nfreeman

Good honest admission although perhaps a tactical blunder.

My man. I respect your opinions here but I’d sure like to hear a well-argued case for this one.

This is where I am too, except for FA goalies, because I think the musical chairs game and the mentality of the players are both different from those of skaters.

I think there are very few coaches looking for HC jobs who turn down interviews. Almost all of them want to work, especially for a deep pocketed owner, and even if other teams have shown interest, that’s not the same as having a job.

I agree with some of this, but I am pretty confident that Cozens will play a bigger role than Middlestat next year, and I don’t think Seattle will take Colin Miller. I also think Reino is gone this summer regardless of the outcome with Eichel.

I would be very surprised if he declined to be interviewed.

This isn’t just a money issue though. It’s whether they are going to bet their limited dollars on a major injury risk. If Eichel doesn’t return to form, Anaheim isn’t going to just LTIR him, regain the cap space and spend another $50MM on other players I think it’s pretty likely that the Ducks’ owner told Murray that he can spend closer to the cap than they’ve done previously, but that he’s not interested in making a huge bet on a groundbreaking new type of back surgery on Eichel. I guess we’ll see.

I don’t think cap space is the issue though. I think it’s whether that franchise would sign up for a $50MM risk. I don’t think they will. I’ll also note that there wasn’t as much info out there about Eichel’s injury situation at the trade deadline. Murray may have had Eichel in mind at the deadline but could’ve changed his mind subsequently as further details emerged.

This is fair and certainly possible. I think though that the Ducks’ owner would need to approve a financial risk like this, and that he is likely mot to approve it.

How about Cozens?

Anaheim has always been a tight-budget team. Trading their best young assets to take on a $50MM injury risk doesn't seem like something they would do.

I would be happy with this trade and I don't expect the Sabres to get 2 players as good as Scheifele and Ehlers for Eichel and Reino. Scheifele would be a very good, true #1C while Cozens and hopefully Mitts develop into NHL centers. There is also a very good likelihood, due to Eichel's injury history, that Scheifele will be more productive than Eichel over the next 5 years. I agree that Ehlers is better than Reino. And both of the Jets are under good contracts. I don't get the sense though that the Jets are in as big of a rush as the Flames are to turn their roster upside down.

I find all of this totally plausible.

My recollection is that Brador was a high alcohol offering from Molson. Welcome Mike.

From the Islanders' writer on the Athletic:

The Sabres could do a heckuva lot worse than a good Trotz protege, if that's what Lambert is.

Very fair counterpoint. With Reino, IMHO there's a pretty good likelihood that either he works out an extension as part of a trade or that a team will trade for him on the assumption that if all goes well he will re-sign -- but you're right that his contract status affects the demand for him. With Eichel, it all depends on what teams are willing to offer for him, i.e. how much the offers are discounted due to his injury. It could go either way on both of them.

What do the good prospect sites say about Power’s skating specifically? I couldn’t find any specifics on Dobber or elite prospects.

There are a few different Herman Miller office chairs that are pricey but very solid and well made and adjustable in a bunch of different ways to appeal to one’s aching bones.

I have no idea but I would guess that the Sabres have the choice of either voiding the contract or keeping it in place, and if they void it he’s unrestricted.

He's not going to get the surgery if he has to bear the risk of voiding his contract. That's why he hasn't gotten it already. Well, I think the risk is that they get a much worse return for him if they wait until his NMC is effective -- but that depends on how good the offers they get this summer are. You are right that it would be risky to turn down a great offer this summer. However, if the offers they get are heavily discounted because of the injury, then the risk of the NMC burning them is substantially reduced, because the NMC-limited offers won't be that much worse than the injury-discounted offers.

I've long harbored doubts that the NMC is as big of a problem as it is sometimes made out to be. It would certainly hurt the Sabres' return, and there is a non-negligible chance that it has a substantial negative impact, but there are also plenty of scenarios where wait-and-see turns out to be the best approach for the Sabres to take with Eichel. Now that would be a true ZFG move. I have been thinking this too -- that Skinner's presence is the biggest obstacle to landing Brind'Amour if he leaves Carolina. Separately: regarding Quinn, it wouldn't surprise me at all if all or a large part of KA's motivation in interviewing him is to pick Quinn's brain on Eichel.

It just feels inevitable that Eichel and Reino are both gone.

Well, I can understand this view based on recent cost-cutting, but TP has generally thrown money at the Sabres, and they did make RK one of the highest-paid coaches in the NHL. I've seen RK's salary reported as both $3.75MM and $3.9MM -- which is more than double what I've seen reported as being currently offered to Brind'Amour. It may be more likely that Rod considers Seattle and/or other teams and not the Sabres, but if it turns into a bidding war, I don't think TP will be outbid.

This, this, a thousand times this! We can all stamp our feet and demand a king's ransom for Eichel -- but I don't think anyone is going to deliver that without seeing him play NHL games at a high level, which isn't going to happen by trading season. So we are going to get less, perhaps much less, than we want. OK, but the Kings aren't going to give up Byfield, the Rangers aren't going to give up Lafreniere and other teams aren't going to give up their crown jewels for a guy with this much injury uncertainty.