Avalanche Roundtable: Jack Eichel trade changes the landscape

The Jack Eichel trade went down at the crack of dawn yesterday morning, ending an embarrassing saga for the Buffalo Sabres who essentially held their star player and former captain medically hostage while they waited for teams to pony up the assets to free him of the shackles of being a Sabre.

Vegas was always one of the most logical landing spots and now Eichel is a Golden Knight. Sent along to Vegas was a third-round pick in 2023. In exchange, the Sabres received forwards Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs as well as a first-round pick in 2022 and a second-round pick in 2023.

Eichel will now have surgery and get to recovering and both teams will get on with their seasons.

The questions for today’s roundtable will be easy enough. Let’s start with Buffalo’s side of this deal. How do you think they came out of this deal?

AJ: For a high-end center, the return sucks. For a player with a major injury facing a surgery that hasn’t been performed on an NHL player before and is signed at enormous money for five more years, I think Buffalo is going to be okay with this. Did they, collectively, get enough for Eichel and Sam Reinhart? Probably not, but now it’s moving day. They have to get the picks right. Krebs has to be, at worst, a 2C or the league’s best defensive 3C. Tuch has to be a legit 25-goal guy. Lots of pressure. If those don’t happen, this deal defines Kevyn Adams’ tenure as GM the way the Ryan O’Reilly fiasco defined Jason Botterill’s.

Evan: The return is fine. I guess ownership was dead set on not retaining any money, because they probably could have gotten a little more if they did, but I understand not wanting millions of dollars on your cap that isn’t playing for you. Krebs is another good young forward for them and the picks are nice. Tuch, while I think he’s a good player, I don’t see him still sticking around by the time Buffalo actually wants to compete, so he may be another guy they can swing for assets.

Jesse: I like, but don’t love this return. My biggest issue with the Buffalo side of this deal is that they could’ve gotten a much bigger, and much better return if they weren’t so steadfast in their decision to not retain any salary in the trade. Going off of what has been reported by people much closer to the situation than me, it sounds to me like Buffalo management let their emotions dictate what they were willing to do. They felt slighted by Eichel and therefore didn’t want to be paying him any money after he left, even if it meant that they were going to be getting a lesser package.

Alex Tuch is a really solid player who will absolutely be an upgrade over what they have currently in Buffalo’s lineup, and Peyton Krebs profiles to be a guy that could become an impact player for them. But those draft picks, while valuable, are expected to be near the end of each round.. so we’ll see what comes of it. The Sabres really need to hit home runs with those picks, and they need Krebs to max out for them to feel like winners in this trade.

Rudo:

I’ve long been a fan of both Tuch and Krebs so add on the first and second-rounders and it’s a nice hall. Tuch is on a solid contract for the foreseeable future and can be a quality piece capable of providing 20+ goals and 50+ points once he is back to healthy. Krebs will never be Eichel but certainly softens the blow of losing a franchise center as he still projects to be a quality top six one himself. It certainly seems like there may have been more on the table out there (the alleged Tkachuk deal) but the Sabres have put themselves in a great spot to entirely rest their franchise over the next two years, the only glaring contract they have now is Skinner.

With Power and Johnson in the pipeline on the defensive side to go with Dahlin they should feel pretty good about their blue line. Their forward core still needs more top 6 talent even with Krebs and Tuch joining the squad. Isak Rosen and the success of their coming first-round picks could be crucial in Buffalo finally figuring it out.

Now for the other side of things. Vegas gets Eichel and a third. Thoughts, fellas?

AJ: I’m curious to know what kind of gymnastics they pull off to make the money work, not only this year but over the summer. They only have about $4M in cap space currently and about eight regulars on their roster that need new contracts. That alone will be fascinating. If Eichel is legit, though, it’s all worth. He changes everything for them. He’s a top-five center when healthy and has a high-end goal scorer in Max Pacioretty and one of the game’s elite two-way wings waiting for him when he gets into the lineup. They should be nasty. For chaos sake, I hope the third-round pick Vegas got becomes the piece we actually remember from this deal.

Evan: Money aside, it’s the obvious move for them. They’re stuck at the cap, they barely have any of their good prospects left, and they’ve had a hole at center since entering the league. I love it because it’s pushing all their chips to the middle of the table (YUCK YUCK) in a league that too often plays it safe. If Eichel comes out of the surgery just fine, they’ve picked up that ever-elusive #1 center, and what’s not to love about that?

Jesse: I have no clue how Vegas intends to make the money work in all of this, but that’s a problem for later when Eichel comes off LTIR. Look, they got the best player in the deal by a MILE, and he makes them demonstrably as soon as he steps on the ice (whenever that is). What this really all comes down to is what version of the player they get. Do they get a 100% healthy Jack Eichel?

How long does it take him to get back to that level? This is a move that is meant to put them over the top RIGHT NOW. And if Eichel can jump in and have a big impact right away.. wooo boy, look out. But with their cap situation getting tighter by the season, and their key players not getting any younger, they need to win with Jack Eichel now, or this could be something that really hampers their ability to be truly competitive down the road.

Rudo:

Honestly, this is a great move from Vegas as they commit to going all in. Tuch is still going to miss significant time this year so a swap for Eichel doesn’t even really feel like it cost them a roster spot in that regard. The Krebs piece will hurt them long-term but Vegas really didn’t have the time to sit around and let him figure it out as they chase a Cup. If you ignore the salary cap for a second they are building a juggernaut that is going to be tough to stop. Thankfully the salary cap is a thing and even as they work some LTIR magic it’s still going to take more than that for them to get all of their top-end guys into the lineup. It’s not really something that goes away at the end of the season either as they find themselves locked into TEN contracts worth 5 million or more for next year. They may well now be the favorites for the Cup, but if they come up short that window is going to slam shut awfully quick.

We’re all paid to cover and talk Colorado Avalanche, so let’s circle back to that. Does this up the ante for Colorado to make a big splash sometime this season to keep up with Vegas?

AJ: Yes, it absolutely does. Part of competing is keeping with the joneses. Right now, Vegas and Edmonton look like the best teams out west while the teams in the Central are still trying to figure themselves out. The Avs have obvious holes, made worse by injuries for sure, but the lack of step forward from any of the young forwards is a serious cause for concern. Compher getting back into the groove is important and needs to continue but the Avs badly need to start seeing production from their depth forwards. Pressure is on because if they don’t get it together, Sakic will get backed into a corner of overpaying for what might be nominal upgrades.
Evan: I’m sure Sakic will make a move to pick up a forward later this year, but considering his prior in-season moves, I’m not expecting any sort of big splash. I think their hope is that they are just eventually able to put out a healthy lineup that also includes confident Alex Newhook, who is still the X-factor to the Avs season, in my opinion. I’m not sure the Avs have the guts to do it or if they want to do it, but the big move they could make is shopping Girard for help up front, given the emergence of Byram. Hertl (with a potential extension) is exactly what they need.

Jesse: A splash, yes. A big splash, meh. IN my opinion, this was VGK’s response to being in a division that features Connor McDavid, and a conference that features Nathan MacKinnon. Vegas finally got their true first-line center to go head to head with what most everyone would agree are the top two centers in the league. What I think the Avs need to do is make a move to keep pace with Vegas’ depth. Acquiring Jack Eichel bumps guys down, and puts some really quality players down-lineup. This is where the Avs need to match. Phil Kessel, Tomas Hertl, or even Vegas’ Reilly Smith are all names that come to mind (partially because we talked about them on today’s edition of the DNVR Podcast, but that’s neither here nor there). None of those guys are even close to Jack Eichel caliber, but they make you mcuh better in your middle six, which as we learned last season, is where a potential playoff matchup with Vegas will be won or lost.

Rudo:

The Avs don’t need a massive splash like Vegas did. Colorado’s top line is elite at every position and so is their top 4 D. You make moves to fill holes, Vegas had a hole at 1C. The Avs have a hole at 2W. Assuming relative health it is the weakest spot on their roster relative to the league and options will be out there to fill it. The Phil Kessel rumors have been swirling already and who knows with Montreal’s slow start maybe the Drouin rumors can be brought back to life once more.