Buffalo rejects that Dallas deal faster than Phil Kessel can eat a hotdog.

these are kinda all over the place but MTL accepts

Devils decline. Rather have Nico and a top 5 pick

Im pretty sure the Canes would run with that. Just got to get Seattle to take Gardiner or Skjei and they would be golden.

Those Anaheim & Philly trades are in contention for the worst Eichel trades I've ever seen.

I don't see how Anaheim gets him for 3 okay young players and a high first yet NJ is giving a young top 6 C with solid potential (who happens to be their captain), a top 5 pick, and another first. That Ducks trade would be like the Devils giving Foote, Mercer, Walsh and the first.

with that said I would accept this trade, just feels like other teams are giving significantly less.

Philly one is hilariously bad

Yeah, I tried to avoid that but there were just so many...

At least I accomplished that much. Wasn't a complete waste of time.

I'll take only one being hilariously bad. Looking back at it again...yeah. Hard to argue.

I know you weren't serious about trading him to Edmonton, but here's Edmonton's side of the proposed trade.

https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/449874

That's some cap magic! I don't think the offer is insane, I just assumed it would end with Edmonton in cap jail for a long time.

Not this summer, Edmonton has tonnes of space. I signed several mid-priced UFA's (Nugent-Hopkins, Larsson, Ullmark, Coleman), took on Eichel's $10M and didn't even buyout James Neal.

Re: Ottawa you "don't see happening"

Senators actually make a great landing spot for Eichel. I'm a scout for Hockey Canada and I've talked to some people that know Dorion well (not fully creditable to you, but to me it is fwiw), and Dorion has reportedly been "quietly keeping a close eye on the Eichel trade front and believe they'd be a front runner for him if Buffalo decided to move him" and the more I look at it, it makes a ton of sense.

1. Ottawa has the prospects Buffalo would be looking for
2. Ottawa has a need for a front line dynamic centre
3. Ottawa has the cap space to take on Eichel without Buffalo having to take a bad contract back
4. Eichel fits Ottawa's rebuild timeline
5. Melnyk said he'd be willing to spend to the cap soon and that Ottawa would be a competitive team in that time frame


Although for this, from what I've heard again, there are 4 untouchables: Tkachuk, Stuetzle, Chabot, and Sanderson. With Ottawa having recently been playing more of their younger prospects, it lead me to believe maybe they were showcasing them for a blockbuster this off-season.

So I thought of something like this that makes a ton of sense for both sides:


F - Jack Eichel


F - Drake Batherson (RFA rights)
F - Shane Pinto
D - Jacob Bernard-Docker
20211st round pick (assuming it's top 10)
2023 2nd round pick (multiple conditions that make it eligible to become a 2023 1st round pick based on Ottawa's success and Eichel's)


This give Ottawa the front line centre they need, and it gives Buffalo high quality prospects that are closer to the NHL level than some other teams might offer.

I hope you're right (your presentation and rationale is reasonable enough) and I don't disagree with any of the untouchables (especially Sanderson though I thought Norris might be on the list too). Difficult offer to beat with 3 solid prospects/players and a top ten pick plus. Only issue is if LA or someone out West is willing to come close then Eichel's going west.

From what I've heard, Ottawa highly values Norris. It's not that he's untouchable, but they'd only consider him in the right deal. I think Eichel would be on the short list of players that Ottawa would be willing to include Norris in. He's more on the list of "highly unlikely to trade unless you blow us away with something we can't refuse" players. I think Ottawa would still be able to make a competitive deal without him in it, hence my proposal.

As much as LA is talked about with Eichel, I don't think they're really in on him much. They're not trading Byfield, and Turcotte would be on that similar list that Norris is on for LA. From there, LA doesn't have too much high end defensive prospects to include outside of Bjornfot and with how thin they are on defence, it doesn't make sense for the Kings to go after Eichel. They'll be fine down the middle with what they have in Byfield, Turcotte, Vilardi (who they're extremely high on), Kupari, Kopitar, etc. They're mainly focusing on a high end left handed defence to play with Doughty. I wonder if they'll use Turcotte and go after Werenski this summer, seems like a perfect fit for both sides to me.

Back to Eichel though, I see the list of teams to get him as an extremely short one. That being (in no particular order):
1. Ottawa
2. New York Rangers
3. Boston
4. Vegas (if they can figure their cap out)
5. Philadelphia (long shot, but Flyers are a team to make big splashes)
6. Carolina (sneaky under the radar team to land Eichel)

That's really all I see as a fit for both the team acquiring Eichel and Buffalo.

I think Carolina is only in on Eichel if Dougie walks in UFA. Otherwise they don't have the money

They can move other guys to fit Eichel in. Depending who Seattle takes too, it'll open up more money. And they'd likely include Trocheck in a Eichel deal so it could work pretty easy