the winner is Jack Eichel ! Going from a city like Buffalo to an exciting city like Las Vegas is a win in itself, never mind that the Sabres will start falling in the standings while Vegas will start going up !
@@SirManfly I can see you've never been to Buffalo, or at least spent any time there. Good Food, Museums, a zoo, short drive to Niagara Falls, NFL & NHL Teams and a lot more. It's a big city without the over crowdedness. No I am not from Buffalo and do not live there, but I've been there numerous times and its pretty cool.
I like how we are asking who won already when we don’t know: 1: How will Eichel play after surgery 2: What the draft picks will turn into (we don’t even know what year the draft picks will be) 3: When we know who the draft picks are, we’ll need to wait to see how they even pan out over time.
Facts. They’re always labeling the winners/losers of a trade immediately after it happens. Many people were trashing the Habs after swapping Subban for Weber and look at how that panned out in the long run.
Right! Eichel gets surgery, comes back in April, tears it up and Vegas wins the Cup. But then two seasons from now Krebs, Cozens, Tuch, high draft picks and Buffalo make the playoffs and make a run and win the Cup(I know a stretch) lol. Who won the trade? So many things can happen that there’s no need to ask the who won question right now.
It's cool to see Robin Lehner's reaction to the Eichel trade. He seems so happy for him, and I know Lehner understands first hand how Eichel struggled in Buffalo as far is medically. A sweet reunion
@@kingk.titanosaur355 Tell me more about that... Lehner was really clear when he stated, that he was tired from losing game after game, it is and was such a mess in Buffalo, they had no winning mentality whatsoever, no planning based on any reasonable thinking, they were handing out contracts that are overpriced for players that aren't worth it, players from other NHL franchises talking to their agents, telling them to not accept offers from Buffalo, or/and no-trade clauses to Buffalo too, having an owner that is inept in every regard for the franchise, who gets his wife in the inner circle of the franchise without any knowledge in day-to-day hockey, the chinese copycat jerseys and the list goes on and on... Do not forget, Eichel has a right to decide over his own body, to get a surgery if he wants and they did not want him too. Tell me again, Buffalo isn't that bad... looks like a dumpster fire to me.
Lehner owes Buffalo so much. They gave up a first round pick for him and he spent three seasons in Buffalo hiding his addictions. He leaves Buffalo and then comes clean and becomes the goalie the Sabres envisioned. Just keep your mouth shut Robyn.
Honestly this trade was a win-win. Jack Played a heavy part in the playoffs and was in the running for the Conn Smythe. And Tuch is most likely going to be the next captain of the Sabres. And Krebs had a pretty nice season with the Sabres last year 26 pts in 74 games is a good sign. Would rather have a +8 than a -8 but still a he kept it rating somewhat low.
Tuch was almost half of Eichel's cap hit, and is locked in until 2025-26, so they made up some ground there. McNabb, Hutton, Janmark, and Smith are the only pending UFAs at the end of this year. Kolesar, Amadio, Hague, Roy, and Howden are RFAs at the end of the year. Then Dadonov and Brossoit in 2023-24 for UFAs. They can make it work if they play their cards right. Most of their core is already locked in for at least a couple of seasons, so they're in a good spot that way. They don't have that many high AAV contracts, and not very many NMCs or NTCs, and most of them are modified, so there is some fluidity there to trade salary for picks or low cost pieces. It's not as bad as you'd think. Like...if you look at their top 4 salary hits vs. Toronto or Pittsburgh, they're laughing. Further, it could also be a temporary stay for Eichel if it gets really bad, and I'd bet that once he's healthy that the will garner a lot of phone calls next trade deadline if he ends up lighting it up like I'm 95% sure that he will. Lots of outs for them with him staying too. Immediately, they have a few pieces that, when stacked up, are found wanting by comparison.
I'm a Sabres fan from Rochester. This is a good deal and a good return for him. The Sabres were never going to get more than this type of package and it puts Eichel as far away as possible from seeing him more than twice a year.
People are saying oh vegas won this trade or buffalo won it. But in reality Eichel did because he'll finally be able to get his surgery and not be in pain!
This. Its too early to call what team won, eichel is still injured and may still never even play again. His surgery only has a 87% return to movement rate, most surgeries are 95-99%. On the flip side buffalo got rid of a player whos value would be double if he was healthy.
Eichel could have had the surgery he wanted at ANY TIME. What Jack wanted was his surgery AND the Sabres to still have been on the hook for $10 million/yr for the next 5 years. Jack really wanted the $$ not just the surgery to get rid of the pain.
@@shawnhill4779 that's not true at all. Eichel did not have the freedom to get the surgery he wanted at all. No player in the NHL actually has the freedom to get the surgery they want and the team actually controls what they do with their body that way.
@@KatarinasGarage *Actually he did have the freedom to get the surgery, however the Sabres could have then suspended him without pay for breaching his contract.* Eichel was afraid of losing his cushy $10 million/yr contract that still had 5 years remaining on it. He didn't want to take the financial risk He wanted the Sabres to take that risk. The Sabres got Vegas to take that risk.
As a buffalo fan I'll offer my thoughts. Yes buffalo lost the trade. Obviously. You don't trade away talent like eichel and expect to win the trade. However, considering the injury, the drama, the salary, the what if of the surgery I feel buffalo really did good getting a return for eichel. I'm a huge tuch fan so I'm over the moon that he is coming to buffalo. Buffalo has done a nice job building for the future and now they have 8 picks in the first 2 rounds on the next 2 drafts. A deep prospect pool which Krebs is added too. The drama of eichel in buffalo is finally over and that alone is a victory for buffalo. I wish eichel a successful recovery and for him to finally get the recognition as a top center in this league because he has been hidden away on a terrible buffalo team. Eichel is a superstar and will be a force on a strong Vegas team.
Let's review... The Sabre organization gave Eichel the whole farm. In return Eichel couldn't deliver 40 goals or 90 points in any season. In return Eichel couldn't deliver ONE playoff game. Now Eichel has year-long neck injury every other professional athlete in a contact sport would be forced into retirement for. The Sabres were fortunate to get out from under the Eichel debacle.
@@CarlMarksmoney uh no, most pro athletes would just get a fusion, and deal with the pain later in life. Eichel wanted a disk replacement which few athletes have chosen, but allows for better quality of life after surgery, and later in life. Buffalo refused to let him get the surgery he wanted.
@@wwjohnnymaydo the reaction, his comments afterword and how he acted at the actual draft were poor examples of how to be a GM and a terrible way to start off a relationship with a new player in your organization.
Looking at this now, Buffalo won the trade. The Sabres locker room isn't toxic anymore, and Buffalo is playing with swagger and speed, and there's a lot more chemistry. Eichel has still yet to show he's worth, is still immature, and has still yet to mesh with his peers. Didn't take tuch that long to mesh with Sabres
So true. When the trade first went down I couldnt bring myself to watch these videos. But it didn't take long at all for that to change. Tuch has been amazing. He's everything eichel is not. Does eichel have more talent? Without a doubt. Thats all he has going for him.
Stanley Cup Champion when Eichel played the whole season. We got a 200 foot playing zone entry monster. By the way he is happy and no pressure to be the man.
Flash forward, Alex Tuch is a massive positive for Buffalo! A big time locker room leader, this season with 10games to go already has more than 30 goals and is also massively having a positive impact on Tage Thompson and his scoring on the ice as well! As well, Jack Eichel got what he wanted too. Win win
Fun fact: The Vegas 2020 first round Brendan Brisson is the son of NHL agent Pat Brisson who's top client happens to be....Jack Eichel. Also, he's absolutely killing it for Michigan so far this year with 6G 11P in 8GP, outscoring last years #2 overall pick Matty Beniers.
@@danevertt3210 No its not, its the truth! I have been a life long Sabres fan since its inception, and I can say with confidence that the way this organization handled their rebuild as well as the Eichel situation was dysfunctional at best, and I am putting it mildly. From the Pat LaFontaine ordeal as GM, to the way they traded away draft picks to speed up the rebuild are just for starters. The biggest blunder in recent times they made was giving Eichel the captaincy at such a young age when it should have gone to O'Reilly who was by far the leader of the team at the time, only to trade him away for a bag of pucks is what really set this back even further back, thus its fair to say this team has earned that reputation of shooting themselves in the foot. Then adding insult to injury with the myriad of coaches that came and went by way of failure only contributed to the dysfunction that has plague this franchise beyond belief and frustration for so many years. The history of this organization and its disastrous decisions over the years including having previous owners who were convicted for securities and bank fraud, a dubious distinction no doubt, only precedes it reputation as an losing organization that has gone only in one direction. Snowflakes of the younger generation can't handle the truth, but there it is, and until the team starts winning games and making the playoffs again, nothing will change. Now the Sabres fans will get to watch another ex-sabre hoist yet another Stanley cup at their expense! Way to go Buffalo!
@@paulsmith7633 you have to give one really good player, after that i would give conditional draft picks because the surgery this guy is going to have to get is risky at best. he may be able to play but not at a high level or he may show no ill effects at all. the conditional picks would cover that to a certain extent. i honestly don't understand why buffalo didn't just let him have the surgery he wanted.
I think it’ll be good for both teams honestly- two fresh environments for two very talented guys. Jack will be on a revenge tour and Alex will be close to home in a place where he’s less overshadowed by the depth talent of Vegas, so the motivation is there for both. I do think Vegas should’ve kept Tuch because he’s consistently productive, has made his name there, and is a huge guy who brings a lot to the table, whereas Jack is almost a wild card at this point, what with the injury and attitude issues. Guess we’ll see in time who ends up the better fit where.
I recall at one point after a bad Leafs loss, in the LFR after Steve mentioned how frustrated he was with having to do LFR's all the time and how jealous he was of The Hockey Guy because The Hockey Guy got to do videos on lots of teams and it looked like fun, but Steve was a Leafs fan so he was destined to make crap videos forever. Now, you've got Dang-It's, Hat-Picks, Trade Trees, Watch-a-Game's, and you just reported on a trade. The video is doing well and in it Steve looks not only happy, but also like he is genuinely having fun. Just wanted to say that watching you through all this journey then seeing the Eichel video today...I'm happy to see you've been able to become so successful with the work you have done, while still being able to continually improve your LFR's. You've always worked to improve the production value of your LFR's (and it shows), and now you get to do the same thing but on a more broad spectrum with a big support net from Sportsnet. Congrats on it all, Steve. Thanks for the LFR's, thanks for the work with Sportsnet, thanks for a great book, and Go Leafs Go.
I think Jack Eichel won the Jack Eichel trade. Finally he's able to get the surgery he needs to recover. I do hope the fans of Vegas move themselves to help embrace this man and let him heal properly to regain his love for Hockey and his dream.
Vegas will cheer for him the same way Sabres fans cheered for him. Thinking he is the savior that will bring them the coveted trophy. ....... Until he doesn't.
agreed.....i loved when he was on the ice and putting in full effort....problem is, it was only half of the time at best. he def needs a slice of humble pie and a kick in the ass like Ovi to play a full game and to play end to end night in and night out.
But he did get Bylsma fired and Krueger hired at a very young age, so those are two feathers (?) in Eichel's cap. Seriously Jack's constant sulking must have been a real drain on team morale.
I've been calling him "coach killer" for years. Get over the Connor McDavid issue! One of the top fan bases in the NHL embraced you as one of their own, and you gave them very little in return.
I've never seen the value in Eichel ? I've never seen him finish in the top 20 in scoring in the NHL ? and I've also heard he's always whining and complaining? and that doesn't bode well for a winning formula. Another guy like that is Patrick Laine, and I'm from Winnipeg and a Jet's fan, and I'm very happy he's gone. These types of players are "very expensive" headaches, and you don't win with them. On top of all that Eichel wants to have neck surgery to either replace, or fuse a neck disc ( like Tiger Woods) and when your playing around in the highway of nerves in the neck, there's a good chance he'll never be 100 % again. Even when he was in the lineup, the Sabres never did well. He's way overrated in my opinion. I think Buffalo is way better off letting Eichel go.
Just some thoughts: 1. Vegas is like the Athletic when they started picking up every big writer under the sun 2. How morbid is it that the idea of the Sabres preferring Eichel get a surgery that might only benefit him within the time of his contract? There is no care for his long term quality of life. The guy is simply a number to the Sabres. Specifically: 10,000,000 Glad he is free.
@@uomouomouomouomo true, it’s not, but I can understand how keeping humanity out of the equation sometimes allows GMs to make the necessary hard decisions/protect their assets/risk management.
Vegas won....for now, currently got the best player in the deal. Who knows in 3 years? Tuch can be much more than he showed in Vegas (which wasn't bad by any means) it's just that he only got 2nd unit PP time. Maybe in Buffalo he'll be on the first unit. Krebs is just overmatched in the NHL. He's only 20. Let him get some experience in the minors; see if he can turn it around.
I’m so glad Steve brought up trade trees at the end there. My first thought when I saw the trade news was, this will be a rather fun trade tree some day.
Buffalonian/Buffalo fan checking in- first off, love your videos, secondly Eichs was drafted in a solid rebuild that went sour. As fans, we always get credit for being passionate, and that's true (you can even broach a pleasant conversation with your conspiracy theorist neighbors with "How 'bout them Sabres/Bills?') but there's a reason our arena sometimes sounds as quiet as a tomb- we watch the hockey being played, we know good hockey when it's being played. So before we got drunk on our own potential, we had an impressive stable of players to develop until GM Murray got ahead of himself and spent draft capital and threw prospects away like they were candy. It was band-aids after that. Eichs knew it and so did we. So, as fans, we knew the deteriorating situation, we felt it, and, despite the reassurances one or two pieces away or measurable improvement (see the "GM Jason Botterill Award") we knew, with the likes of Vlady Sobotka on our team, we were going all that far. Face it, if that dude was on our team then no one was in the pipeline, a pipeline that takes at least 3 years to develop a serviceable player. No secret there. Eichs wanted out, we couldn't blame him, nor should we. As for the surgery, we all feel for Jack, that was BS, and worse, if Jack had it done and was back, ready to contribute, the return would've been higher.
They should have gone after a decent D-man in the trade package, like McNabb or Martinez. Tuch and Krebs don't even come close to matching the value of Jack Eichel (if he's back to his old self after surgery). Remember, the talks with Calgary fell through because the Flames would not include Tkachuk in the deal. He's the caliber of player you'd want to get back if you're trading Eichel. Not Krebs and Tuch.
As a Sabres since childhood, and seeing player after player, who were beloved by the fan base, walk out of he door. The list is brutal. Peca, Hasek, Drury, Briere, Reinhart, Eichel. Still a Sabres fan, just not holding out hope this ever gets turned around
What's sadder is having a talented team that chokes in the first round every year, at least the Sabres know who they are, the leafs believe there own hype and every year come crashing down.
As a Sabres fan, it’s pretty rough. At least I have the Bills but to be honest with you, I feel bad for leaf fans more than us Buffalo fans. I feel like I’d rather be bad and know it then be a top 5 team every year like the leafs and then lose in the first round.
I think this was a good trade for Buffalo at this point. With the uncertainty of what Eichel will look like after the surgery, this was probably as good as could have been expected return wise. If they had let him get the surgery and he came back in amazing shape, the return probably would have been much higher, but then he would have been around the organization for another 3-5 months, which would have been a huge distraction.
As a Sharks fan, people originally thought San Jose won the Karlsson trade. in 2021...I'd say Ottawa definitely won that trade. Norris, Steutzel,TIerney, Demelo,Balcers. We got Balcers back on waivers, and he's been playing well..But Boy Norris/Steutzel are damn fine players who havent even hit their prime..All for 11.5 Million of injury prone, past his prime Karl. I love Karlsson but as a business standpoint it's up there with one of the worst trades along with getting Kane, and losing Pavelski...Hindsight is 2020
I'm surprised that more teams weren't in on Eichel. Yeah, the non-negotiable salary retention would scare some teams away, and sure, he's a long way away from actually stepping on the ice... but because of this, you can basically think of him as an item that's "on sale". That almost never happens for a franchise player like that.
I get Vegas can hide Jack on LTIR for a while, and maybe they keep enough players off the books until the playoffs this season to be fine, but if they don't win a cup to show it was worth it, I don't see how they can still be as competitive as they are without shedding lots of talent to be under the cap. If everyone comes off LTIR right now they're close to 20 million over the cap with multiple high value, NMC or NTC contracts. I know Vegas chews up and spits out players but still, I'm intrigued to see VGK's roster next season.
Don't know how Steve or anyone else can say "it looks like" Eichel will play this year. The surgery is hardly routine. Lots of people have problems recovering from this surgery and instability and/or pain in the joint following disc replacement are not uncommon at all. I expect he and his surgeon are confident, but that's the way surgeries like this are done most of the time. But does that mean you have a healthy, pain free Eichel in March 2022? Time will tell. I wish him and the Sabres well.
I have heard the surgeon in Denver that Eichel wanted to do it said that he would be back skating within a couple of weeks - contact after 12 weeks and could expect to play after 16 i think that was it - it has been probably 6 months before i heard him. but another positive aspect of this replacement surgery is he would return to the same range of motion in his neck as before - where he would lose range of motion with fusion surgery . That is pretty significant for a hockey center .
@@MikaHakkinen83 😂 let the sabres make the playoffs once before you start hyping then up. They've started hot and burned out in most of the recent seasons. Trading Eichel isn't gonna magically fix that!
@@amongthewolves2679 yeah I know. I mean in a few years they might be very good. They got picks and young talent now. It's good to be in win now-mode or building up. See Chicago what is not good.
i think this is good for the top 6 in Vegas, not so much in the bottom 6. Cap issues are going to force the team to move other players. So i think the team may have depth issues. Also alot of the players in their 30s so they have to win soon or else all these trades were for nothing. Hot Take: Vegas inaugural team will likely be their best lineup ever. You need 4 lines to have success in the playoffs.
It will be great for the rest of the league's GM's who should be able to pick up good guys on the cheap when Vegas is backed up against the cap when their guys get healthy!
oh - that is right they still have that -i forgot there are players that sometimes just scream out - contract year performance- and he certainly was one
On the other hand they are poised to perform a "triple Kucherov" with the addition of a $30M complete forward line after the playoffs have started... lol!
The reason why Eichel wanted out of Buffalo was because they wouldn’t let him get the neck surgery he wanted and NEEDED. The team doctors and physicians need to be fired for that.
I think the trade was good for both teams. Coming from a Sabres fan, I am sorely disappointed in the Sabres organization and how they have dealt with some players in the past and I hope they look in the mirror and change their attitude and ways. Saying that I believe both parties were at fault and we all can move on. I will still be a Eichel fan. I hope his surgery is a success and he’s back to form. But I hope the Sabres win a cup before the Knights! Lol
people that think they're clever: jack eichel wins cuz humanity. actual answer: TBD if eichel ever plays again. obviously could be a default judgement against him.
I dont know but Vegas stoled this for me ! Tuch’s and a first that 10+ in the draft basically for Eichel compared to what we were hearing they wanted all year? seems like a pretty crazy sweet deal for Vegas!
Krebs is an incredible prospect. This was always about him. Vegas wasnt willing to give him up back in the summer. He was gonna be a top 10 draft pick before an Achilles injury
@@kevinborchers3522 k maybe that's the value I'm not seeing because I was like wtf! I didnt get at all how he went so low ! But I dont know much about Krebs in my head it was the same as Ryan Poehling/ Jack Evans from the habs kind of guy /prospect . So this trade was baffling for me !
Any team could of gave up a 20 g scorer and a random prospect ! I was pissed MTL didnt get him for that price ! I was like WHAT ?! we could of gave them a Gally 30 g scorer/way better stats than Tuch and Poehling or Evans/young unproving center prospects for A JACK EICHEL!...
Sabres should absolutely keep Tuch. Tuch is a great player and is clutch. He started our comeback in game 5 of the Colorado series last post season by batting a puck out of mid air . He’s good stuff . They should definitely put him to use. Also, he may play even better for them because he’s from upstate NY and has said it’s been his dream to play for the Sabres , when you get a guy and he’s super happy on the team he’s on you can get better play out of him. It’s not as much of a disappointment for the Sabres as some people have been making it seem. And that’s not even including Krebs. He hasn’t proven himself in the NHL just yet but he’s got a giant amount of potential and could become a future star . I think both teams won on the trade honestly
Patches Eichel Stone would vie for the league's best line imo. Stone would obviously handle the defensive side and Patches would get the best playmaker of his hockey career. Likewise Eichel would be playing with the best linemates of his career.
I dont think he's crazy either. Tuch had to come here with his 5 mill . We still don't have elite centerman to replace two we lost in the past years , remember the orielly trade ? Thompson and Rob Johnson.... and now Krebs and a pick thats protected ? And we lost Sam? Its a weird trade to me. I dont know.
Although Vegas has moved out guys they drafted, technically they traded for two #2 overalls now in patrick and eichel. If Nolan overcomes the injury bug they’ll have 2 top Cs with all that wing depth and elite dmen
I dunno if Vegas won we dropped his salary, We get Krebs and Tuch, both have a ton of grit and sandpaper. I read Krebs is downright nasty to play against. We got rid of a cancer and a 10m a year contract Ill take it. People forget, Eichel has been hurt in every season hes played in so far.
@@Yomasi there have been rumors thrown around that he’s a bit of a prima Donna. I don’t know if he’s actually a cancer or if he just knows he’s good and on a bad team, and no one but the people in the locker room truly know, but those rumors exist
Considering a few things here : The league is composed of roughly 42% of first round draft picks, 16% second rounders, 8.5% 3rd rounders and the rest of the rounds make up the rest of the league including a whopping 12.5% of undrafted players. This stat (taken in 2017) shows the amount of drafted first rounders that made it to the 100 game mark since 2007 : 2017 - 0 2016 - 4 2015 - 11 2014 - 16 2013 - 20 2012 - 23 2011 - 23 2010 - 23 2009 - 25 2008 - 21 2007 - 21 Keep in mind this is only the 100 game mark. Tuch is a second liner at best and is also injured for 3 months and Krebs hasn't shown much at the NHL level and it's safe to say he's no phenom. With all that in mind, even with the injury, I think Vegas fleeced the Sabres but maybe that was the best offer 🤷🏼♂️
Short term winner: Vegas. Although we have 6 guys now on IR (2 on regular IR, 4 on LTIR) if and when they return healthy, Vegas will be a force offensively that the Central and the West and the NHL as a whole will have to be on the lookout for. Unfortunately, that also means that cap space issue is gonna be a dicey thing to play with with all those checks that gotta be cut. Long Term Winner: Buffalo. Buffalo finally traded Eichel and in doing so don’t have to retain a financial stranglehold of nearly $25M on that contract. They also received a very nice prospect in Peyton Krebs (who’s gonna be playing in Rochester) and Alex Tuch who’s a NY native that was a life long Sabres fan and he can score a solid 40 points a season. Ultimately, Buffalo is in a weird rebuild mode where, they aren’t having to do much to rebuild so heavily. They finally got prospects, 6 really good draft picks (3 in the first and 3 in the second depending the conditions being met) a ton of Cap Space, and the team is actually playing solid hockey (they have a 5-2-1 record as of this comment being written) so things are looking up for the Sabres. I think Buffalo may be on the rise within a year or so if this plays out correct.
Let’s just say neither Mcdavid or Eichel wanted to go to Edmonton in the draft. They both wanted to come to Buffalo instead. Hell, Mcdavid is a Bills fan too (his host family in Erie had Bills season tickets). The early returns on the trade look really good for Buffalo. Tuch is scoring at a point per game pace, looks like the next captain, and Krebs is contributing already. Eichel has only just returned to play, but he scored his first goal. It’s too early to tell who won the deal at this point. But I will say that Jack Eichel was really only a point per game player at his best in Buffalo, and Tuch has already matched that so far.
@@irocz11 It’s a common surgery, so I wouldn’t expect any complications. Now, I know it’s the first of its kind in the NHL, but that doesn’t automatically mean the outcome is a complete mystery. I worked with a miner a few years ago who had the same thing done and he was back doing extremely demanding work after 10 weeks. It has been 3 years and no issues with range of motion.
Sabres won. They got a bona fide return. Had they waited more, the price would drop. Also, the players are good. Sure, none of them is Jack, but they can get some team spirit there. My bet is for improvement in Sabres organization and I am curious how would Melody react.
As long as Eichel rehabs properly, whether fusion or disc replacement, he will have near full range of motion return. I say the Knights got a good deal, but Buffalo got the better one. My opinion, disagree if you want. They got 2 guys who currently lace up skates and one of them is an upstate NY native. Hey, Jack Eichel. Get well soon. All the best.
How funny would it be if Buffalo flips Tuch to the Lightning? Then if they wanna send him down for rehab, they can send him to Syracuse (since the Crunch is Tampa's AHL affiliate)
In the short term, the Sabres definitely win the trade with two quality players joining their already strong roaster. In the long term, Eichel wins because he can get the surgery he wants to get and can begin the road to recovering his physical health and livelihood. As for Vegas, hopefully Eichel is healthy for the playoffs and they go far in them because their cap structure is going to be a nightmare to shuffle around this offseason.
We as hockey fans win this trade because now i dont have to hear about it every day and as a leafs fan an all star forward leaves the division so im completely ok with that.
Buffalo lost in the first place because they refuse to do what their player asked to do, which honestly should be a no-brainer for anyone to follow through with, especially since it's been successful for athletes in other sports, and that their own option would be a permanent debilitation (as fusion would permanently locked vertebrae together). The fact that they dragged their feet meant that they lost out on an even better deal offered earlier on before this dragged out into... November. 🤦♂️ Even with that in mind, and despite this likely being the best option available to Buffalo, they also lose here because they didn't get any top prospects, they didn't get any superstars, they only got a couple of decent (but not superstar) players, and they only got a few magic beans - which of course could go either way. Meanwhile, although it is a huge gamble (and ironic it is _Vegas_ that is making this gamble. 😂 Talk about sticking with the theme!), I suspect that the surgery will go well, I can will be back to his form, and it will make this trade look like one of the worst, if not _the_ worst in NHL history, because even with the _Gretzky_ trade, it _still_ led to a Stanley Cup. And this even assumes that _either_ pick is within the top 10 if Vegas plays well over the next two seasons.
L take, eicheL is a cancer teammate and player, tuchs better, krebs is a great prospect and we still have picks from them, enjoy wasting all that money🥴
@@fczip5493 Yeah, after your response, I used a search engine and found several articles (SI, ESPN, Sporting News) that say he does, indeed, have a full no move clause.
Dude everyone wanted Conor McDavid. Poor Jack’s feelings were hurt? That’s ridiculous. He got a 8 year $10M /year contract. How hurt could he have been. That’s a terrible take. Jack complained about every coach they brought in here. Nothing was ever good enough. Yes he’s a great player but he’s also pretty selfish. I’d rather a bunch of hard working kids who bring it every night than a guy who constantly needs every one to know he’s the best 🙄. The neck thing was stupid but both sides were looking out for their interests. I wish him well in Vegas. I just hope the coach there gets on board early with how jack wants to do things bc he’ll find himself out of a job if he doesn’t.
probably different when he is going to a more established situation with veterans with talent of their own. I am thinking of Stone, Pietrangelo, Theodore. It will be a lot harder to be a prima donna - in that environment. And i don't think that DeBoer is the type of coach where that would go very well . It can be hard on kids like that - when you don't have a really strong established hockey department - which lets face it - the sabres haven't . The player becomes "the franchise " when they are 18 yrs old and the proverbial inmates are running the asylum. It looks like that to me in Toronto . They had to flush Lou for the rookie GM and got schooled on those contracts to those 4 players - and now the team is run to cater to them - they literally have that GMs balls in their pockets .
The way Vegas has made player acquisitions is right out of the George McPhee playbook. Trade all of your future prospects and draft picks for the hot player(s) to win now. The Filip Forsberg trade that sent him from Washington to Nashville in return for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. That was McPhee's undoing in Washington and something similar will probably be his undoing in Vegas.
Sabres got a bit less than I expected, but they refused to retain any salary, so should not be a surprise. There was talk that Korpisalo was going to Buffalo via 3 way deal, but obviously didn't happen. Still curious as to what Calgary offered. Next big trade might be Monahan headed elsewhere. We're all grateful that the Eichel soap opera is finally over.
It amazes me that there's almost zero discussion about what this does to Vegas next season. They were already heading for cap hell next year, Eichel just put a ticking cap supernovae on Vegas now. Vegas needs to resign over 1/3 their team next year and those guys aren't going to be asking for less money just because Eichel's there. You can't maintain a team where 3 players take 1/3 of your total cap space (top 5 takes 50% their total cap). Unless you're TB playing LTIR shennanigans... Vegas isn't going to be 'lethal' next year. They're going to be largely irrelevant. One great line, with trash down the rest of their lineup. (Probably an ok 2nd line... I'm being a bit hyperbolic at this point...) Vegas did this for one reason only. Pull a Kucherov and activate Eichel at the playoffs so they can (maybe) win the cup before they need to purge the team for cap space.
Wrong. Stanley cup champs really only need to sign Barbashev and Hill. 3.75 million under cap. Get rid of Lehner Kessel Bluger brossoit and. Free up 7 million more. What you talking about?
Whenever Steve gets excited, his high pitch makes him sound exactly like Charlie Day.
And it's incredibly annoying.
@@MiserableDuck95 not at all
I think that’s what he’s going for. It can be a tad too much at times because, you know, we get it-you like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
YES
Gotta pay the troll toll!
Can’t wait to see this trade tree in five years
the winner is Jack Eichel ! Going from a city like Buffalo to an exciting city like Las Vegas is a win in itself, never mind that the Sabres will start falling in the standings while Vegas will start going up !
@@SirManfly I can see you've never been to Buffalo, or at least spent any time there. Good Food, Museums, a zoo, short drive to Niagara Falls, NFL & NHL Teams and a lot more. It's a big city without the over crowdedness. No I am not from Buffalo and do not live there, but I've been there numerous times and its pretty cool.
@@zwhit5760 thanx for this but I’ll take Vegas 10/10 times over Buffalo
@@SirManfly It’s fun to visit Vegas, but who the hell would like to live there?
Buffalo never wins trades or make right decisions ever since the Pegulas bought then. They'll rue the day they made this trade one day.
I like how we are asking who won already when we don’t know:
1: How will Eichel play after surgery
2: What the draft picks will turn into (we don’t even know what year the draft picks will be)
3: When we know who the draft picks are, we’ll need to wait to see how they even pan out over time.
Facts. They’re always labeling the winners/losers of a trade immediately after it happens. Many people were trashing the Habs after swapping Subban for Weber and look at how that panned out in the long run.
MAGIC BEANS
Eichel is obviously the winner here.
To be fair, that's literally the job of pundits. Analyzing things before we know how it turns out.
Right! Eichel gets surgery, comes back in April, tears it up and Vegas wins the Cup. But then two seasons from now Krebs, Cozens, Tuch, high draft picks and Buffalo make the playoffs and make a run and win the Cup(I know a stretch) lol. Who won the trade? So many things can happen that there’s no need to ask the who won question right now.
It's cool to see Robin Lehner's reaction to the Eichel trade. He seems so happy for him, and I know Lehner understands first hand how Eichel struggled in Buffalo as far is medically. A sweet reunion
Agreed. Everybody would feel good after leaving such a toxic dumpsterfire team like Buffalo...
@@6BfMV2 there not bad
@@kingk.titanosaur355 Tell me more about that... Lehner was really clear when he stated, that he was tired from losing game after game, it is and was such a mess in Buffalo, they had no winning mentality whatsoever, no planning based on any reasonable thinking, they were handing out contracts that are overpriced for players that aren't worth it, players from other NHL franchises talking to their agents, telling them to not accept offers from Buffalo, or/and no-trade clauses to Buffalo too, having an owner that is inept in every regard for the franchise, who gets his wife in the inner circle of the franchise without any knowledge in day-to-day hockey, the chinese copycat jerseys and the list goes on and on... Do not forget, Eichel has a right to decide over his own body, to get a surgery if he wants and they did not want him too. Tell me again, Buffalo isn't that bad... looks like a dumpster fire to me.
Lehner owes Buffalo so much. They gave up a first round pick for him and he spent three seasons in Buffalo hiding his addictions. He leaves Buffalo and then comes clean and becomes the goalie the Sabres envisioned. Just keep your mouth shut Robyn.
@@6BfMV2 I ain't talking about the team I'm talking about the city
I hope Sportsnet starts using Steve more in their programming. Love watching how excited Steve gets for hockey.
Honestly this trade was a win-win. Jack Played a heavy part in the playoffs and was in the running for the Conn Smythe. And Tuch is most likely going to be the next captain of the Sabres. And Krebs had a pretty nice season with the Sabres last year 26 pts in 74 games is a good sign. Would rather have a +8 than a -8 but still a he kept it rating somewhat low.
I am from the future and Vegas definitely won this trade we just won the stanley cup against tkachuk and the Panthers. GO KNIGHTS!!!
man sometime i feel like the golden knights are like a kid playing ea nhl franchise mode
Yea pretty much lmao
The next thing they need is to offer sheet Adam Fox- oh right too late XD
@@Yomasi Reporting: The Rangers Trade Adam Fox To Vegas For A Dozen Donuts
@@Yomasi NO STAY AWAY FROM MR NORRIS- sincerely a rangers fan whose last hope is this team
I am seriously interested to see how Vegas deals with the cap once everyone is healthy. This offseason should be an interesting on for them
They pull the TBL moves
Tuch was almost half of Eichel's cap hit, and is locked in until 2025-26, so they made up some ground there. McNabb, Hutton, Janmark, and Smith are the only pending UFAs at the end of this year. Kolesar, Amadio, Hague, Roy, and Howden are RFAs at the end of the year. Then Dadonov and Brossoit in 2023-24 for UFAs. They can make it work if they play their cards right. Most of their core is already locked in for at least a couple of seasons, so they're in a good spot that way. They don't have that many high AAV contracts, and not very many NMCs or NTCs, and most of them are modified, so there is some fluidity there to trade salary for picks or low cost pieces. It's not as bad as you'd think.
Like...if you look at their top 4 salary hits vs. Toronto or Pittsburgh, they're laughing. Further, it could also be a temporary stay for Eichel if it gets really bad, and I'd bet that once he's healthy that the will garner a lot of phone calls next trade deadline if he ends up lighting it up like I'm 95% sure that he will. Lots of outs for them with him staying too. Immediately, they have a few pieces that, when stacked up, are found wanting by comparison.
This is perfect for Vegas bc they can just sit him on ir until the playoffs, where he'll start game 1
"eichel will never be traded, and even if he did it would be for an unspeakable ransom"
narrator: turned out neither of those things were true
I'm a Sabres fan from Rochester. This is a good deal and a good return for him. The Sabres were never going to get more than this type of package and it puts Eichel as far away as possible from seeing him more than twice a year.
Hey, I'm from ROC too! Go Sabres!
People are saying oh vegas won this trade or buffalo won it. But in reality Eichel did because he'll finally be able to get his surgery and not be in pain!
This. Its too early to call what team won, eichel is still injured and may still never even play again. His surgery only has a 87% return to movement rate, most surgeries are 95-99%. On the flip side buffalo got rid of a player whos value would be double if he was healthy.
Eichel could have had the surgery he wanted at ANY TIME. What Jack wanted was his surgery AND the Sabres to still have been on the hook for $10 million/yr for the next 5 years. Jack really wanted the $$ not just the surgery to get rid of the pain.
@@shawnhill4779 that's not true at all. Eichel did not have the freedom to get the surgery he wanted at all. No player in the NHL actually has the freedom to get the surgery they want and the team actually controls what they do with their body that way.
@@KatarinasGarage *Actually he did have the freedom to get the surgery, however the Sabres could have then suspended him without pay for breaching his contract.* Eichel was afraid of losing his cushy $10 million/yr contract that still had 5 years remaining on it. He didn't want to take the financial risk He wanted the Sabres to take that risk. The Sabres got Vegas to take that risk.
As a buffalo fan I'll offer my thoughts. Yes buffalo lost the trade. Obviously. You don't trade away talent like eichel and expect to win the trade. However, considering the injury, the drama, the salary, the what if of the surgery I feel buffalo really did good getting a return for eichel. I'm a huge tuch fan so I'm over the moon that he is coming to buffalo. Buffalo has done a nice job building for the future and now they have 8 picks in the first 2 rounds on the next 2 drafts. A deep prospect pool which Krebs is added too. The drama of eichel in buffalo is finally over and that alone is a victory for buffalo. I wish eichel a successful recovery and for him to finally get the recognition as a top center in this league because he has been hidden away on a terrible buffalo team. Eichel is a superstar and will be a force on a strong Vegas team.
This comment was very well predicted
I'd have to imagine that players thinking to sign with Vegas are gonna start really negotiating in those NTCs/NMCs....
I wouldn't even negotiate with them
Vegas is whack
Pietranglo & Stone did just that.
Let's review...
The Sabre organization gave Eichel the whole farm. In return Eichel couldn't deliver 40 goals or 90 points in any season. In return Eichel couldn't deliver ONE playoff game.
Now Eichel has year-long neck injury every other professional athlete in a contact sport would be forced into retirement for.
The Sabres were fortunate to get out from under the Eichel debacle.
@@CarlMarksmoney uh no, most pro athletes would just get a fusion, and deal with the pain later in life. Eichel wanted a disk replacement which few athletes have chosen, but allows for better quality of life after surgery, and later in life. Buffalo refused to let him get the surgery he wanted.
Thank you for reading off the vegas injuries... I have Pacioretty and Stone on my fantasy team and the reminder is always appreciated :)
The whole Eichel thing started with the reaction Tim Murray had when he lost out on McDavid. It was doomed to end badly.
Was he wrong? Lol
@@wwjohnnymaydo the reaction, his comments afterword and how he acted at the actual draft were poor examples of how to be a GM and a terrible way to start off a relationship with a new player in your organization.
@@danaoconnor9523 right. But was he wrong. Lol.
@@wwjohnnymaydo yes
@@danaoconnor9523 what did he do?
Eichel a win away from a cup a year later
Looking at this now, Buffalo won the trade. The Sabres locker room isn't toxic anymore, and Buffalo is playing with swagger and speed, and there's a lot more chemistry. Eichel has still yet to show he's worth, is still immature, and has still yet to mesh with his peers. Didn't take tuch that long to mesh with Sabres
So true. When the trade first went down I couldnt bring myself to watch these videos. But it didn't take long at all for that to change. Tuch has been amazing. He's everything eichel is not. Does eichel have more talent? Without a doubt. Thats all he has going for him.
Stanley Cup Champion when Eichel played the whole season. We got a 200 foot playing zone entry monster. By the way he is happy and no pressure to be the man.
Vegas won.
Steve Dangle . . . NHL stories, with every entertaining face and comment you could possibly need!
Flash forward, Alex Tuch is a massive positive for Buffalo! A big time locker room leader, this season with 10games to go already has more than 30 goals and is also massively having a positive impact on Tage Thompson and his scoring on the ice as well! As well, Jack Eichel got what he wanted too. Win win
Winner of this trade....Jack Eichel. Best of luck to him, he NEEDS a fresh start.
nail on the head
He will do fine in Vegas as long as everything goes his way. He doesnt deal with adversity very well.
Fun fact: The Vegas 2020 first round Brendan Brisson is the son of NHL agent Pat Brisson who's top client happens to be....Jack Eichel. Also, he's absolutely killing it for Michigan so far this year with 6G 11P in 8GP, outscoring last years #2 overall pick Matty Beniers.
damn.
sabres have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot, i don't think this will be any different.
That’s stupid bro
@@danevertt3210 No its not, its the truth! I have been a life long Sabres fan since its inception, and I can say with confidence that the way this organization handled their rebuild as well as the Eichel situation was dysfunctional at best, and I am putting it mildly. From the Pat LaFontaine ordeal as GM, to the way they traded away draft picks to speed up the rebuild are just for starters. The biggest blunder in recent times they made was giving Eichel the captaincy at such a young age when it should have gone to O'Reilly who was by far the leader of the team at the time, only to trade him away for a bag of pucks is what really set this back even further back, thus its fair to say this team has earned that reputation of shooting themselves in the foot. Then adding insult to injury with the myriad of coaches that came and went by way of failure only contributed to the dysfunction that has plague this franchise beyond belief and frustration for so many years. The history of this organization and its disastrous decisions over the years including having previous owners who were convicted for securities and bank fraud, a dubious distinction no doubt, only precedes it reputation as an losing organization that has gone only in one direction. Snowflakes of the younger generation can't handle the truth, but there it is, and until the team starts winning games and making the playoffs again, nothing will change. Now the Sabres fans will get to watch another ex-sabre hoist yet another Stanley cup at their expense! Way to go Buffalo!
What would you have given up for Eichel if you were a GM?
@@paulsmith7633 you have to give one really good player, after that i would give conditional draft picks because the surgery this guy is going to have to get is risky at best. he may be able to play but not at a high level or he may show no ill effects at all. the conditional picks would cover that to a certain extent. i honestly don't understand why buffalo didn't just let him have the surgery he wanted.
@@joseyzadoria7815 you’re correct about some, and wrong about others
I think it’ll be good for both teams honestly- two fresh environments for two very talented guys. Jack will be on a revenge tour and Alex will be close to home in a place where he’s less overshadowed by the depth talent of Vegas, so the motivation is there for both. I do think Vegas should’ve kept Tuch because he’s consistently productive, has made his name there, and is a huge guy who brings a lot to the table, whereas Jack is almost a wild card at this point, what with the injury and attitude issues. Guess we’ll see in time who ends up the better fit where.
Attitude issues indeed! Vegas gets a crybaby who tantrums and Buffalo gets a consistent player.
I recall at one point after a bad Leafs loss, in the LFR after Steve mentioned how frustrated he was with having to do LFR's all the time and how jealous he was of The Hockey Guy because The Hockey Guy got to do videos on lots of teams and it looked like fun, but Steve was a Leafs fan so he was destined to make crap videos forever.
Now, you've got Dang-It's, Hat-Picks, Trade Trees, Watch-a-Game's, and you just reported on a trade. The video is doing well and in it Steve looks not only happy, but also like he is genuinely having fun.
Just wanted to say that watching you through all this journey then seeing the Eichel video today...I'm happy to see you've been able to become so successful with the work you have done, while still being able to continually improve your LFR's. You've always worked to improve the production value of your LFR's (and it shows), and now you get to do the same thing but on a more broad spectrum with a big support net from Sportsnet.
Congrats on it all, Steve. Thanks for the LFR's, thanks for the work with Sportsnet, thanks for a great book, and Go Leafs Go.
I think Jack Eichel won the Jack Eichel trade. Finally he's able to get the surgery he needs to recover. I do hope the fans of Vegas move themselves to help embrace this man and let him heal properly to regain his love for Hockey and his dream.
Vegas will cheer for him the same way Sabres fans cheered for him. Thinking he is the savior that will bring them the coveted trophy. ....... Until he doesn't.
@@cjwittmeyerthis didn't age well lol
Forgot to mention that Chandler Stephenson is a Stanley Cup champion.
Sabres gave him $80 million and made him captain. The guy was far too young and immature for the role.
agreed.....i loved when he was on the ice and putting in full effort....problem is, it was only half of the time at best. he def needs a slice of humble pie and a kick in the ass like Ovi to play a full game and to play end to end night in and night out.
But he did get Bylsma fired and Krueger hired at a very young age, so those are two feathers (?) in Eichel's cap. Seriously Jack's constant sulking must have been a real drain on team morale.
I've been calling him "coach killer" for years. Get over the Connor McDavid issue! One of the top fan bases in the NHL embraced you as one of their own, and you gave them very little in return.
I've never seen the value in Eichel ? I've never seen him finish in the top 20 in
scoring in the NHL ? and I've also heard he's always whining and complaining?
and that doesn't bode well for a winning formula. Another guy like that is Patrick
Laine, and I'm from Winnipeg and a Jet's fan, and I'm very happy he's gone. These
types of players are "very expensive" headaches, and you don't win with them.
On top of all that Eichel wants to have neck surgery to either replace, or fuse a
neck disc ( like Tiger Woods) and when your playing around in the highway of
nerves in the neck, there's a good chance he'll never be 100 % again. Even when
he was in the lineup, the Sabres never did well. He's way overrated in my opinion.
I think Buffalo is way better off letting Eichel go.
Just some thoughts:
1. Vegas is like the Athletic when they started picking up every big writer under the sun
2. How morbid is it that the idea of the Sabres preferring Eichel get a surgery that might only benefit him within the time of his contract? There is no care for his long term quality of life. The guy is simply a number to the Sabres. Specifically: 10,000,000
Glad he is free.
That's how it is with all sports. These guys are just thoroughbreds, waiting in a stall until it's their time to race.
@@Mr.Quinlan888 fair enough, but definitely not a way to treat a person
@@uomouomouomouomo true, it’s not, but I can understand how keeping humanity out of the equation sometimes allows GMs to make the necessary hard decisions/protect their assets/risk management.
Vegas won....for now, currently got the best player in the deal. Who knows in 3 years? Tuch can be much more than he showed in Vegas (which wasn't bad by any means) it's just that he only got 2nd unit PP time. Maybe in Buffalo he'll be on the first unit. Krebs is just overmatched in the NHL. He's only 20. Let him get some experience in the minors; see if he can turn it around.
I’m so glad Steve brought up trade trees at the end there. My first thought when I saw the trade news was, this will be a rather fun trade tree some day.
Buffalonian/Buffalo fan checking in- first off, love your videos, secondly Eichs was drafted in a solid rebuild that went sour. As fans, we always get credit for being passionate, and that's true (you can even broach a pleasant conversation with your conspiracy theorist neighbors with "How 'bout them Sabres/Bills?') but there's a reason our arena sometimes sounds as quiet as a tomb- we watch the hockey being played, we know good hockey when it's being played. So before we got drunk on our own potential, we had an impressive stable of players to develop until GM Murray got ahead of himself and spent draft capital and threw prospects away like they were candy. It was band-aids after that. Eichs knew it and so did we. So, as fans, we knew the deteriorating situation, we felt it, and, despite the reassurances one or two pieces away or measurable improvement (see the "GM Jason Botterill Award") we knew, with the likes of Vlady Sobotka on our team, we were going all that far. Face it, if that dude was on our team then no one was in the pipeline, a pipeline that takes at least 3 years to develop a serviceable player. No secret there. Eichs wanted out, we couldn't blame him, nor should we. As for the surgery, we all feel for Jack, that was BS, and worse, if Jack had it done and was back, ready to contribute, the return would've been higher.
Did Vegas win the deal? They got the best player, so yes. Did Buffalo do well? Under the circumstances, also yes.
Exactly right JP.
I love your collectables in the background.
Buffalo didn’t really get fleeced, they just could’ve gotten 1 more piece it feels like
Not without retaining $
They should have gone after a decent D-man in the trade package, like McNabb or Martinez. Tuch and Krebs don't even come close to matching the value of Jack Eichel (if he's back to his old self after surgery). Remember, the talks with Calgary fell through because the Flames would not include Tkachuk in the deal. He's the caliber of player you'd want to get back if you're trading Eichel. Not Krebs and Tuch.
That's how I feel too. Just one more piece would of been a great trade for buffalo but I'm not upset with what they got for eichel.
As a Sabres since childhood, and seeing player after player, who were beloved by the fan base, walk out of he door. The list is brutal. Peca, Hasek, Drury, Briere, Reinhart, Eichel. Still a Sabres fan, just not holding out hope this ever gets turned around
The Sabres need new ownership
I certainly hope the Sabres stay good.. even as a Leafs fan, I feel so bad for that fanbase.
Makes tickets at Keybank Arena cheap for you though.
@@paulrath7764 haha but still cant cross the border.....yet haha
What's sadder is having a talented team that chokes in the first round every year, at least the Sabres know who they are, the leafs believe there own hype and every year come crashing down.
As a Sabres fan, it’s pretty rough. At least I have the Bills but to be honest with you, I feel bad for leaf fans more than us Buffalo fans. I feel like I’d rather be bad and know it then be a top 5 team every year like the leafs and then lose in the first round.
Jack Eichel won, he gets to to decide over his body. I hope his surgery and recovery will go well.
This
I think I can safely say us VGK fans are happy 😂😂
I think this was a good trade for Buffalo at this point. With the uncertainty of what Eichel will look like after the surgery, this was probably as good as could have been expected return wise. If they had let him get the surgery and he came back in amazing shape, the return probably would have been much higher, but then he would have been around the organization for another 3-5 months, which would have been a huge distraction.
As a Sharks fan, people originally thought San Jose won the Karlsson trade. in 2021...I'd say Ottawa definitely won that trade. Norris, Steutzel,TIerney, Demelo,Balcers. We got Balcers back on waivers, and he's been playing well..But Boy Norris/Steutzel are damn fine players who havent even hit their prime..All for 11.5 Million of injury prone, past his prime Karl. I love Karlsson but as a business standpoint it's up there with one of the worst trades along with getting Kane, and losing Pavelski...Hindsight is 2020
karrllson and eichel should never be compared. not even close. petro is comparble
Can't wait to see a trade tree video in 10 years (God help me)! "Who won the Jack Eichel trade?"
Can’t wait for this trade tree video 5-6 years down the road Stevie Dangles!
*I think people are forgetting how incredible jack is, cmon now*
SOOO glad this issue is done with. Now Eichel can be a ding dong for Vegas and get traded before his contract is up to Chicago.... 🙃
Just a another whiny millionaire
@@PaulC112 lmao, great joke
this opinion aged well now didnt it?🤣
I'm surprised that more teams weren't in on Eichel. Yeah, the non-negotiable salary retention would scare some teams away, and sure, he's a long way away from actually stepping on the ice... but because of this, you can basically think of him as an item that's "on sale". That almost never happens for a franchise player like that.
I get Vegas can hide Jack on LTIR for a while, and maybe they keep enough players off the books until the playoffs this season to be fine, but if they don't win a cup to show it was worth it, I don't see how they can still be as competitive as they are without shedding lots of talent to be under the cap. If everyone comes off LTIR right now they're close to 20 million over the cap with multiple high value, NMC or NTC contracts. I know Vegas chews up and spits out players but still, I'm intrigued to see VGK's roster next season.
That’s assuming they’re even a playoff team this year the way this seasons going for them, gonna be interesting to see how this works out…
They just need to keep him there till the playoffs, ala Tampa Bay
Don't know how Steve or anyone else can say "it looks like" Eichel will play this year. The surgery is hardly routine. Lots of people have problems recovering from this surgery and instability and/or pain in the joint following disc replacement are not uncommon at all. I expect he and his surgeon are confident, but that's the way surgeries like this are done most of the time. But does that mean you have a healthy, pain free Eichel in March 2022? Time will tell. I wish him and the Sabres well.
I have heard the surgeon in Denver that Eichel wanted to do it said that he would be back skating within a couple of weeks - contact after 12 weeks and could expect to play after 16 i think that was it - it has been probably 6 months before i heard him. but another positive aspect of this replacement surgery is he would return to the same range of motion in his neck as before - where he would lose range of motion with fusion surgery . That is pretty significant for a hockey center .
This trade trees gonna be fun in the future
Colorado won the trade
As a Caps fan, I'm just glad that for once the East got a bit weaker.
Doesn't seem that way. Every year Caps is getting balder and Buffalo bolder..
You could also read that the East got a bi tweaker
@@MikaHakkinen83 😂 let the sabres make the playoffs once before you start hyping then up. They've started hot and burned out in most of the recent seasons. Trading Eichel isn't gonna magically fix that!
@@MikaHakkinen83 What does "bi tweaker" mean?!? 🤨
@@amongthewolves2679 yeah I know. I mean in a few years they might be very good. They got picks and young talent now. It's good to be in win now-mode or building up. See Chicago what is not good.
i think this is good for the top 6 in Vegas, not so much in the bottom 6. Cap issues are going to force the team to move other players. So i think the team may have depth issues. Also alot of the players in their 30s so they have to win soon or else all these trades were for nothing.
Hot Take: Vegas inaugural team will likely be their best lineup ever. You need 4 lines to have success in the playoffs.
It will be great for the rest of the league's GM's who should be able to pick up good guys on the cheap when Vegas is backed up against the cap when their guys get healthy!
@@toyfruit8065 we just palyed two lines the other day of kids in their 20's... old just does not apply
if you retain salary on a player on LTIR, is that retained salary also on LTIR for the team that retained?
Sabres lost because they didn’t get rid of Skinner and his 6 yrs left.
They would've had to give up way more to get rid of skinner
oh - that is right they still have that -i forgot there are players that sometimes just scream out - contract year performance- and he certainly was one
Only way buffalo gets out of that skinner contract is with a buyout. However right now that contract is helping them reach the cap floor
Now we can enjoy more games with McDavid vs Eichel since they are in the same division!!
Can't wait for Jack Eichel trade tree ten years from now.
Oh, It's going to be a good one.
IF Eichel is healthy then Vegas lots of IF's here ... heck Tuch injured too
On the other hand they are poised to perform a "triple Kucherov" with the addition of a $30M complete forward line after the playoffs have started... lol!
It's the easiest way to win, can't blame them for exploiting a loop hole
The reason why Eichel wanted out of Buffalo was because they wouldn’t let him get the neck surgery he wanted and NEEDED. The team doctors and physicians need to be fired for that.
Eichel asked for a trade the season before his injury. He wanted out no matter what and as a Sabres fan I'm glad he's gone.
He asked for a trade out of Buffalo a year before he was injured. He used the injury as leverage to leave.
Hell yes they do. He got what he needed and wanted. The rights surgery and a stanley cup.
Every NHL city won
Cause we don't have to hear every other day of where he might end up
I think the trade was good for both teams. Coming from a Sabres fan, I am sorely disappointed in the Sabres organization and how they have dealt with some players in the past and I hope they look in the mirror and change their attitude and ways. Saying that I believe both parties were at fault and we all can move on. I will still be a Eichel fan. I hope his surgery is a success and he’s back to form. But I hope the Sabres win a cup before the Knights! Lol
people that think they're clever: jack eichel wins cuz humanity. actual answer: TBD if eichel ever plays again. obviously could be a default judgement against him.
I dont know but Vegas stoled this for me ! Tuch’s and a first that 10+ in the draft basically for Eichel compared to what we were hearing they wanted all year? seems like a pretty crazy sweet deal for Vegas!
Krebs is an incredible prospect. This was always about him. Vegas wasnt willing to give him up back in the summer. He was gonna be a top 10 draft pick before an Achilles injury
@@kevinborchers3522 k maybe that's the value I'm not seeing because I was like wtf! I didnt get at all how he went so low ! But I dont know much about Krebs in my head it was the same as Ryan Poehling/ Jack Evans from the habs kind of guy /prospect . So this trade was baffling for me !
Any team could of gave up a 20 g scorer and a random prospect ! I was pissed MTL didnt get him for that price ! I was like WHAT ?! we could of gave them a Gally 30 g scorer/way better stats than Tuch and Poehling or Evans/young unproving center prospects for A JACK EICHEL!...
@@jgjohnny7964 hes so much better prospect that Poehling. Hes not an elite game changer, but hes a borderline top 10 prospect not in the NHL
The best player wins the deal. It’s amazing the Sabres got as much as they did.
Pacioretty, Stone, Lehner Pietrangelo & Eichel. Good business.
its a shame that tuch is hurt right now, cant wait to see him back in January hopefully the sabres are still relevant when he gets back
The Golden Knights are stopping at nothing to win the Stanley Cup...the Sabres are stopping at nothing to get Rochester to win the Calder Cup
Right across the lake
Easy Answer : The Lawyers & Agents
Sabres should absolutely keep Tuch. Tuch is a great player and is clutch. He started our comeback in game 5 of the Colorado series last post season by batting a puck out of mid air . He’s good stuff . They should definitely put him to use. Also, he may play even better for them because he’s from upstate NY and has said it’s been his dream to play for the Sabres , when you get a guy and he’s super happy on the team he’s on you can get better play out of him. It’s not as much of a disappointment for the Sabres as some people have been making it seem. And that’s not even including Krebs. He hasn’t proven himself in the NHL just yet but he’s got a giant amount of potential and could become a future star . I think both teams won on the trade honestly
I don’t need to be sad, I’m a Vegas fan now
Genius move. As much as it pains me I'm a buffalo fan for life.
Patches Eichel Stone would vie for the league's best line imo. Stone would obviously handle the defensive side and Patches would get the best playmaker of his hockey career. Likewise Eichel would be playing with the best linemates of his career.
It wasn't the fans or team that was disappointed in taking Eichel 2nd overall. it was all Tim Murray
Buffalo’s return in this trade is a Dang it.
I dont think he's crazy either. Tuch had to come here with his 5 mill . We still don't have elite centerman to replace two we lost in the past years , remember the orielly trade ? Thompson and Rob Johnson.... and now Krebs and a pick thats protected ? And we lost Sam? Its a weird trade to me. I dont know.
Although Vegas has moved out guys they drafted, technically they traded for two #2 overalls now in patrick and eichel. If Nolan overcomes the injury bug they’ll have 2 top Cs with all that wing depth and elite dmen
I'm no Eichel fan but I felt horrible for him being on Buffalo glad he gets a somewhat fresh start
He created the drama by going public. Eichel should be angry with his own union who agreed to the CBA. Sabres were doing what was best for the Sabres.
@@cjwittmeyer Buffalo didn’t let Eichel get surgery and traded him at half his value
I dunno if Vegas won we dropped his salary, We get Krebs and Tuch, both have a ton of grit and sandpaper. I read Krebs is downright nasty to play against. We got rid of a cancer and a 10m a year contract Ill take it. People forget, Eichel has been hurt in every season hes played in so far.
Bro you calling Eichel a cancer for wanting a surgery?
@@Yomasi there have been rumors thrown around that he’s a bit of a prima Donna. I don’t know if he’s actually a cancer or if he just knows he’s good and on a bad team, and no one but the people in the locker room truly know, but those rumors exist
@@Yomasi He's been treating teammates bad for years.
Considering a few things here : The league is composed of roughly 42% of first round draft picks, 16% second rounders, 8.5% 3rd rounders and the rest of the rounds make up the rest of the league including a whopping 12.5% of undrafted players.
This stat (taken in 2017) shows the amount of drafted first rounders that made it to the 100 game mark since 2007 :
2017 - 0
2016 - 4
2015 - 11
2014 - 16
2013 - 20
2012 - 23
2011 - 23
2010 - 23
2009 - 25
2008 - 21
2007 - 21
Keep in mind this is only the 100 game mark.
Tuch is a second liner at best and is also injured for 3 months and Krebs hasn't shown much at the NHL level and it's safe to say he's no phenom.
With all that in mind, even with the injury, I think Vegas fleeced the Sabres but maybe that was the best offer 🤷🏼♂️
Vegas, by a mile. Eichel will have a cup within 3 years with Vegas. Eichel next season in that division will be a top 5 or higher
Aged like fine wine we just won the cup. You were right go knights
Theres nothing like a good tater. Boiled. Mashed. In a stew. Cooked golden and crisp in the oven. Yumm
i cant wait for the trade tree video in 10 years
Short term winner: Vegas.
Although we have 6 guys now on IR (2 on regular IR, 4 on LTIR) if and when they return healthy, Vegas will be a force offensively that the Central and the West and the NHL as a whole will have to be on the lookout for. Unfortunately, that also means that cap space issue is gonna be a dicey thing to play with with all those checks that gotta be cut.
Long Term Winner: Buffalo.
Buffalo finally traded Eichel and in doing so don’t have to retain a financial stranglehold of nearly $25M on that contract. They also received a very nice prospect in Peyton Krebs (who’s gonna be playing in Rochester) and Alex Tuch who’s a NY native that was a life long Sabres fan and he can score a solid 40 points a season. Ultimately, Buffalo is in a weird rebuild mode where, they aren’t having to do much to rebuild so heavily. They finally got prospects, 6 really good draft picks (3 in the first and 3 in the second depending the conditions being met) a ton of Cap Space, and the team is actually playing solid hockey (they have a 5-2-1 record as of this comment being written) so things are looking up for the Sabres. I think Buffalo may be on the rise within a year or so if this plays out correct.
Let’s just say neither Mcdavid or Eichel wanted to go to Edmonton in the draft. They both wanted to come to Buffalo instead. Hell, Mcdavid is a Bills fan too (his host family in Erie had Bills season tickets). The early returns on the trade look really good for Buffalo. Tuch is scoring at a point per game pace, looks like the next captain, and Krebs is contributing already. Eichel has only just returned to play, but he scored his first goal. It’s too early to tell who won the deal at this point. But I will say that Jack Eichel was really only a point per game player at his best in Buffalo, and Tuch has already matched that so far.
If Vegas gets healthy, and IF the surgery goes well, look out…..
Yea a lot of ifs
@@irocz11 It’s a common surgery, so I wouldn’t expect any complications. Now, I know it’s the first of its kind in the NHL, but that doesn’t automatically mean the outcome is a complete mystery. I worked with a miner a few years ago who had the same thing done and he was back doing extremely demanding work after 10 weeks. It has been 3 years and no issues with range of motion.
@@Pencil-Eating yea it’s going to be interesting how the surgery holds up with how rough hockey can be.
Sabres won. They got a bona fide return. Had they waited more, the price would drop. Also, the players are good. Sure, none of them is Jack, but they can get some team spirit there. My bet is for improvement in Sabres organization and I am curious how would Melody react.
W take, we won easily tuch >> eicheL and krebs is a young stud, plus we still have picks from them
Yeah Eichel and Tuch are injured currently and Krebs is in the AHL. So basically nothing has changed yet for either team.
How many Vegas fans would gladly undo this trade now? Just curious. IMO Sabres got the better end of this deal by a long mile.
We just won the cup we would never undo that trade. Go knights
As long as Eichel rehabs properly, whether fusion or disc replacement, he will have near full range of motion return. I say the Knights got a good deal, but Buffalo got the better one. My opinion, disagree if you want. They got 2 guys who currently lace up skates and one of them is an upstate NY native.
Hey, Jack Eichel. Get well soon. All the best.
How funny would it be if Buffalo flips Tuch to the Lightning? Then if they wanna send him down for rehab, they can send him to Syracuse (since the Crunch is Tampa's AHL affiliate)
In the short term, the Sabres definitely win the trade with two quality players joining their already strong roaster. In the long term, Eichel wins because he can get the surgery he wants to get and can begin the road to recovering his physical health and livelihood. As for Vegas, hopefully Eichel is healthy for the playoffs and they go far in them because their cap structure is going to be a nightmare to shuffle around this offseason.
I agree
We as hockey fans win this trade because now i dont have to hear about it every day and as a leafs fan an all star forward leaves the division so im completely ok with that.
Buffalo lost in the first place because they refuse to do what their player asked to do, which honestly should be a no-brainer for anyone to follow through with, especially since it's been successful for athletes in other sports, and that their own option would be a permanent debilitation (as fusion would permanently locked vertebrae together). The fact that they dragged their feet meant that they lost out on an even better deal offered earlier on before this dragged out into... November. 🤦♂️
Even with that in mind, and despite this likely being the best option available to Buffalo, they also lose here because they didn't get any top prospects, they didn't get any superstars, they only got a couple of decent (but not superstar) players, and they only got a few magic beans - which of course could go either way.
Meanwhile, although it is a huge gamble (and ironic it is _Vegas_ that is making this gamble. 😂 Talk about sticking with the theme!), I suspect that the surgery will go well, I can will be back to his form, and it will make this trade look like one of the worst, if not _the_ worst in NHL history, because even with the _Gretzky_ trade, it _still_ led to a Stanley Cup. And this even assumes that _either_ pick is within the top 10 if Vegas plays well over the next two seasons.
L take, eicheL is a cancer teammate and player, tuchs better, krebs is a great prospect and we still have picks from them, enjoy wasting all that money🥴
I am so glad Kings management ran away from trading for a player to just sit on IR for a couple seasons.
If I were Brayden McNabb, Reilly Smith, and/or Mattias Janmark...maybe even Pietrangelo, I'd be a bit worried about my future in Vegas.
Pretty sure that pietrangelo has NMC
@@fczip5493 According to Sportrac, no, or, at least, he doesn't have one in place through the end of the 25-26 season.
@@Ando2k10 oh I had to check and capfriendly shows that he has idk then.
@@fczip5493 Yeah, after your response, I used a search engine and found several articles (SI, ESPN, Sporting News) that say he does, indeed, have a full no move clause.
@@Ando2k10 i have a feeling that there will be players who dont singn whit Vegas if they dont give those nm clauses
I feel like Lehner had a huge role in this trade.
Dude everyone wanted Conor McDavid. Poor Jack’s feelings were hurt? That’s ridiculous. He got a 8 year $10M /year contract. How hurt could he have been. That’s a terrible take. Jack complained about every coach they brought in here. Nothing was ever good enough. Yes he’s a great player but he’s also pretty selfish. I’d rather a bunch of hard working kids who bring it every night than a guy who constantly needs every one to know he’s the best 🙄. The neck thing was stupid but both sides were looking out for their interests. I wish him well in Vegas. I just hope the coach there gets on board early with how jack wants to do things bc he’ll find himself out of a job if he doesn’t.
probably different when he is going to a more established situation with veterans with talent of their own. I am thinking of Stone, Pietrangelo, Theodore. It will be a lot harder to be a prima donna - in that environment. And i don't think that DeBoer is the type of coach where that would go very well . It can be hard on kids like that - when you don't have a really strong established hockey department - which lets face it - the sabres haven't . The player becomes "the franchise " when they are 18 yrs old and the proverbial inmates are running the asylum. It looks like that to me in Toronto . They had to flush Lou for the rookie GM and got schooled on those contracts to those 4 players - and now the team is run to cater to them - they literally have that GMs balls in their pockets .
Totally agree and that’s a pretty accurate assessment of what happened here.
The way Vegas has made player acquisitions is right out of the George McPhee playbook. Trade all of your future prospects and draft picks for the hot player(s) to win now. The Filip Forsberg trade that sent him from Washington to Nashville in return for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. That was McPhee's undoing in Washington and something similar will probably be his undoing in Vegas.
Sabres got a bit less than I expected, but they refused to retain any salary, so should not be a surprise. There was talk that Korpisalo was going to Buffalo via 3 way deal, but obviously didn't happen. Still curious as to what Calgary offered. Next big trade might be Monahan headed elsewhere. We're all grateful that the Eichel soap opera is finally over.
7:19 No offense to anyone, but that is a bit thin down the middle given Stevenson was playing 4th line winger in his year at the caps.
You haven't seen Stephenson play with Vegas, did you?
@@Yomasi
He's not a first line Center tho.
If Eichel is healthy, Vegas.
Jack wanted out before injury. Im so glad he is gone. Him and Lehner can pound sand
Would have been an awesome fit for the league in Minnesota. Unfortunately that cap is throbbing next season in St. Paul
It amazes me that there's almost zero discussion about what this does to Vegas next season. They were already heading for cap hell next year, Eichel just put a ticking cap supernovae on Vegas now.
Vegas needs to resign over 1/3 their team next year and those guys aren't going to be asking for less money just because Eichel's there. You can't maintain a team where 3 players take 1/3 of your total cap space (top 5 takes 50% their total cap). Unless you're TB playing LTIR shennanigans...
Vegas isn't going to be 'lethal' next year. They're going to be largely irrelevant. One great line, with trash down the rest of their lineup. (Probably an ok 2nd line... I'm being a bit hyperbolic at this point...)
Vegas did this for one reason only. Pull a Kucherov and activate Eichel at the playoffs so they can (maybe) win the cup before they need to purge the team for cap space.
Souless - expect to see Rielly Smith traded to NYR at some point to free up some cap space.
Wrong. Stanley cup champs really only need to sign Barbashev and Hill. 3.75 million under cap. Get rid of Lehner Kessel Bluger brossoit and. Free up 7 million more. What you talking about?