It starts with Thomas and Neighbours

Probably should be their ask, but with Eichel out for like 4 months or more that would be a pretty big blow to the Blues' roster. The Eichel to STL concept is pretty tricky... extremely shallow prospect pool and so much money already tied up for the long term. (I.e. the guys that you'd need to produce on ELCs/bridge deals would be traded for Eichel, and then there's nobody left to fill in the depth and no money to spend)

blues dont do it then sorry
Obviously eichel is better but that wouldnt be worth it to the blues

VT doesnt waive unless he is traded within 24 hours

This looks pretty close to the last package I put together from the Blues' side. I think I had Vlad (flipped), Barbashev, Kostin, Bolduc, and conditional picks in '22 and '23 that likely end up as 1sts but bottom out as 3rds. No retention required on Eichel when you include Barbashev although it would be extremely helpful to have him at 8.5. Probably not enough for the Sabres but IMO the Blues probably put a stop on it around there given the context of the situation.

With Eichel healthy + Kyrou, Schenn, Kostin, ROR, Saad etc, they’re big time contenders

Oh I agree, they could be amazing with Eichel at the top of the depth chart. But they'd be taking a big gamble, especially considering how strong the fwd depth is now. What if you lose a guy to injury and you've already lost Thomas, Neighbours, and Tarasenko and another guy (cap has to move) and Eichel is still sitting... gonna force some guys into big roles just to make the playoffs, and then you gotta pray that Eichel comes back at 100% and can carry the team past COL/VGK/etc.

I agree but if he’s healthy , it would be a great move .

And ends with not on your life.

I've looked at it a few times and "interesting" is the word I usually end up at. While I'm here I'm gonna go look at it again from a cap perspective tbh. Tough to say what package really gets it done for the Sabres to move Eichel though, that's the determining factor.

I truly think Eichel is about to drop 90+ Once he comes back healthy

The thing is- who is left on the Eichel board? New York is out, they just re-signed Zibanejad. Vegas is out, they don't want to give up *checks notes* Peyton Krebs and Nic Hague. Anaheim? Calgary? Boston? This trade matches anything those guys can put together for Eichel unless Anaheim is including McTavish, Zegras or Drysdale. Can't see that happening at this point. Whoever ends up with Eichel is almost certainly going to be getting him for a package for less than Thomas and Neighbors IMO. Buffalo is out of leverage. This could very well end up in court soon. And if that's the case, the Blues absolutely should go for it because yeah he's an elite player who could very well drop 90+ points when healthy and this team is ready to win now.