Im going to break this down into a few parts since it covers a lot of stuff (sorry for the multiple pings if that bothers you)
Quoting: thewookie1
The 22 1st is quite literally is effectively no better than 20th overall barring Calgary sneaking in as the 16th seed and miraculously beating the 1 seed in the west before losing in the 2nd round. Or it turns into a weak 2nd
It should be pretty expected at this point that any 1st Buffalo receives will have conditions on it, complaining about the placement in the standings for it is odd to me though since there is no chance a team will give up a top 10 pick here. If you would prefer it be a condition on just making the playoffs and Eichel playing then sure, that can be debated.
Quoting: thewookie1
The 23 1st is easier to get but would be assumed to be a later pick again. Not to mention Eichel could get hurt or catch COVID etc and get scratched in Game 82 to put his games at 40.
That's kinda where the risk comes from though. Calgary would be acquiring Eichel here to be a contender, not to have him spend 2 years of his remaining 5 years under contract of 12% of their cap hit on LTIR. Nobody's going to sit a guy of his caliber for 42 games on purpose to avoid trading a scratch ticket, that kinda enters realms of conspiracy theory.
Quoting: thewookie1
Boston’s 1st would be again very late more than likely.
To reiterate what I said above, the mindset that you are going to get a high 1st is closer to a pipe dream than reality
Quoting: thewookie1
Zary is the only interesting piece as in the scenarios I’ve played out; the literal best we can get is 2 late 1sts in 22, a late 1st in 23, Zary(a lesser prospect than a Krebs or Zegras) and Debrusk who looks like a one-hit wonder for our best player. Oh and Zadorov’s cap hit.
No idea why you brought up Zegras as that was never a realistic option, Krebs is barely a better prospect than Zary and by all accounts from reliable sources Krebs is a non-starter too. Debrusk is a solid middle 6 player that more or less needs a change of scenery. Zadorov's cap hit is literally just for the year and he would have positive value for Buffalo at the deadline.
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I wasn't really looking to appease Sabres fans with this post, if you want posts like that I have a few ACGM's in my post history that do that. This was more in line with what I expect to end up happening after all the dust settles and was more an approach to start the topic of potential conditions we could end up seeing (as there will most certainly be conditions as long as he is traded before treatment).