I doubt Skinner waives his no movement clause with so much time left on his contract, but we can hope. I wouldn’t retain on Risto either, but that trade can still be done.

The question is, why would he want to, and then why would the Sabres want him to?

To elaborate, what is realistically going to change to get eichel to be a happy captain of a team for the next five years, and potentially beyond?

I think it would be very optimistic to think if he stays with the Sabres, he’ll play a playoff game in the next three years, and optimistic still to think in the next five that they’ll be a contender.

So what’s the best play here? Let him haplessly play out his contract, maybe scrounge out a 500 season or two. Maybe trade him in his contract year when he has a full NMC? Then be right back at square one.

Or, trade him now when his term would have to be very attractive to a lot of teams, and he has zero trade protection. Do the rebuild, do it right, and move on it with it. It’s the best case for everyone.

Oh, he would definitely waive. I feel like pretty much every player on the roster would happily get out now. The problem is, no one would ever take that contract.

I've said something similar and really, you articulated it well.

Honestly tho, whether Eichel is traded or not, the big thing this organization has to address is the poor drafting and even poorer developing. Without those things the Sabres will be life and death to even compete for a playoff spot.

If i owned that team, i would fire the entire scouting department, and instruct them to follow central scouting for the next two years.

You know the owner ordered the cutting of the entire scouting staff? All in an attempt to save money.

A GM can only do so much with no scouting staff.

The scouting department was fired because of the lack of results over the past decade. Perhaps saving money was the primary concern at the time, but the fact was despite having the largest scouting staff in the league the Sabres weren’t getting any results. I think the scouting department has been reduced to about five people instead of 25, but it’s not like Kevyn Adams is doing everything by himself.

Hey, it's great when someone recognizes that something isn't working and fires an entire staff but then to not hire new people and make sure the GM has adequate help to build a competitive team? Well that's a pretty big fail on that owner.

It's one thing to recognize something doesn't work but to do nothing?
I guess you reap what you sow.