If Buffalo is to trade Eichel, it pushes them so far back that I don't think it matters where they send him, East or West, you have to take the best offer.

If this ever happens, they might need to follow the Senators plan, go complete scorched earth and accumulate as many picks and young players as possible.

Certainly a possibility. This trade keeps the Sabres "on target" to a degree, while it pushes the Devils into the next phase of their own rebuild. I am not calling this deal a win-win for both clubs, because clearly Eichel is quite irreplaceable, but the Sabres, if they drafted well, and made some other good deals, could turn things around a little quicker then a scorched earth type situation.

I have no idea what Buffalo will do.

My guess would be they are recklessly aggressive, and by that I mean their 1st and Cozens being in play in order to get the Pegula's playoff revenue.

Gotta wait 1 more year, see hughes with some miles under his belt before you choose which one to trade, if any

best Eichel trade i have seen on here IMO

Thanks. As I said above, if the Sabres were to deal him, this would seem like a win-win for both clubs, all things considered.

You keep the kid with 1 year of NHL experience on an ELC contract. Even if he doesn't meet expectations, he can become a good 2C, and by the way, the pressure would be even more off Hughes if Eichel was around to shoulder the heavy lifting. So I think there's no question if the Devils and Sabres consider such a move, it's Hirschier moving over Hughes.

Well, there new GM has no managerial experience whatsoever, so who knows what will happen. My only thought is that without a decent core and an actual starting goalie, this group gets nowhere considering of the teams they will have to beat just to get a wild card spot in future seasons.

this is bad for NJ

sorry man but the Devils can't afford this, I would give up Hughes and multiple firsts before I give up Nico. Eichel and Hughes are both offensively minded guys, makes more sense for NJ to keep the strong two-way C to have behind Eichel. I would also argue that Smith is untouchable for this team solely based on the fact that the Devils blue line is so horrendous and they have no other strong D prospects in the organization. "They can always find a similar defender in this years draft" now that's just untrue, It is a weak year for defenceman and unless they're somehow getting Drysdale there is no one close. I also wouldn't move 6th overall, NJ is super weak on the wings and getting one of Raymond/Holtz/Perfetti is going to be massive for the teams future. We would need to have a half decent team around Eichel if we want any chance at being successful while he's here and not be forced to trade him / lose him in FA. I love the guy but NJ can't make that deal, the best I could do is as follows:

Jack Hughes
2020 1st (AZ)
2020 1ST (VAN)
2021 2nd (NYI)
Reilly Walsh

or something along those lines.

This deal doesn't push them "so far back" at all. Nico is a perfectly capable 1C, at the very least a good 2C and they're getting an elite D prospect and 2 high firsts in a good draft on top of it? If Nico turns into the 70-80 point two-way center that he's supposed to Buffalo comes away looking pretty good here depending who they took in the draft.

The only thing I would reply back to you is that although prospects may be hard to acquire, unless you are talking about the creme de la creme, none of them are really "untouchable". Whenever people say that, I point them directly at Erik Brannstrom. In the deal I've set for the Devils, they still own one of their 1st rounders for this draft, and who knows where it could land. They could likely draft a more complete defender (as far as skill set) in guys like Jake Sanderson, Braden Schneider, Kaiden Guhle and a few others. Keep in mind, that while Ty Smith is a great offensive defensive prospect and a great skater, he still has stuff to work on, primarily his defensive and own-zone game. I would only use the word "elite" for prospects that could make an immediate NHL impact, and I am honestly not sure Smith is there yet. Regardless though, his prospect stock is high and I feel he would need to be included in this deal to make it happen. Obviously, just my opinion though.