Eichel/Sabres situation similar to JoeThornton/Bruins?

[thewookie1]

I wouldn’t take that NYR proposal you described since Lafienere is a winger and Zibaneijad has 1 year left on his contract after this year and is cold as ice right now.

 

out of those, the only one I could get behind is Kopitar and Byfield as a 34 year old Kopitar will likely age well due to his style not being dependent on pure speed. 

[Weave]

2 hours ago, jad1 said:

And that's why it's a massive risk.  A GM willing to trade Eichel has to be prepared to lose the trade. 

 

The thing is, you can lose the trade and improve your team.  You don’t have to win the trade.  You do have to get enough back to replace Jacks role AND fill some holes, add character or grit, etc.

2 hours ago, jad1 said:

And that's why it's a massive risk.  A GM willing to trade Eichel has to be prepared to lose the trade. 

 

The thing is, you can lose the trade and improve your team.  You don’t have to win the trade.  You do have to get enough back to replace Jacks role AND fill some holes, add character or grit, etc.

So important I said it twice!

[Andrew Amerk]

8 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Cool is that why Edmonton has made the playoffs once in the last decade. Great leadership. 

 

7 hours ago, Claude Balls said:

I've seen nothing to show McDavid is a great leader. He might be quieter than Jack. He scores plenty more, but that doesn't make his some great leader. Crosby and Ovie are great leaders.

As a former Sabres captain pointed out in the recent Athletic article, the captains of most teams today are no longer the most respected leader on the team, but the teams best player - regardless if they have leadership qualities or not. 

[Eleven]

This comparison has been made on league-wide social media for at least a week (reddit) now, and it is worth thinking about.

[Curt]

10 hours ago, Sabres forever said:

Jack Eichel is not a leader. McDavid is. Jack should just be left to play his game and the C should be on a players jersey that cares about the whole game.

This is kind of ironic seeing how McDavid doesn’t really play defense.

[Marvin]

Let's think about this differently.  If I am trading Eichel, I don't need stars.  I could handle getting the equivalent of Chris Drury, Mike Grier, and Jochen Hecht ca. 2003.  Before they got here, they really weren't all that heralded.

[Curt]

I agree that this is an interesting comparison.

I honestly believe that hockey is a sport where having star players matters less than just about any other.  If a star doesn’t have the pieces of a good team around them, they just aren’t able to do it alone.  Even the truly elite of the game  can’t carry a team without the right pieces around them (McDavid/Draisitel).

A well managed and assembled team can be more than the sum of their parts.  If you have a very solid team, there are ways to add a very good player or two to the top of your lineup to push you over the hump, as we have seen teams like Vegas, Carolina and St. Louis do the past couple years.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Curt

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, Claude Balls said:

I was gonna say you can have a captain that doesn't have to be a superstar and mention Chara, but I can't stand him, lol.

Mike Peca was def no superstar, but he was a leader among men for sure.

Well that's fair cause he wasn't our guy he was their guy. But, trying to be objective, he's a dedicated workaholic in terms of fitness and preparation, diet even. Full on community guy with Sick kids etc. Always stood up for his team mates. I can only imagine how strongly he might have commanded that locker room both by presence and example.   You don't see ANYTHING like that from our guy. (Just be glad that shot of Jack wincing on the bench isn't a meme yet)

Peca was a great captain. We definitely could use someone like that for Cozens to model himself after (among others). 

[Andrew Amerk]

5 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well that's fair cause he wasn't our guy he was their guy. But, trying to be objective, he's a dedicated workaholic in terms of fitness and preparation, diet even. Full on community guy with Sick kids etc. Always stood up for his team mates. I can only imagine how strongly he might have commanded that locker room both by presence and example.   You don't see ANYTHING like that from our guy. (Just be glad that shot of Jack wincing on the bench isn't a meme yet)

Peca was a great captain. We definitely could use someone like that for Cozens to model himself after (among others). 

Again, that’s not who current captains are. Current captains are the star player of the team. 

[PerreaultForever]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Again, that’s not who current captains are. Current captains are the star player of the team. 

I think that's only partially true, and I also still say this team blew it holding the spot for Eichel rather than giving it to ROR. Things may have gone very differently had we given it to the best player at that moment rather than waiting to anoint  the big draft pick. 

[Curt]

49 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Again, that’s not who current captains are. Current captains are the star player of the team. 

Not always.  Jordan Staal, Bo Horvat, Jared Spurgeon, Anders Lee and a few teams don’t have one named.

Also, Peca basically was the star player of that team!  He scored as much as anyone.

[Curt]

49 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think that's only partially true, and I also still say this team blew it holding the spot for Eichel rather than giving it to ROR. Things may have gone very differently had we given it to the best player at that moment rather than waiting to anoint  the big draft pick. 

I kind of agree.  In principle at least.  I don’t know those particular guys felt about it.

If Eichel, gets traded, they better not give it to anyone right away.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

I kind of agree.  In principle at least.  I don’t know those particular guys felt about it.

If Eichel, gets traded, they better not give it to anyone right away.

Purely speculative on my part, but I think ROR really likes being the main man and the center of attention. If you remember St. Louis started very poorly and Tarasenko was considered the big star when he got there. Berube flipped it around and made ROR the cornerstone and he played his best hockey ever. 

If Eichel was gone I'd give it to Okposo since he's considered a veteran leader and we're stuck with him BUT he's also gone in time to hand it over to Cozens or whoever becomes that true leader. Unless of course we brought in someone new that fit the bill.