Buffalo’s best hope to win this trade is to do it in a similar way that Ottawa won the Karlsson trade or the way that Colorado won the duchene trade… the tough part is that those trades became wins for two reasons:
1. The first round picks were unprotected so they turned out to be higher than the teams acquiring the star players thought they would be… it was the picks that ended up the most valuable piece in the trade.
2. The star players became shells of their former selves fairly quickly after being traded.
Ottawa had a big playoff run so they thought they were a contender. They probably thought the pick they gave for duchene would end up being a mid to late first round pick… instead, it ended up being Bo Byram.
San Jose refused to believe the Stanley cup window on their old team had closed and they traded a first round pick that ended up being Tim Stutzle.
I think Buffalo is focusing too much on getting the A-level prospect from this trade (Zegras or Kakko for example). Teams are not likely to give that up for eichel along with first round picks considering his injury.
If I’m Kevin Adams, I focus on unprotected first round picks. The good thing for Buffalo is that some of the teams that are going after eichel could end up producing a high pick this year. For example, Anaheim could provide a high pick in 2022… the focus should be to make sure that pick is unprotected instead of trying to get Zegras from them. Still want to get some top prospects… just don’t sink any trades by demanding a blue-chip A+ level prospect.
I know picks are always considered “magic beans” but that’s what usually ends up turning into the best asset acquired when trading away a star player.
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