StrompTroller
Registered User
No one likes to think their opinion is wrong but sometimes it just is. Your take was completely outlandish. The procedure Eichel wanted was never performed on a hockey player before, if you have the case by case demonstrations proving otherwise then please provide them...
The Sabres team doctors werent the only ones who were on this same page. It was reported that multiple trade avenues for Eichel were shot down because OTHER teams doctors agreed that the surgery Eichel preferred was a bad gamble. Vegas was one team that was okay with it and the trade came to fruition (luckily for the Sabres).
Buffalo for all of it's shittiness has always been known for top notch medical programs including one of the best cancer facilities in the country. The same team/program that helped save Kevin Everett after his injury was reportedly involved in the decision making with Eichel. They are doctors, they know what they are doing/saying. Suggesting a team fire their entire medical staff because Eichel demands something different is beyond asinine. That goes without mentioning other team's medical staffs felt the same. Also goes without mentioning the insurance portion of Eichel's contract...firing your medical staff to support an experimental surgery is asking for a future lawsuit insurance companies will challenge if and when it becomes a problem in the future.
You are trying to make a complex situation more simple than it is. I think I've illustrated my point enough and will bow out now and let you have whatever opinion you'd like on the subject. At the end of the day its a discussion on a message board none of us are truly equipped for anyways. Cheers my friend!
The success of Eichel's surgery won't be known for years. The question was never whether disk replacement surgery works (we know it does); it was whether it would withstand the repeated trauma it will inevitably be subjected to playing in the NHL. The fusion surgery has a well-worn track record of being successful in athletes. For a recent example, see Kris Letang. The surgery Eichel got has essentially never been performed on an athlete in a contact sport before and certainly not on a hockey player. The guys who went to ~9 years of school to learn about this stuff didn't like the risks. So yeah, I'm gonna stick with my take and say the Sabres were fine following the advice of their doctors. And, again, they weren't the only team whose medical staff came to that conclusion.
