Given Fiala's reluctance to commit long-term without overpaying the guy I'd rather keep Tuch.

Smith and Tuch are not even close value in a RETAINED trade for Zibanejad.... and Smith and Eakin does not get you Drouin AND a 1st.

This whole thing is an improbable mess. Values are all over the place. Worst part is thinking Sabres retain $2.5M on Eichel. If they retain at all it'll probably be no more than $1-1.5M and the return would have to be much, much better.

Just garbage all around. The return on ever trade is crap for the Sabres.

I understand it was reported that MAYBE Zibenejad could be in an Eichel trade, but...it makes zero sense for either team really. If I'm Buffalo, I want futures, picks and a cap dump if I need to.

This just starts the process all over again because MZ only waives if there's a guarantee he gets moved.

So basically Eichel and Zib are close in value imo. The trade then becomes 2.5mil of Eichel(no) for a prospect that doesn't matter to them(they don't need more LHD), a decent pick and a second round pick. And then they have to go through the trade process all over again to get the real return from Zib, who has less value and no term.

Yeah you gotta revamp the trade. Just dont see it being worth it at all the way it is right now.

Very well said, i do disagree on value, eichels contract is quite a bit longer, theres certainty there. And zac jones, lol no.

I like your thought process here.
@justaBoss is correct, Tuch is fast and has an affordable contract for the next five years
@GenW and @sabres89 make good points that Jones, Zac does not fit into the Sabres future and it is unlikely the Sabres will retain that much.
In essence you are trading Jack for:
Drouin, Jonathan
Fiala, Kevin [RFA Rights]
2022 1st round pick (MTL)
2022 1st round pick (NYR)
2022 2nd round pick (NYR)
I am presuming you view Drouin as a partial cap dump and Ranger first is for the retention, then over all the final pieces are reasonable close to the value of Jack.
Six picks in the first two rounds of next year is very interesting.
I actually like your defense line up. Just four years ago Butcher and Miller were enjoying 40 pt. seasons and Hagg was the future of Philadelphia's defense.
If the Sabres had a decent GK and other pieces fell together, I could see this team in the hunt for most of the season, that is unlikely.
I have been disappointed since Murray sold the farm for Lehner, Kane and O'Reilly. The Sabres never won more games than they lost.

You mean the same tuch whose injured,,out at least half of season and isn't on Kevin fiala's level?

0 interest in Jones, 0 interest in Drouin. Im sure everyone here would prefer Tuch to Fiala. Definitely not enough to retain on Eichel

Z wouldnt come to Buffalo, he would be in it for cap reasons and would be flipped immediately

Thats exactly what I said. The problem with that, is now you've just gotta do what you did with jack all over again...but now Zib takes a roster spot from someone you want to give ice time to until he's traded if you cant get it done before the season starts. Just doesnt help anyone. Thats worst case scenario obviously, but just seems redundant.

I think its almost gotta be a 3 way, just to avoid that. Minimally the third team needs to be lined up and a price agreed upon before you even entertain it.

Yeah, my thoughts as well. I think a team that missed on Eichel their first go should be involved here. Minny, Vegas, Maybe Calgary? Montreal.