Digger

I don't care about Eichel but I was thinking that players on other teams are going to start to want to come here again because the style of play looks fun. Keep it coming boys. Well done tonight.

Thanks for posting this. I read the earlier comments about the interview but wasn't going to search for it. Yes I agree with others that it's similar to what Paul Hamilton has said on WGR before about Eichel. I imagine the Sabres would wish he would tone down some of his comments on Eichel's leadership at least until a trade happens. I'm not sure that everyone (owners and players) would agree that it's the players association's fault for having this (team gets final say on medical procedures) in the CBA. I don't see the owners (who pay the guaranteed contracts) giving this up and allowing players to get any treatment they want.

I would like to see his play broken down from a goalie coach's perspective. He has some flaws right now but are they addressable with good coaching and development? The last game that I watched him play for the Sabres I was surprised by how much of the upper net he was giving away for a big goalie. He was covering the ice pretty well but he was leaning forward so much during the play. It just seemed off from the way I have seen other big goalies play. At least in Rochester he may be able to get some help from the Sabres goalie coach (Mike Bales) a bit.

Same deal as quitting your job and being your own boss. Positives can come from that but you need to look at everything involved. They said it wasn't about the money and having the ability to talk freely about any subject in the NHL has some appeal for them I would think. Working for the Sabres I'm sure they would need to be careful on some topics.

I'm hoping for a win over the Canucks but I think they will be a much better opponent than what we have faced this year so far. A good test for the young Sabres. A couple of things of interest for me on their team. Vasily Podkolzin (RW) was taken 10th overall in the 2019 draft. He's looked good so far scoring in his first game. He was a player that I was hoping we could get in a Reinhart trade with them but I think the Sabres wanted the 1st round pick as the priority. Also Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL) to see how he his playing after leaving Arizona.

Yes seems reasonable, but on the other hand he has a guaranteed $50 Million left on his deal, I assume he's been warned not to risk voiding the contract or going against the Sabres doctors in case the surgery has complications. This is one point I wish the insiders would cover when talking about the situation covering both sides fairly. The contract is guaranteed and the Sabres have taken the option that their doctors consider to be the lower risk. Eichel doesn't agree but he's not willing to take the risk on his own. As it stands Eichel will get his money regardless of what surgery he gets (if he can convince the Sabres or get traded and convince his new team) and regardless if he returns to full health or even plays again. Yes I acknowledge that Eichel also has the risk to his health (short and long term). This drama needs to have some resolution.

I hope he has a good year. Seemed like a great kid when he was with us.

Strange Florida bizarro world where Sam Bennett gets a hat trick and Sam Reinhart nil. I'm sure it'll even out.

At least he seems to have a great personality (talks a bit like Curtis Lazar did when he was first here). Good interview and seems excited to be here. I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays.

Cool. Mine says 100% chance something happens sometime over the next 4 years.

Yes I was thinking the same. Okay for this season maybe but pretty crowded on the left side.

I think the only thing that we can all agree on in this forum is that the Eichel name helps these insiders with generating hits on their stories and on their sites. There's nothing really new (or very little anyway in my opinion) in terms of actual content. It's fun to debate different scenarios but it's more fun to talk about actual hockey games. Looking forward to the next Sabres game against Vancouver.

To me any team has to decide if Eichel will return to full health first full stop. If they agree that he can then you talk trade. If you think no or that it's too risky you say that you're out and move on. If the Sabres were pursuing a player like Eichel teams would ask for Cozens and Power as our blue chip prospects and we would most likely say no. Quinn, Peterka, Johnson, UPL would be next on the list. As I said previously you have to decide if you want (or can afford) to wait for your prospects to make the team and make a positive impact. Today the Sabres are wise to wait for our prospects to develop. What did the Sabres learn from the O'Reilly trade? It looks like they learned that having an artificial deadline over a bonus hurts their position and that they need to wait for the best deal before making the trade. The Blues could have made a better deal for O'Reilly and we all expected a better deal. Tage Thompson was not their top prospect. If the Sabres don't make that trade the Blues don't win the cup that year. If the Blues give up their best prospect they still win the cup. The Sabres should have waited (actually I think they should have kept him given how badly things went for us after the trade).

The way I read your posts is that if you were the Vegas GM you would pass on Eichel then. Without including Krebs they don't really have an enticing offer in my opinion for the Sabres to consider. I know that there is a fair bit of criticism on the Pacioretty trade to include Suzuki but the Vegas team has done very well for itself since the trade. Would they have had the same success without making the trade? I think the argument is that many believe they would be in a better place today with their roster if they had not. To me the question with Krebs and Vegas is do they want to wait for him to reach his potential (most likely 2 -3 seasons from now) or roll the dice on Eichel and seeing if he can be their number 1 center for the playoffs (maybe) or to start next season fresh? Same goes for any other team trading for Eichel right now. Trading a top prospect or two that are playing for your farm team seems like a reasonable risk to take for this season to get Eichel under your control. It remains a waiting game.

Wasn't there a report earlier this year that the Sabres would consider retaining salary for the right deal? Perhaps it was just speculation by one of the insiders at that time? I remember that we all debated the issue and merits of that scenario a few months ago.

Agreed. One point about Canadians are the number that come across the border to Buffalo for a Montreal or Toronto or ?? game (so not just Sabres fans but hockey fans that want to see a NHL game at a reasonable price compared to Toronto). If the border had been open I'm sure the Montreal game would have had quite a few more in attendance. If the boys keep playing the same way I'm sure attendance will go up to something a bit more respectable.

That's disappointing. I would love to have him on the Sabres. But Vegas has quite a few injuries right now with Pacioretty, Stone, and Tuch and others. Trading for an injured Eichel would hurt if they need to take anyone off the roster. I know Krebs went down to the AHL for a game but he's back up now.

It's too early to get too high or for that matter too low (with early results). We won today's game in a shootout but were definitely the better team. I like the play so far in the 2 games and it gives me hope. If we lose the next two games but still play well I won't lose hope but I'm sure that others will. Let's see where we are at 20 to 25 games in to see if they can keep it going. Let's hope so.

His stats don't tell much other than he hasn't played much in the last couple of years. I wonder how they plan to use him?

hope so, nice to see Skinner get some confidence that he's going to score

how's the attendance looking this afternoon? I'm just listening on WGR today.

Good point but she was reporting that the trade was imminent on the Thursday and then died down on the Friday. Names are leaked all the time with other NHL teams. I love that the Sabres have kept things quiet and internal. It shows that Adams has a good team that he can trust. Other teams though? My point was that if something was that close the insiders might have had more than just that (which is no news other than just mentioning Eichel in the headline).

Will we see our old backup Carter Hutton today for Arizona?

So after the Eichel trade can we please have this one for one of the players we get back in the trade?

I see that Nick Kypreos is back on Sportsnet with "Real Kyper and Bourne" from 3 to 5pm weekdays after just having a podcast for a year. Kypreos is kind of a jerk when he talks about the Sabres but he's not too bad to listen to with some of the guests he gets on the show. So it is possible to go from just having a podcast to going back onto mainstream sports radio again. So perhaps Peters / Rivet can do well enough to find another radio spot in the future. I assume that they won't just talk Sabres. I hope that they do well and have some fun. I'll give their show a chance.