..... I'm saddened by this ****.

Ditto

This not only wouldn't work or make sense but it's just a wee bit silly. Look at the 1's and 0's of the players sure they're comparable in total points but Eichel just hit 37 goal's a career-high, Matthews got that in his rookie season and in this shortened season almost hit 50. We need scorers and Matthews is the guy along with a few others, we also already have a guy that puts up 50 assists (Marner) so we have zero need for Eichel, and aside for stats, I don't see the Leafs trading away their franchise centre who's got an excellent relationship with our core group, meanwhile Jack's been rumoured a few times for being a bit of a locker room annoyance.

I like McCabe for sure, I'm actually a big fan of his, heck I even just picked him up in my Maple Leafs Career on NHL20 to pair with Dermott lol but the Leafs aren't going to swap out a 23-year-old who's just coming into his own with consistently positive +/- for a 26-year-old (who turns 27 in 3 months) who has only had one positive season. I just don't see it happening in this aspect either. Holl for Montour would be a trade I could see happening by itself with a few other pieces.

Overall as I mentioned before, this trade just doesn't make sense and would never happen.

Sabres would decline anyway. Eichel’s contract is much more favorable and on Toronto, Jack is the better player.

Jack is better player?

shooting % Matthews 5% better
faceoffs Matthews 5% better
takeaways vs giveaways Matthews +52 Eichel -98
block shots Matthews 54 more in 72 less games
goals per game Matthews .56 Eichel .39
points per game Matthews 1.01 Eichel .95
Possesion Quality Matthews +37.4 Eichel -12.5
Matthews finished top 10 in goals twice (2nd and 3rd) Eichel once (8th)
Matthews 3 times finished top 5 in ESG (led league twice) Eichel never finished top 10

so how exactly is Eichel better?

Because Matthews plays 2C on a stacked team. I said if Eichel is on Toronto, he’s the better player. I also noted that Eichel has a more team friendly contract. Even if Matthews is the better player, Sabres still decline for that reason.

being 2ndC on a stacked team has no impact on who is better, but besides that they play nearly the same amount of ice time anyway

and considering how much more productive Matthews is than Eichel, Id say the fact Eichel only makes a million less makes Matthews the better deal of the 2 because you are getting more from Matthews

Matthews also has 1 year less remaining on his deal on top of the 1.6 mil more.

Also, playing 2C as well as being on a team stacked with offense absolutely makes a difference. Jack takes on every teams best players, while Matthews doesn’t always have to. It’s most definitely easier to produce on a good team than a bad one.

Eichel doesn’t get injured a lot

since Eichel was drafted, Sabres have played 397 games, Eichel has played 354 meaning he missed 43 games, which works out to him playing 89% of possible games

for Matthews, Leafs have played 316 games, of those games AM has played 282 games, so hes missed 34 games which works out to him playing 89% of possible games

also the idea of him being 2nd line center is kind of dishonest, in JT's first year in TO, JT played only about :30 more a game, and this season Matthews averaged more ice time than JT

and as for easier to produce on a good team...

McDavid/Draisaitl basically did in on their own and led the league
Panarin did in on a team with a lot of kids
MacKinnon's hottest stretch this year came when his 2 best team mates were both out
Chicago was not good but Kane still finished 8th