You mean to tell me that they finally get out from underneath Okposo’s contract, and you want to give him another three-year deal? That alone destroys any credibility any idea you have might have had.

Rangers decline

Easy Rangers and Yotes declines

i was just bringing back Okposo at that price (not extraordinarily high for a 4th liner) as a veteran leader in 2023 who has been with Buffalo for a while by that time and knows the team well so that he could be a mentor for some of the younger players.

I would be fine with the Eichel trade bringing in other players that could fill the roles of a top line winger, somewhere between a #3 and #5 defenseman and a goalie.

Maybe: Eichel to Detroit for Sebastian Cossa, Lucas Raymond, Troy Stecher and 1 First Round Pick.
Eichel to Calgary for Dustin Wolf, Matthew Coronato, Rasmus Anderson and 1 First Round Pick
Eichel to Vegas for Peyton Krebs, Nicolas Hague and 2 First Round Picks (1 of which they use to draft a high end goalie prospect)

There rare multiple versions of the Eichel trade that could fill the roster positions of Lafreniere, MIller and Georgiev. Maybe they do have to be to a lesser extent, but that was not the real significant part of the post.

Flames and Detroit decline those trades. Probably Vegas to

OK. How would you fill those roster spots in an Eichel trade?

Neither of those trades are good. And massively over paying an average back up when they have 3 goalie prospects that are potentially better than Georgiev doesnt seem like a positive

When are Buffalo fans going to realize that they aren’t getting top prospects for eichel. Buffalo won’t let him get the surgery he wants, putting all of the risk on the team trading for him (considering it’s a major operation, no matter which he gets). No team is going to turn over their best prospects/player due to the chance eichel may not be able to play. Either Buffalo has to let him get his surgery or they’ll have to get a subpar return due to the risk.

Or, what could be incredibly funny. The Sabres decide to release his medical records to teams around the league to determine whether or not they would ever consider letting him get the surgery he wants, and finding out that no team in the entire NHL will consider it. So it won’t matter if he gets traded anywhere, he still can’t get the surgery he wants. So he might as well suck it up, get the surgery that the Sabres have prescribed, and come back to play.

Yeah thats a lot more unlikely than him being traded for a lesser return. Especially since the nhlpa and the nhl are getting involved now. He probably has a better chance of voiding his contract than the scenario you presented. Saying “just suck it up” when the surgery Buffalo wants would require at least one more surgery in 10 years (and another potential one after that), while it also limits his body movement in current time is just ignorant. There are second opinions for a reason, you get what you are most comfortable with.

Well unless the NHL and NHL PA rewrite the CBA to give players more control over the medical procedures they receive the teams still hold all the cards. The current CBA gives the player the right to choose the surgeon that performs the surgery, not choose the surgery. Players have a right to a second opinion, and teams are expected to give credence to whatever second opinion the player gets, whatever that actually means. The teams’ medical professionals still have the final say.

If the Sabres did release his medical records to the other team doctors around the league it’s entirely possible that none of them would feel comfortable with the disc replacement surgery over a spinal fusion surgery. Until or unless the CBA changes to make it not their call it still would be. I doubt that the NHL is going to make a one time exception in the case of Jack Eichel. If they give him the power to make this decision on this is own then every player will want the same right.

It’s already been reported that NYR would be okay with the replacement surgery. Some of the best doctors are in NYC as well, we all know NYR don’t cheap out when it comes to personelle. Just look at what Buffalo did with lehner, whack organization 100% through and through.

You’re off base with Lehner. He was an alcoholic while he was in Buffalo, completely his own doing. The Sabres organization saved his life by getting him into rehab. He doesn’t give them any credit for it, and it took them too long to realize he was having that many issues. Anyone who truly knows what was going on knows it was the Sabres organization that saved his life.

So making him use busted ankle was just… idk smart?

Is there any proof that happened while he was here and not Ottawa? Or the Sabres still employ the same medical staff that made that call? The regime has changed twice over since he’s been here, what makes you think their medical staff wouldn’t also see the same turnover? The fact still remains the man would be dead from alcohol poisoning by now if the Sabres had not gotten him into rehab. That was the point I made and you conveniently ignored it. Refute that if you can.

I didn’t try to refute it because it wasn’t what I was referring to with lehner, I was referring to his ankle injury, and it’s documented that it happened with the sabres in his first game with them and that they were the ones that pushed him to use it. He himself mentions they forced him onto a bike after a week and a 300 leg press in week three. Are you just going to ignore blatant facts that you don’t agree with?

Sure substance abuse is an issue, but don’t act like it was Buffalo that “put” him there. The team has nothing to do with a player going to the nhlpa substance abuse program. That is a decision that can only be made by the individual— which anyone that knows someone with these issues are usually pressed by their family and friends to go into rehab, not their employer.

But let’s get back to the joke of an organization that the sabres are. And the item that brought all of this to heel— that you said teams aren’t okay with the adr surgery— which has already been reported NYR are fine with. “That was the point that I made and you conveniently ignored. Refute that if you can”

Edit: also, he went into the program for panic attacks before the other issues were uncovered— do your research

I don’t spend my time stalking people on the Internet to find information about their personal lives. I’m sorry that you waste your time doing that. The team was not good while he was here, but nobody made Robin Lehner an alcoholic except Robin Lehner. However, Jason Botterill did encourage him to enter the substance-abuse program. I’m sure he wasn’t alone in encouraging him not to kill himself with alcohol. You clearly seem to have an ax to grind against the Sabres organization, that sounds like a personal problem. You might want to see someone and talk about it, because that’s not healthy.

I just don’t like spreading misinformation like you apparently do. You still avoided the point I made abt NYR being okay with the adr surgery. But I expect as much from someone that employs going after someone personally when they realize they cannot win a debate. Not a very effective strategy.

FYI, I’m done with you, so respond or don’t respond, not wasting another second on someone so ignorant

I’m glad someone finally decided to ask other teams whether they would be comfortable with letting Jack have the surgery he wants. I wish they had decided to do that sooner. Perhaps this whole situation with him would’ve been ended by now. I can care less about your personal opinion of me, and engaging in personal attacks is just not something I plan on doing. However, I am concerned if you’re so worried about what someone on the Internet says about you. Much like Robin Lehner if you are having a problem I certainly hope that you seek out help, I am sure there are people who care about you and would like to see you doing better. Do and be well.