BillsFan4

Was just going to post this video. It’s a good watch. Gets me excited for the season to start. Cant wait until Next Friday for preseason game #1!!

😡 I know it’s negotiations but this makes me furious. They know damn well how much we’ve had to worry about this team moving. For years.

agree about arbitration. I meant if the Sabres approve the disc replacement surgery, would the insurance company still cover the cost of Eichel’s contract if he could not return to play or was injured playing in the NHL (after the surgery). If it would void the injury insurance then the Pegulas would be on the hook for Eichel’s full contract even if he could never play again. Right now, the contract has injury insurance. If Eichel couldn’t play again the Sabres aren’t on the hook for the money owed. Im sure if he has the spinal fusion he would still have that injury insurance on his contract. Would he still have it if he has the replacement? (if Buffalo approved the surgery) As far as letting him have the surgery, I guess it depends on a lot of different things I don’t know the answer to. Do other teams approve of this surgery or are they telling Buffalo they wouldn’t trade for Eichel if he has it? Does it void the medical injury insurance on Eichel’s contract? What is the success rate for “return to sports” for the spinal fusion? Is it 75%? 80? 90? What are the benefits and risks of each? What are the specific reasons the Sabres medical staff doesn’t want him having this surgery? Is the main reason because it hasn’t been done on an NHL player and/or that it would void the injury insurance? I read that there is a small chance that the artificial disc could dislodge and paralyze him. Is that true and if so how high are the odds of it happening? etc etc. Seems like the spinal fusion is the safer bet, but it would also mean that Eichel most likely never return to 100% health. I’ve heard people say about 80% (don’t know if that’s true). So I can honestly see both sides of this argument. But IMO Eichel needs to find a better way to handle this. I have a feeling other teams are just as skeptical about this surgery as the Sabres are. Otherwise, if you think Buffalo is just being stupid here, why not trade for Eichel and let him have the surgery?

Im very curious to know if this surgery would void the injury insurance on Eichel’s contract. I’ve wondered for a while if that’s partly why the Sabres don’t want it done. But I don’t see why Buffalo would be concerned if they plan to trade him right away anyway. Wonder if it has anything to do with other potential trade partners not wanting him to have the surgery either. edit - on 2nd listen, this guy says a number of misleading or conflicting things. He says that spinal fusion has a 25% chance of needing a 2nd surgery within 10 years. Then minutes later said “it’s more likely than not he would need a 2nd procedure with a spinal fusion”. No, there’s a 75% chance he wouldn’t. That’s 3 in 4 patients... He later says that with the fusion Eichel will most likely need at least 3 additional surgeries (because of this 25% risk of needing a 2nd surgery). He then later says spinal fusion has a 70% chance to return to sports. Then minutes later says 80-85%. He also admits that he wouldn’t recommend this surgery for an NFL player because of the impacts they take and how risky it would be, but says in the NHL it’s different because they are on ice. He also says that there are issue with this disc replacement surgery in the NHL CBA and Eichel might not even be able to be cleared to play after having this surgery! He seems more like a salesman than a doctor. I feel like he has a vested interest in having an NHL player get this surgery.

Eichel can sit for 5 years for all I care. Sabres can not cave here. They have to hold strong and not trade him for a crap return. If I were Adams, I’d tell Eichel to knock off the **** Immediately. Tell him he’s hurting his trade value and if he ever actually wants to be traded to STFU. Because he’s not going anywhere until they get proper value and the more he pulls this crap the longer it’ll take. If what the agents said is true and all these doctors are/were in agreement, Why aren’t they going to injury arbitration anyway? Why handle it through the media?

Ahhh so exciting reading this thread! 2 weeks from today we will all be watching Bills preseason football!

this is aggravating if true. I don’t know what the Sabres plan is here, besides save money. Signings so far this offseason: Hayden - $750k Prow - $750k Dell - $750k Anderson - $750k Schuldt - $750k Malone - $750k Davidson - $750k Our 2 most expensive signings of the offseason so far: Pysyk - $900k Hinostroza - $1.05M They should reach the cap floor with the RFA deals, depending on what they do there.

Anderson is 40 and was rumored to be retiring. Guess it was because he wasn’t getting any offers. Kind of shocked he’s signed up for an obvious tank season with Buffalo. Hope he’s still got something left in the tank.

Ok I’m convinced it’s a bot answering their emails. After the last email I asked if it was a bot or a live person I was talking to and said I do not have an active subscription. This is the response I got: Even more aggravated that I’ve been arguing with a bot for days. I have no idea how you talk to an actual live person. I can’t find a phone number for them at all. Honestly, at this point I think I’m done trying to give them my money anyway.

https://kslsports.com/464603/report-jets-likely-wont-budge-on-talks-with-zach-wilson/ ‘Report: Jets Likely Won’t Budge On Talks With Zach Wilson’ Zach Wilson the only Jets player that did not report to training camp. His Jets career is Off to a great start! 🤣

Thing is, it wasn’t for new customers though. The email literally said “come back to the athletic” and “re-subscribe now”. 🤷‍♂️

Guess we added Mark Pysyk.

Thankfully only 2 more years on Okposo. But he’ll probably get re-signed because you know, he’s “proud to wear the Jersey”... (kidding) To be fair they did try to re-sign Ullmark. I’m guessing Buffalo’s offer was higher too since they are set to be significantly under the salary cap floor this season, even with Eichel under contract. They have to spend quite a bit just to hit the bare minimum they have to spend. at this rate they may have to keep Eichel just to make sure they can hit the cap floor 😂 Butcher + 5th for future considerations. NJ clearing some cap space.

🤢🤮 no idea what Buffalo plans at Goalie now. Pretty much everyone’s off the market already. Eh, who needs s goalie when you’re tanking, right? 😂

Well, I finally got an email response. Here’s what it said: I honestly don’t know how else to even try and explain this so they understand. This has to be a bot answering their emails, right?

I don’t really get this from the Sabres POV if this is truly their ask. Krebs I get. I love him. Great young C prospect. He’s one of my favorite rumored prospects in an Eichel trade. But the rest...? Hague (LD, 22yrs old) is a nice piece but he’d be yet another left shot defenseman when we already have pretty good depth at LD (with Dahlin + Powers being the likely top 2 in the future). And Reilly Smith is 30yrs old and 1 year away from UFA. Their 1st will also very likely be near the end of the round. I would be underwhelmed if that was the return. And I don’t understand why Las Vegas wouldn’t make this deal immediately if that was Buffalo’s ask. Im wondering if this is LV’s offer, not Buffalo’s ask. I thought for sure they’d ask for Tuch since he’s from Syracuse and grew up a Sabres fan. He’d be “proud to wear the Jersey” like Kevyn Adams mentioned multiple times. But he’s also a LW, which isn’t exactly a big need right now.

bummer. Was really hoping he’d be back, but realistically knew he was probably gone. I don’t think any free agent with other options is going to choose Buffalo as they enter yet another full-on rebuild. Not unless they’re willing to overpay.

😡🤬 this one could haunt the Sabres for years (like ROR). Reinhart was very under appreciated. He’s improved every single season, and I expect him to have a big year playing with actual talent around him in Florida, and a legit good NHL coach (the coach who got the best out of Patrick Sharp, who Reinhart is a similar player to IMO).

My 2 year subscription expired a few weeks ago. Since then I have been getting emails from the athletic offering me a 1 year subscription at a discounted rate. So today I finally decided to take advantage of the offer and clicked on the “claim offer” link on the email. It takes me to a page to buy a 1 year athletic subscription, but the price is higher than the one offered to me via email. So I reach out to the athletic customer service and explain how my subscription expired weeks ago and I’m trying to claim the deal offered to me in these emails but the price is higher, how do I get the price that was offered to me. I get a response saying that says this: “Unfortunately the discount was associated with annual users only. Because you opted for monthly payments, it diverted the subscription to a similarly reduced monthly membership. Hope this helps, feel free to reach back out if you have any questions.” So I explain that no, I’ve never paid monthly. I’ve subscribed for 3 years and I’ve always paid annually. I also explained that the deal I’m trying to claim is also for an annual subscription and provided screen shots to show it and that there was a different price for the monthly subscription, but that’s not what I was selecting. I was selecting the annual deal but the price was still wrong. then they respond with this: (notice how the reason they won’t honor the deal totally changes) “I'm sorry for the confusion. Promotional discounts are only available for the first year of a recurring annual subscription. It looks like you were able to receive a promotional discount off your first year of The Athletic. If you would like to use the promotions shown our best suggestion would be to create a new account after canceling the active one. Let me know if you have any questions.” So I emailed back explaining that I don’t even have an active membership, so I can’t cancel it. I had already told her my subscription expired in the very first email I sent and the emails they sent offering me the deal literally said “return to the athletic”. And I asked why in the world would they keep sending me emails for a deal they are now (incorrectly) trying to claim I don’t even qualify for? Now they seem to be just ignoring my emails and I can’t find s phone number to call. Honestly, I feel like the athletic doesn’t want my business. I should Not have to work this hard to claim a deal that THEY offered me. This is the 2nd time it’s happened too. 2 years ago something similar happened when I was trying to claim a deal and they weren’t willing to do anything. Oh well, there’s plenty of free sports news all over the Internet. sorry, just venting...

Yes I agree and said pretty much the same thing a couple pages back. It all depends on how long he signs in Florida for. We know he at least has to sign for 1 year. I initially thought that maybe he wasn’t willing to sign with any team for more than 1 year because he wants to test free agency. this interview with Reinhart is what made me think it might be longer than a year. So I’m in wait & see mode now. If he only signs for a year, Kevyn Adams did ok. If he signs longer, then I’ll feel like Adams didn’t get proper value, especially since it’s a division rival (not that the Sabres really have ANY rivals right now... maybe Arizona as a rival in the fight for the #1 overall pick 🤣)

No need to be a mind reader. You give Reinhart’s agent permission to negotiate with the other team as part of the trade. Plenty of NHL teams have traded a player where an extension with the other team was worked out in advance as part of the trade. It literally just happened 2 days ago with Chicago and Seth Jones. Or Max Pacioretty or Mark Stone, etc etc. Most good Veteran GMs make sure they get proper value if the player is going to be signing long term with his new team.

I don’t really think this is all that comparable to the Watkins trade. Watkins was trending down and regularly injured + the player Beane got back in the trade was a big contributor the following season (when he wasn’t injured). Reinhart improved every single year and was pretty consistently one of our best players every season (he was our best player last season). He absolutely made the team better. Just because they didn’t win doesn’t mean he was a problem or it was his fault. Honestly, What are the chances this Reinhart trade ever makes the Sabres better? Maybe if we’re lucky the 2 pieces from the trade will contribute in what? 5+ years down the line? But the chances of even drafting a regular NHL contributor with a late 1st round pick are low as is (especially considering the Sabres scouting over the last 10+yrs). Maybe that 7th round goalie they got will develop into something but I’m not holding my breath. Goalies take a long time to develop. He’s in college and will probably stay there 4 years, and may even just choose to turn UFA instead of signing here (there’s a college UFA loophole) like Cal Peterson did (the last college goalie we had). Also, I do not remember Reinhart constantly whining about being here. Sure, he may have got testy with media members like Mike Harrington (well deserved!) when they asked purposely antagonizing questions but I don’t really remember him whining about being here, and I certainly don’t remember that happening all the time. I always thought he was a good soldier and did pretty much everything Buffalo asked of him. As far as guys wanting to be here, I highly doubt there is a single veteran NHL player that would willingly choose the worst team in all of pro sports over the last decade. And Reinhart wanted to be here. He was willing to sign long term every offseason (up until this offseason anyway). Sabres just kept jerking him around. They effectively chose a trending down Taylor hall over Sam Reinhart last offseason and it blew up horribly in their face. btw, I’m fine with shipping some of these guys out. But you have to at least get proper value for them. Like Adams did with Ristolainen. Florida has a deep prospect pool with a # of guys close to being NHL ready. I think I’m most aggravated about that part of the trade. I mean, at least get one of their better prospects. Or at the very least don’t put conditions on the 1st round pick so it has a chance of not being a late round pick, or include someone like Frank Vatrano (3/4C) in the trade to give us some depth at C and help shelter the kids.