Jack Eichel and 2023 3rd Traded to Vegas for F Alex Tuch, C Peyton Krebs, 2022 1st Top Ten Protected and 2023 2nd

[Randall Flagg]

1 hour ago, Zamboni said:

Omg that is a wall of text. 

I didn’t read after the first 4 sentences. Smaller bites. Paragraphs 😂

 

1 hour ago, Rasmus_ said:

For me, it's really mismanagement of assets from the start of hiring inexperienced hockey OPS from the start, and not sticking to a principle form the beginning.  The structure, and then the speeding up of the rebuild the first time (2016-17) was misaligned and poorly handled.  Incompetence in drafting in rounds 2-7 in almost every year for an 8 year stretch outside of random pockets, was the biggest problem at not developing a roster around Eichel. 

Jack has never once shown the inability to not be a staple in this market.  He showed pride and enthusiasm in the community and until 2020, did not question things.  However, a piss poor run of general manager's, president's of hockey operations and otherwise owners who meddled caused this.  The system entering this latest version of a rebuild has a sounder approach, and a structured hockey coach who actually works well with what he has and improves the room, the players who we have drafted and possibly a development pattern.  Adams mentioned right away about Krebs going down to Rochester to soak up the new room environment and to be around Quinn, Peterka, Samuelsson, UPL and to marinate in a great environment and grow.   

Tuch, can finally give a younger version of Okposo in the sense of a two way player with skill who can be a voice to bridge this team into what could be a stellar group going forward.  Are there questions with Adams, Karmanos and company.  Sure.  But, for me, the group of prospects starting to establish, a sound cupboard and a wide strength of depth.  The main thing that I've been disgusted with the Sabres in this process is not just letting Jack get his surgery, and causing possible more damage to his neck.  The kid had a right to question the 5th general manager and 8th head coach, as to the direction. 

I have no problem with Jack, but at this point it was time for everyone to move on.  Congrats, on going to a stellar market.  I went to a Golden Knights game in late 2019 and was surprised and impressed with the vibe around Vegas, and the arena and noise was stellar.   I love Krebs in this deal, and in a perfect world, we should have been able to acquire Brisson as well, however this is what we have.  I'm fine with the package, and Adams did stick it out to get a legitimate #1 prospect, a roster player in his prime with local connections, and pick value.  He also didn't have to bite on salary retention for a once in a generation talent.  Good luck Jack, I personally loved your game.  However, it's good to see players on the ice that are more about the jersey than the name on the back.   I like some of the trade, and I'm disappointed in a lot of it. 

The bold is what tripped me up. Too many negatives!

In all seriousness, this post takes a high level view that does a much better job summing things up than most

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Zamboni said:

Omg that is a wall of text. 

I didn’t read after the first 4 sentences. Smaller bites. Paragraphs 😂

Several years ago someone wrote a similar looking post and @darksabrehad the best description; he said that wall of text looked like a goalie pad. 😂

[Randall Flagg]

Eichel is my favorite Sabre of all time. I moved my life around to watch him, right up until the end. I don't take offense to anything he's done or said, and I'm grateful for the joy he was able to bring me. I think his story could have been a lot different here, and while it's true he didn't pull this team out of that, I'm not sure who you could sub in for this team not named Gretzky or Lemieux to have them make the 20+ point jump they always needed to just get a sniff of a wildcard spot. 

I did the math this spring, but during Eichel's tenure, when he wasn't on the ice, this team was so much worse relative to when he was on it, compared to every single NHL star I checked against. As time goes by, the crimes by Sabres management from 2013 through 2021 become more stark and obvious. They were already doomed when the mindset had to become "let's try to go for one last shot with Jack before resetting," because of how bad the roster construction was - BEFORE we even consider that the second most important move of that decision was signing the abomination that was 2021 Eric Staal to take the critical matchup position that is an eastern conference 2C. Every other team worth anything has elite 2Cs that can handle any minutes and score a boatload, and we matched up against them with Vlad Sobotka, Marcus Johansson, and then Eric Staal. They put themselves in this position at 2C because they could afford to "tear it all down to the studs" once given the chance to draft Rasmus Dahlin, who, uh, well. 

The vitriol that followed that decision, through a false positive 2018 November, felt symbolic as a symptom of the Sabres' well being poisoned, the signs of sickness starting to show up. Nothing has felt good since then, everything has felt like slowly festering rot, and this is the natural result. Eichel could have been super man, he was paid to be. he could have been a better captain too. He couldn't get us out of it. But no franchise deserving of existence should have ever let itself get to the point where we needed that level of effort in the first place. A match made in hell. Both are better off moving on from this point, and hopefully the Sabres have broken free of the patterns that brought us to this moment. Hopefully Jack gets healthy and finds on-ice success. 

Anyway, look at this nice pile of assets! wow, it's almost too many picks to realistically consider making. We don't want to rush kids and throw them in over their heads, we need good solid veterans to show them the way and protect them in the lineup. We have 3 firsts...might as well put something together for a C to protect Krebs and then slide to 2C after. A dissatisfied, underutilized 2C who hasn't experienced playoff successs... Elias Lindholm maybe? Very nice. We could use more reliable goaltending too, these no-names are doing better than expected in a tank season, but we need an answer. Ahh, yes, let's trade a 1st rounder for Georgiev - a promising young goalie who hasn't really had a chance to fully establish himself. Eh, he may have whispers of off ice stuff, but that's alright. This team is really coming together now, especially considering our injured goal-scoring power forward will be ready to go and protect his young linemates! Now why does it feel like I've been here before

[Hoss]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

You were the first person I thought of when I saw the Hurricanes mentioned. We're here for you.

[Randall Flagg]

Just remembered how badly Rick butchered the call on Eichel's first career goal. It was never meant to be 

[Stoner]

Just ***** off.

Vulture.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

Eichel is my favorite Sabre of all time.

 

[PromoTheRobot]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/after-the-whistle-with-andrew-peters-craig-rivet/id1590573108

[North Buffalo]

Well hopefully Sabres get well on Sat against the struggling Wings... who lost 5-1 tonight.

[JohnC]

18 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Well hopefully Sabres get well on Sat against the struggling Wings... who lost 5-1 tonight.

They will be playing in front of an empty building. That is so sad. 

[aristocrat]

If he ends up having a decade plus healthy career and wins trophies it’s gonna look bad  if we’re bad. Hope it turns out we both win cups

[I-90 W]

Glad it’s finally over and I am content with the return, all things considered. What I wish for Jack is a healthy and speedy return to the league, but nothing beyond that. I’m not going to pretend that I wish to see him hoist a Stanley Cup like ROR, I do not. My kids are sad he left and I’m also not going to pretend that I don’t resent him for bailing either.

Some have long suspected he was a locker room issue. If we’re being consistent, and he returns to play for Vegas (I hope and suspect he will), that will most likely emerge once again, eventually. We will see.

Also, and this is just a theory, but it would not surprise me one bit if the Pegula’s told KA that they want a clean break after all is said and done, thus no salary retention. It makes sense from a cap and future building perspective obviously, but it is plausible this was personal on some type of level for ownership. It’s healthy that the organization has zero ties to him now cap wise. Time to finally move on, for all of us.

Edited November 5, 2021 by I-90 W

[Digger]

what will we do now with all our spare time now that the Eichel trade has happened?

[The Jokeman]

15 minutes ago, Digger said:

what will we do now with all our spare time now that the Eichel trade has happened?

Talk about what goalie we should trade for since we still don't have a starting one. 

[inkman]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

Yeah I heard a few callers say something similar on WGR.  I don’t get it.  He wasn’t charismatic or endearing.  Although I’ve never gravitated toward the Sabres better players. 

[Hoss]

I believe @Randall Flagg has expressed that Eichel has been the star of the team through the prime years of his fandom as he’s a bit younger (aka slightly younger than me).

39 minutes ago, Digger said:

what will we do now with all our spare time now that the Eichel trade has happened?

Idk but @pi2000’s source says lotion sales in Buffalo have gone up.

[Taro T]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

He's rather young, especially relative to this board's demographics.  So he doesn't have memories of Perreault, LaFontaine, Gare, nor Hawerchuk.  He likes who he likes.

[kas23]

11 hours ago, Eleven said:

Yeah.  I heard about the trade in the shower this morning and was pretty excited--Krebs, Tuch, and a first sounded like a very good return given where I think Vegas will end up this year.  And then, an hour later, I learned that the first is protected, and, well, it took a lot of shine off.  I still think it's ok though.

TMI

[inkman]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

He's rather young, especially relative to this board's demographics.  So he doesn't have memories of Perreault, LaFontaine, Gare, nor Hawerchuk.  He likes who he likes.

I get that.  If I was much younger, Sam or Risto probably would have been my guy.  I certainly watched the teams in the late 80s but I didn’t really identify with any players until the dreamy Mike Peca was traded to our beloved Sabres. He was exactly what I wanted to see on the ice and he was a hell of a leader.  
 

I never felt that way about Hasek, Briere, Drury, Max. Jack was less like able than those guys. Dahlin is approaching Jack status in my brain. I find his game repulsive and his actions on the ice are trending toward comical.  I literally laugh at how terrible some of his gaffs are.  His dipsy do puck on a string style does nothing for me as 90% of the time it ends up as nothing, unfortunately some of the time it ends up an odd man rush the other way.  His appearance doesn’t help matters. 

[dudacek]

12 hours ago, Eleven said:

Yeah.  I heard about the trade in the shower this morning and was pretty excited--Krebs, Tuch, and a first sounded like a very good return given where I think Vegas will end up this year.  And then, an hour later, I learned that the first is protected, and, well, it took a lot of shine off.  I still think it's ok though.

I’ll say it again, hoping the Knights might give us a high pick is so 2018 Blues and 2014 Islanders.

Jack is going lead Vegas to its 1st cup and the pick will be 32.

2 hours ago, Digger said:

what will we do now with all our spare time now that the Eichel trade has happened?

I’m going to watch the Amerks. Seriously.

I’m not going to find a ton of entertainment in the game day threads this year.

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Eichel is my favorite Sabre of all time. I moved my life around to watch him, right up until the end. I don't take offense to anything he's done or said, and I'm grateful for the joy he was able to bring me. I think his story could have been a lot different here, and while it's true he didn't pull this team out of that, I'm not sure who you could sub in for this team not named Gretzky or Lemieux to have them make the 20+ point jump they always needed to just get a sniff of a wildcard spot. 

I did the math this spring, but during Eichel's tenure, when he wasn't on the ice, this team was so much worse relative to when he was on it, compared to every single NHL star I checked against. As time goes by, the crimes by Sabres management from 2013 through 2021 become more stark and obvious. They were already doomed when the mindset had to become "let's try to go for one last shot with Jack before resetting," because of how bad the roster construction was - BEFORE we even consider that the second most important move of that decision was signing the abomination that was 2021 Eric Staal to take the critical matchup position that is an eastern conference 2C. Every other team worth anything has elite 2Cs that can handle any minutes and score a boatload, and we matched up against them with Vlad Sobotka, Marcus Johansson, and then Eric Staal. They put themselves in this position at 2C because they could afford to "tear it all down to the studs" once given the chance to draft Rasmus Dahlin, who, uh, well. 

The vitriol that followed that decision, through a false positive 2018 November, felt symbolic as a symptom of the Sabres' well being poisoned, the signs of sickness starting to show up. Nothing has felt good since then, everything has felt like slowly festering rot, and this is the natural result. Eichel could have been super man, he was paid to be. he could have been a better captain too. He couldn't get us out of it. But no franchise deserving of existence should have ever let itself get to the point where we needed that level of effort in the first place. A match made in hell. Both are better off moving on from this point, and hopefully the Sabres have broken free of the patterns that brought us to this moment. Hopefully Jack gets healthy and finds on-ice success. 

Anyway, look at this nice pile of assets! wow, it's almost too many picks to realistically consider making. We don't want to rush kids and throw them in over their heads, we need good solid veterans to show them the way and protect them in the lineup. We have 3 firsts...might as well put something together for a C to protect Krebs and then slide to 2C after. A dissatisfied, underutilized 2C who hasn't experienced playoff successs... Elias Lindholm maybe? Very nice. We could use more reliable goaltending too, these no-names are doing better than expected in a tank season, but we need an answer. Ahh, yes, let's trade a 1st rounder for Georgiev - a promising young goalie who hasn't really had a chance to fully establish himself. Eh, he may have whispers of off ice stuff, but that's alright. This team is really coming together now, especially considering our injured goal-scoring power forward will be ready to go and protect his young linemates! Now why does it feel like I've been here before

Interesting.  The last paragraph- are you saying we will make the same mistakes again?  ROR (Lindholm).  Lehner (Georgiev). Kane (Tuch).   You might be reaching a bit here. 
 

My nephew is 28.  His favorite Sabres player ever is Eichel.  He is upset about this situation.  He has seen mostly very bad hockey in Buffalo.  He goes to games but there is a generation of fans there that have no good feelings for this team.  

Having the benefit of 40 years prior to Pegula, Eichel does not even make my favorite Sabres list.  Not his fault either.  

[dudacek]

It seems I have no emotional attachment to Eichel whatsoever.

Hell of a talent. Liked watching him play. 

Surprises me, actually.

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

It seems I have no emotional attachment to Eichel whatsoever.

Hell of a talent. Liked watching him play. 

Surprises me, actually.

Yeah. This describes me, as well.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

6 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Yeah. This describes me, as well.

Me three.  

I find that as I age I am far less attached emotionally to any sport player.

The one exception is based on my attachment to the place more than anything, but the only jerseys I have are home and away Edin Džeko Bosnian National Football team.  He captained them to the WC final tournament in 2014 and still is team captain at 35.

[Thorner]

10 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Just remembered how badly Rick butchered the call on Eichel's first career goal. It was never meant to be 

I was one of the few who actually kind of liked the "YEICHEL!" selection from RJ

oh well 

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Yeah I heard a few callers say something similar on WGR.  I don’t get it.  He wasn’t charismatic or endearing.  Although I’ve never gravitated toward the Sabres better players. 

He was endearing to me. His off ice work draws a lot of appreciation for me. 

But he was definitely my favourite Sabre on the team at the time he was moved. Why? Because he was a great hockey player, and electrifying with the puck (when are we going to see a player make the bobby-orr-esque (yes) deceptively-fast looking end to end rushes Jack did?). He wasn't just a highlight real though, he was so much better than everyone else on the team. 

I don't care much about style, in the end, I care about winning. Jack didn't lead to winning, but when we did win, he was, by far, the cause of it more than anyone else. 

1 hour ago, inkman said:

I get that.  If I was much younger, Sam or Risto probably would have been my guy.  I certainly watched the teams in the late 80s but I didn’t really identify with any players until the dreamy Mike Peca was traded to our beloved Sabres. He was exactly what I wanted to see on the ice and he was a hell of a leader.  
 

I never felt that way about Hasek, Briere, Drury, Max. Jack was less like able than those guys. Dahlin is approaching Jack status in my brain. I find his game repulsive and his actions on the ice are trending toward comical.  I literally laugh at how terrible some of his gaffs are.  His dipsy do puck on a string style does nothing for me as 90% of the time it ends up as nothing, unfortunately some of the time it ends up an odd man rush the other way.  His appearance doesn’t help matters. 

This doesn't sound like Jack at all. 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Thorny