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Originally Posted by Strange Brew
So needing to trade Zary and Pelletier for Eichel is your point of no return? If the alternative is keeping our first round pick, I don't give it a second thought. Not a hill I'm dying on.
Losing Coronato hurts a little more, but he is also worth more in the package.
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You need to have a continuity plan in place for replacing bodies on the NHL roster and providing those cheap highly skilled players to support the overpaid superstars. Unless we continue to find some surprises along the line, we really need those top young players, especially if we are giving up 1st round draft picks. You can't give up both and then think the move does not hollow out your organization and damn you to a period of futility. Hockey is a team game where depth is key. You can lose only so many assets without hurting the team behind the player you are trading for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DomeFoam
Do you even understand how good Jack Eichel is? Zary and Pelletier are prospects, meaning they will likely not even make it to the NHL, nevermind the fact that both also aren't projected as top line players. I would fire them off in a heartbeat, both of them. Eichel is a generational talent, the same tier as guys like Matthews, Panarin, MacKinnon. He already is that. Not a prospect that may very well wind up being nothing, like most typically do. If it turns out we refused to give up 2 of these prospects, I guarantee you we look back on this and say what the #### were we thinking not doing the deal.
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Yeah, I know how good Eichel is. I also know how bad Eichel is. Eichel is a very talented player, but he has some weaknesses that are concerning that most people are overlooking. You are not getting a generational talent. Full stop. Eichel is a talented player, but he is not in the same class of the players you mentioned. Close. A very talented player. But he's not as good as those other guys and definitely NOT a generational talent (neither are the players you mentioned). You also have to take into consideration his injury, potential for recovery, and his salary to determine how much you are willing to cough up. Considering his salary, you can kiss one of Gaudreau or Tkachuk goodbye, which is why we need as many talented young players we can keep our hands on to support our top end players.
This could be a deal where we sell the farm, trade away two of the three prospects and our next two 1st rounders, only to find out that Eichel's surgery was not successful and he can't play any more, or at best a diminished capacity. What we have is a $10M a season albatross. We have then removed all hope of filling the gaps in the team with cheap high skilled talent and will be relying on the Trevor Lewis level players to fill out the roster. That is the risk that must be considered. The other side of that coin is Eichel's surgery is successful, but because of how many good young players we gave up we have nothing in the pipe to support Eichel and we become Buffalo west. Again, you have to weigh risk and have a plan for filling holes in the roster. Eichel is a talented player, but he isn't your go to guy. He needs bodies around him to make him better.
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Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
Jack Eichel is hurt with a potentially career ending injury. Nobody understands how good he is, especially you.
It’s a massive risk to give up assets to get him. Even worse to give up a steep asking price. He may never play a game for the flames. If he does, he may not play many or may not be any good.
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There is substantial risk here. ADR is a more common procedure, but it is still not the gold standard for the injury Eichel has. Outside of an MMA fighter is there an athlete that has had the surgery and come back to play at the same level of play? I don't know. I'm not sure you can say Weidman came back to be a dominant athlete in his sport. And that's the problem. No one knows or can say with any certainty. The literature is thin. If the goal is to get him to the point of having an every day life, then the surgery is likely to be successful. If the point is to get to the point of playing a major contact sport again, and being a dominant player that people are hoping he will be, we just don't know.
Do I hope we get Eichel? Yeah, I do. I just hope the cost is not something we are going to regret and is not franchise defining for all the wrong reasons should Eichel's surgery not be successful.