Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
Arizona is broke, they are not adding a $10M contract.
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Good point, but I don't think it shuts the door completely. Taking into consideration that a large portion of Eichel's contract may still be insured for the majority of this season and if the deal included a salary dump of either Kessel or Eriksson (NMCs pending of course), I could see them still working it into their budget. I never really trust teams when they say they are broke. The Penguins declared bankruptcy like 3 times, then drafted Crosby, immediately found money to buy players again.
Like Pittsburgh at the time, the Arizona market seems like a Bettman pet project and the owners know that Bettman has their back if they need financial support. Going out on the conspiracy limb here, but the NHL is also desperate in the moment to subtract negativity from the news cycle and I could see Bettman using his pull to encourage them to make a deal to get the Eichel situation out of the way. Arizona certainly has the resources with 7 picks in the first 2 rounds in 2022 and 10 picks in the first 3 rounds in 2023 and 2024. Bettman could also tell the Sabres that if they retain salary in the deal, he'll make sure they are drafting Wright with one of the 1st rounders.
I'm not really serious about the lottery rigging of course, but I am pretty sure that as long as Bettman is running things, Arizona doesn't need to worry about bring broke.