[Poll] Zibanejad @10M or Eichel?

[broadwayblue]

PS. Let the second centre emerge from within. And let it not be Strome.

We can hope. But unfortunately we don't have too many candidates.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

I also don't see how we have any evidence at all that Zibanejad will age poorly.

If he does, it'll likely be because of lingering injuries, which make him an easy LTIR candidate.

Everyone always says this. To me, the evidence is what happens to 99% of the league. It's always a total shot in the dark.

10 Oldest Active NHL Players (Updated 2021) | Oldest.org

Basically 10 players in the entire league older than 37 years and 1 month...and a LOT of them are atrocious.

And if you look at the pool of 33-36 aged players you'll similarly see very few players and of the ones that remain how many would be worth even 7 M, 10-20% of them?

How many are worth 9 or 10M?

33-Year Old NHL Players - Regular Season Stats
Sort by year born and it'll show you who was 33 in the previous season.

33 players aged 33 (weird)

Looking further there are 19 players who were 34 last season. 20 were 35

9 were 36

Is Zib going to do 10 M for just 2 or 3 seasons? Or is he going to want 8, 9, 10 M for 5 or 6 seasons, taking him until he's 35/36 years old?

Shoot....how many guys make it to 31 and are worth 10 M?

31-Year Old NHL Players - Regular Season Stats

 

[Nickmo82]

Out of the two, Mika. He hasn't been immune to injury, but at least his head is attached to the rest of his body. Main plus to it is that it'd cost us zero assets to acquire him, which will in time either contribute to the team in the own right, or can be used to acquire somebody with a functional spine.

 

[jfc64]

Neither. PS. Nemeth has a clause that gives him MORE money if he scores LESS.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Eichel or no Eichel zero chance I’m paying Zib 10 a year. He can go get that from Seattle.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Eichel.

 

[CLW]

Eichel's injury concerns are a reality. Weather or not Zib will age poorly is an unknown but Eichel at this point is essentially a magic bean.

The main problem I have with Zib's demands is the length of the term, it makes having flexibility at the C position very difficult in the long run. Giving long term contracts to veteran forwards under the flat cap is very difficult. Even Landeskog is facing this problem.

So it comes down to:

A. Trade Zib + a huge package of talent and futures for a Magic Bean.
B. Keep Zib + the huge package of talent and futures
C. Find another solution i.e. move on from Zib and avoid Eichel.

My prediction is that even if the doctors sign off on Eichel's current spine injury, that injury will lead to compensation injuries and Eichel will be in and out of the lineup from here on. Buffalo are smart to move on.

 

[Synergy27]

Neither.

 

[Matt Rentfree]

Would you rather be beaten to death with a...

A) Shovel

B) Spade

 

[Kendo]

I like Ritchie

I don't know why, but I just hate his face. No gonna lie.

 

[jfc64]

We can hope. But unfortunately we don't have too many candidates.

Czechs arrive when you least expect them!

 

[jfc64]

Would you rather be beaten to death with a...

A) Shovel

B) Spade

A diamond one so death is quick.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

More accurately...

Zibanejad at 10 million+Chytil+Lundkvist+Kravtsov+1st.

versus

Eichel at 10 million.

I think you know my answer.

This is the correct answer.

 

[NYblades]

I'm hoping Eichel ends up being traded to Minnesota, Montreal or whoever, just to take him out of the equation.

 

[jfc64]

Zib's contract will appear at a time when you least expect it and it won't raise any eyebrows. 9.25 for seven years. Slightly more than for Elias Pettersson, Hedman and Gabe.

PS. Nemeth and Zibanejad were both on the 2012 World junior champion team.

 

[Kupo]

Boo Nieves will save us from ourselves!

 

[Chytilmania]

I'd rather have Zib at $10M a year than not having any Centers at all. For all we know, we have to replace 2 Centers at the end of the year. I don't want to add our 1C to the list. Who is out there?

 

[Kendo]

I expected this to be close, but I voted Eichel. For a millisecond there, I was the tie-breaker at 26-25 Eichel.

I looked at it as a three-way trade where we get Eichel, BUF gets a bunch of stuff from a third team, and the third team gets Mika.
Just to make it simpler and not have to compare the cost of Jack vs the return for Mika.

If Mika takes a 4-year contract so that it expires at the same time as Eichel's, I would pick Mika at $10M in a HEARTBEAT. I don't think there's any way he does that, though. Like at all.

The term is the most important factor here. Furthermore, Eichel's 2025-26 season at 28ish yo will most likely be better than Zibanejad's 2025-26 season at 32ish yo, and I would STILL choose Mika if it was 4 x $10.

 

[Doctyl]

This impending Zib contract is going to be such a disaster

 

[DanielBrassard]

This impending Zib contract is going to be such a disaster

Couldn't agree more. Even if we didn't get Eichel I think the prudent move would be to trade Zibanejad and go in a different direction. But now you have an opportunity to get a better player, who's younger, with a similar cap hit on probably a shorter term deal. I get it, there are obvious downsides with the neck and the potential cost, but there's very obvious downsides with signing Zibanejad as well. Including the fact that his playdriving skills have been in freefall and away from Buchnevich he's been very bad. Now Buch is gone.

 

[Doctyl]

Couldn't agree more. Even if we didn't get Eichel I think the prudent move would be to trade Zibanejad and go in a different direction. But now you have an opportunity to get a better player, who's younger, with a similar cap hit on probably a shorter term deal. I get it, there are obvious downsides with the neck and the potential cost, but there's very obvious downsides with signing Zibanejad as well. Including the fact that his playdriving skills have been in freefall and away from Buchnevich he's been very bad. Now Buch is gone.

It depends what the Eichel deal is. It sounds like we are refusing to include Chytil, Nils, and Schneider. If Adams puts down his crack pipe, I’d be willing to part with one of those defensive prospects. Otherwise, we can find another option elsewhere

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

This impending Zib contract is going to be such a disaster

100% agreed

 

[jfc64]

Beauvillier - Zibanejad - Barzal
Lee - Nelson - Bailey
Panik - Pageau - Wahlstrom
Martin - Komarov - Clutterbuck

 

[mas0764]

PS. Let the second centre emerge from within. And let it not be Strome.

You have to acquire someone capable of being a top 6 center to have them emerge.

 

[smoneil]

I know most were against Eichel but since sources said that Zibanejad is wanting something in the ballpark of 10M AAV I saw several people if that’s what Mika will cost they’d rather trade for Eichel. Curious to see the conensus. In my opinion, if we do our due diligence and believe that Eichel will return to the player he was before the injury, I’d rather make the move for Eichel and trade off Zibanejad.

The options need context. IE: What is the term for Zib at 10million? What is the package being traded for Eichel (including the potential return for trading Zib post-Eichel trade)?

In a vacuum? My answer is "neither." This team won't have the cap space to carry a super-max center contract and still ice decent pivots down the rest of the roster. Having a 10+ million dollar 1C means having a 3c playing on the second line and 4c's on lines 3 and 4. It just isn't worth it. It's placing your entire future on one guy, and both options involved here have been historically fragile. Literally all a team would have to do to beat the Rangers is go out and injure Eichel or Zib in game one of a series. Boom. Series over.

The team, because of the lottery wins, is constructed in a way that we will live or die by the depth on the wings and the depth on the blueline. We need to find bargain or budget centers who can facilitate the play of those wings.