Trading for a player like Jack Eichel is a bad idea for any team. The truck-load of assets that a team would have to give up to acquire him would be devastating to a club's future. As Edmonton and Buffalo have both demonstrated over the last 5 years, a single player can't fix your problems. Plus, you're one injury away from destroying your franchise for the better part of a decade. That's too much of a risk to take.

If you can get lucky and win the lottery in a year when there's a generational player available, then hooray for you. That's the only reasonable way to acquire a player like McDavid or Eichel in their prime.

For example, the asking price you put in LA's situation would be:

Alex Turcotte
Anze Kopitar
2020 Top 7 overall pick (one of Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Raymond, Drysdale, Perfetti, Rossi)
2021 Top 15ish overall pick (who knows what that could be)

That's just insane.

A decent young 45+ point producing forward + a decent 1st pair defense man + a top 10 1st round pick + a 2021 first pick + a prospect (if froward 2-3 line potential - if defense 1st-2nd pair potential)

Right but that's not really how this goes...

-Eichel's only being traded if he demands a trade
-If he demands a trade, he's going to have 1-3 teams he specifically wants to be traded to
-At that point, Buffalo pretty much has no leverage. Whatever "asking" price there was you can chop off about 25-50%
-Sabres will probably trade him at that point because if you don't
a) Eichel will probably sit out (and it's not like he can't afford to)
b) Eichel will bad-mouth the Pegula's publicly to the point where they'll ship him out just so he can stop.
c) Other players are going to want to go to Buffalo less than they already do (which is pretty low)

It's going to make signing UFA's and signing NCAA players very hard in the future if you put up too much of a fight.

So if your ask is
1) Top Prospect
2) Top Pair/Top Line player
3) Top 15 Draft pick
4) 1st Rounder

What you could reasonably expect is
1) Top Prospect
2) Solid Young Top 6/Top 4 Player
3) A late 1st
4) Either another late 1st/early 2nd or a solid prospect or young player.

And that's basically what Gretzky got minus the cash.

Flames:

Pelletier
Tkachuk OR Gaudreau
2020 1st (around 15th depending on play in)
2021 1st

feel like the package would have to be close to the one from the Eric Lindros trade.

Very logical post. You’re the first person I’ve seen factor in the fact that him demanding a trade hurts his return. Well done.

It's unreasonable for the any team to trade for Eichel right now. Buffalo has the leverage, they can trade him or not. The moment Eichel asks for a trade or refuses to play the entire scenario changes and he will be traded for much less. As of right now I would assume that would be Buffalo's asking price.

EZ

Caufield
Domi
2020 1st (8th overall)
2020 2nd (38th overall)

Can't really compare with the Gretzky trade because he was literally sold. Oilers then-owner needed money for his other failing businesses and we can probably go as far as to say that "Cash" was the key asset from the Gretzky trade. On top of that Gretzky was about to be FA the following season. Combined effect of pending FA and the desperation of the owner lowered Gretzky's value. Same thing with that Erik Karlsson trade or even the Kawhi Leonard trade.

Best comparable would be the Eric Lindros trade. Sure Eichel can request a trade but he doesn't have the same leverage as a pending FA or one with the NMC/NTC. Eichel is signed long-term so Sabres can obviously ask more than if he was a rental player. Unlike a player like Brent Burns or Cam Fowler, Eichel doesn't have a 3-team trade list. So yea..Eichel can do the same thing as Eric Lindros but he'll still give the Sabres a huge haul if a trade occurs.

I wouldn't compare it to the Duchene/Karlsson trades because both blockbuster trades were an unexpected gold mine. On the other hand, the package from the Lindros trade had "guaranteed value" from the money the trade was made.

Thanks, I think Buffalo fans know this too but they don't want to admit it.

I mean if you trade Eichel before he demands a trade you're admitting that you're giving up for an extended period of time, that you built a failure, and that you need to break it all down and start over with a new core.

If you trade Eichel after he demands a trade, you're going through the same rebuild process but at least you have a scapegoat that you can move the blame to.

I can't imagine Eichel would ever refuse to play. Worst case scenario is that he would demand a trade, management wouldn't oblige, and he would just pull a Tavares and leave via UFA when his contract expires.

Not a lot of teams would be interested in giving up assets for a player that refused to honor his contract obligations.

Yeah I mean the Gretzky thing was just an aside. I don't think the Lindros trade is anywhere near the ballpark either. Pre-cap era trades were pretty ridiculous. The Rangers traded a top 10 pick in the 80's for a coach lol. I think the Duchene/Karlsson trades are a pretty decent starting framework.

Even without an NMC, I think Eichel's stature gives him a lot of leverage to dictate where he wants to play. I'm sure his agent will leak publicly where he wants to go.

I think he could just as easily pull a Byfuglien. Refuses to play. Agree to mutually terminate. Buffalo gets nothing. And looks even dumber than if they just dealt him. And Eichel just signs a 10-11 mil 7 year contract to wherever he wants to go.