Quote:
Originally Posted by Icon
So if he insists on the surgery that the team doesn't agree with... are either of the following true?:
1) Eichel has grounds to end his contract (does he become a UFA)?
2) The team has grounds to terminate his contract (would be a UFA too)?
In other words, does this situation ever turn into him being a UFA, if so would that be for next season instead (is there a cutoff-date)?
|
I don't think contract termination is likely. Eichel doesn't appear to have grounds to ask for his contract to be nullified. The Sabres would never let their best asset leave for no return, so will not terminate it. There is a contract in place and both parties need to comply.
The worst case scenario here, and I'm talking
The Day After scenario, would be if Eichel went against the agreement in the CBA and got the surgery of his liking, then the Sabres and league would launch some type of legal action against the player and the NHLPA. The PA would then have to make the call of backing the player or the agreement that works for everyone else, and is modeled off the other big sports programs. This would be dangerous as it would force the leagues and PAs to pick sides, and then a wage war over a mechanism meant to give the players the best care possible while keeping those costs under control. This would drag all leagues into the mess as this would be a driver to remove this responsibility from the clubs/leagues and transfer it to the individual players. That would mean players would then have to either self-insure, or the players associations would have to create an insurance pool of their own and assume the responsibility of running that aspect of the business. It would fundamentally change how teams run, how players train, and how players take care of their injuries. The guys who are superstars would have awesome coverage, and the guys who are paid league minimum would be subject to the same level care the average Joe gets. Again, this is like a Mad Max Thunderdome level outcome, which I don't think it would get to. I think the rank and file of the NHLPA would not allow this to meltdown to that level.
I think the Sabres ultimately trade him to someone willing to let him have the surgery, but do so with some potential to assume more risk. I'm thinking some conditional picks based on games played post-surgery makes the most sense. I think everyone gets what they want here, its just going to take a little softening from Adams.