Sam Amico
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So much for the pairing of Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel with the Buffalo Sabres. Right now, the Sabres still aren’t getting it done.
That is leading to speculation about Eichel and whether the Sabres might look to trade him. Overall, the Sabres scored 31 goals in their first 12 games, winning only four of those.
“That MVP-caliber pair has produced just three goals combined, including just a single tally at even-strength,” wrote Gavin Lee of Pro Hockey Rumors. “Add in the zero goals that Jeff Skinner has provided and the Sabres have just three for the combined $27M cap hit of that trio. With that kind of offensive ineptitude from their highest-paid players, speculation about trades was bound to spark up.”
Veteran NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet also indicated that an Eichel trade could be explored.
“Look, we know that this was something that came up last summer. I don’t know that it was ever close. The feeling that I’ve always had is that Buffalo knew Eichel was unhappy,” Freidman said on WGR-550 radio. “They asked Eichel to take a step last year and he really did, we’ve talked about how much of a step Eichel took last year. Still, when it came to team success it just didn’t really go anywhere.”
“Now you look at where it is this year, you know he’s going to be frustrated, and there were conversations last year. But what I was told was, the Sabres just said, ‘We are not ready to do this.’ Teams made offers, it was communicated that he was restless. I don’t think he ever asked for a trade, I don’t think it got that far. But he was restless and teams knew it. The Sabres took some offers and said, ‘No, we’re not ready to do this.’”
Once again, the Sabres may be listening to offers for Eichel. And this time, they may not be so opposed to taking one.
I think it would be a mistake to trade Eichel. He’s the youngest of the 3 so you can still build around him. As good as Hall has been in his career, he’s been shopped around too much to be considered a building block. He always seems to have 1 foot out the door. Skinner is more valuable for his leadership.