.

Personally I don't concern myself with whether or not a professional athlete is an asshole, outside of violent or abusive behavior. I assume that most of them are assholes, especially since most of them probably would be to someone like me. It would be pretty much impossible to watch sports if I cared too much about stuff like that (it's hard enough already).

 

[Jacob582]

I wonder where Merriman/NRD are getting their info.

Gionta is talking from his experience being on the Sabres. And we know that Peters and Rivet still have contacts in the room.

I also have found it interesting to hear Okposo talk about how the mood with this year's team and their togetherness is different from the past.

NRD/Merriman can't even get their small facts right.
For instance, stated today that Buffalo only had one D (Dahlin) under contract next year.
-Missing Jokiharju.

Also, briefly mention UPL. And stated Rochester is bleeding shots.
-Currently averaging 28.5 shots allowed per game which I'm guessing is no worse than average for teams in the AHL.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

I can't help shake the parallels to the Mogilny trade: mercurial all-world talent traded for a hard working but less naturally talented player and futures.

God now that I really look at the parallel's you're so right!

 

[Chainshot]

NRD/Merriman can't even get their small facts right.
For instance, stated today that Buffalo only had one D (Dahlin) under contract next year.
-Missing Jokiharju.

Also, briefly mention UPL. And stated Rochester is bleeding shots.
-Currently averaging 28.5 shots allowed per game which I'm guessing is no worse than average for teams in the AHL.

They looked at Capfriendly and didn't scroll down to the injured list.





(Been there... but I don't try to make bank on my hockey bullshittery.)

 

[Der Jaeger]

I can't help shake the parallels to the Mogilny trade: mercurial all-world talent traded for a hard working but less naturally talented player and futures.

That’s the deal I’ve had in my head from the beginning. I think the Sabres will contend in large part because of the Eichel return.

 

[truthbluth]

I can't help shake the parallels to the Mogilny trade: mercurial all-world talent traded for a hard working but less naturally talented player and futures.

Oh we should be so lucky. Peca led us (Hasek really) to a cup final, then became Connolly and Pyatt, the pick became Ryan Miller and Mike Wilson became Rhett Warrener who became Drury.