Sabres accept.

Eichel is on IR, Very doubtful he even plays this year. And that's a gross overpayment for a player with a herniated disc. And And you're sorely mistaken if you honestly think that Columbus is competing now. Bet they're still heading towards a rebuild here shortly.

Columbus isn't trading Roslovic.

Recovery time for an artificial disk replacement can be from 3 weeks to 3 months. If he’s traded soon he will have the surgery and could very realistically be playing before January.

All depends on how they play this year, but there is a ton of skill on this roster.

Artificial disc replacement is closer to 3 months then 3 weeks depending on the severity of the disc. Columbus Forward core is very good they're going to make some noise. but the D and Goaltending are issues. Right now Werenski is the only decent piece on the Blue Jacket blueline. losing Seth Jones is going to hurt and Korpisalo and Merzlikins nothing much there.

Holy overpay

No. Not if that's going to be the price.

Can’t tell if this is denial or bargaining.

I want to be there with ya man, but don’t get your hopes up this season.

Merzlikins is actually a very talented goaltender. I’ve read that many scouts believe he is a Vezina-caliber guy. Plus this year he is playing for his friend who died saving his pregnant wife from a fireworks blast.

Bean and Boqvist replacing Jones and Savard will definitely be a step down on the defensive end, but with having the fire power up front I think now having more puck moving defensemen is going to generate a lot more goals for this team. There are plenty of of finishers: Laine, Bjorkstrand, Nyquist, Chinakov, Roslovic, even Domi can score. Kuraly is an underrated defensive 4th line center who is going to win a lot of draws.

All that being said, I think they will also take a lot of penalties and lose a lot of games in OT this year. I don’t see them making the playoffs without getting a 1C like Eichel. But I think with this roster they will actually come close. A lot depends on if Laine is going to score 25 or 45.