Did the Buffalo Sabres get enough in return for Jack Eichel?

The Jack Eichel trade has finally happened, but did the Buffalo Sabres get enough in return for  their former franchise cornerstone?

It’s finally over. Jack Eichel has finally been traded from the Buffalo Sabres. After months of trade rumors, tension, and potential legal grievances from both sides, now both they can finally move on as Eichel heads to Vegas. However, did the Sabres get enough in return for their former captain?

The full trade is Jack Eichel and a conditional 2023 third-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, a top-10 protected 2022 first-round pick, and a conditional 2023 second-round pick.

At first glance, this seems like a flimsy return after the months of drama and holding out, but more on that later.

What happened between Eichel and the Sabres?

Before looking at the return, it’s important to quickly recap the Eichel situation in Buffalo. Eichel was injured last season during a game on March 7 against the New York Islanders, and missed the rest of the season with a herniated disk in his neck that required surgery. The rift between Eichel and the Sabres formed when it came to the surgery Eichel needed to repair the herniated disk in his neck.

The Sabres preferred that Eichel receive a spinal fusion surgery, while Eichel wanted an artificial disk replacement surgery. Though disk replacement surgeries have been performed successfully on athletes in other contact sports, it has never been done on an NHL player, and the Sabres were not comfortable with Eichel getting that surgery.

Ultimately, according to the NHL collective bargaining agreement, the Sabres had the final say on what treatment Eichel receives, but Eichel stood his ground and refused, so both sides reached an impasse and it was clear a trade was the only way forward for both sides. The Sabres held out for months for a return they felt was appropriate,

Now that Eichel has been traded, Vegas will allow him to get the disk replacement surgery and finally begin his recovery towards playing again.

The underwhelming return for the Sabres

With the situation between Eichel and the Sabres for context, let’s look at what the Sabres got in return for their former captain. As mentioned earlier, this return looks underwhelming after the months of rumors and reports of the Sabres holding out for the perfect deal. To put it simply, when/if Eichel returns to full health, this is an absolute win for the Vegas Golden Knights, and can age poorly for the Sabres. But let’s look at the pieces that the Sabres got from Vegas in this deal.

Peyton Krebs is the cornerstone of the return for the Sabres in this deal, and a player that Vegas fought tooth and nail to keep if they could. Krebs is a 17th overall pick from the 2019 NHL Draft, that only dropped to Vegas because of a serious lower body injury he suffered before the draft that scared teams off. Since being drafted, the now 20-year-old Krebs dominated the WHL and made the Golden Knights out of training camp this season, before going pointless in nine games and getting sent back to the AHL.

Krebs brings some great playmaking skills and sandpaper to the Sabres prospect, and could grow into a strong 2C for them down the line, assuming they develop him correctly, which the Sabres have done a poor job of in the past. The good news however is that the Sabres plan to take it slow and send him the AHL right away, as to not rush his development.

Alex Tuch is another important asset in this deal for Buffalo. The 25-year-old New York native has been a natural fit in Vegas since being acquired in the expansion draft in 2017, has only gotten better with each season. He’s a power forward with goal scoring ability, and a player that fit in any role with Vegas. However, there were times he would buried behind the top-end players in Vegas, so an opportunity for an increased role in Buffalo could ignite him more than before.

However, Tuch is currently on LTIR following offseason shoulder surgery and won’t be available until January at the earliest. Once healthy however, Tuch is a welcome addition to any team with his skillset and great long-term contract at $4.75M for the next five seasons, including this one.

The two draft picks the Sabres received are the pieces that really come off as underwhelming here. The first-round pick is likely going to end up being late in the first round as Vegas is perennial Stanley Cup contender, even with their slow and injured start, but even if Vegas continues to struggle this pick is top-ten protected, so the best Buffalo could hope for is 11th overall, otherwise the pick is transferred to next year. Realistically though, Vegas has made the Conference Finals in three of their first four seasons, and with adding Eichel, they’re on pace for another deep run and a late draft pick.

In Buffalo’s defense however, it’s hard to have too much leverage in a trade where you’re trading a player with a significant neck injury that hasn’t been treated (which in large part is their fault), where the only solution is a surgery that has never been tried in the NHL before.

However, you do have to wonder what the return would’ve been if the Sabres were willing to retain on Eichel’s contract, and how many other teams would’ve been interested. With Buffalo struggling to even hit the cap floor and being several years away from competing again, the argument can be made that the Sabres should’ve given it more consideration to maximize their return. It feels like this deal is missing one more piece that could’ve tilted this deal in Buffalo’s favor.

At the end of the day, the important thing here for Buffalo is that this situation is over and done with, and the focus can go back onto the season at hand and trying again with yet another rebuild. The return could have been better, but the main pieces that they did get in Krebs and Tuch are important additions to the rebuild. The more this situation dragged on, the more it would hurt all parties involved. It was time for this to be over, and the Sabres need to live with the return they got, even if it isn’t perfect.