BY: DUANE A. STEINEL
Sabres fans have become all too familiar with the end-of-season locker clean-out interviews before the NHL playoffs begin.
It’s usually an opportunity to get tiny shreds of honesty from players on how they felt about the season and, as I stated before, another year of not making the post-season. You get comments of frustration, disappointment, missed opportunities, and hopeful optimism for the next season. Again, all too familiar. Jack Eichel, since being drafted in 2015, second overall is usually the focus on these dreary days. Reporters in a non-covid world would circle him in the locker room and ask questions regarding his thoughts on what went wrong when it went wrong and if it’s a coaching or player personnel issue. However, this year, Eichel dropped a bombshell on the media and fanbase that could go down as the single worst day in this franchise’s history. Right up there with “No Goal,” losing Briere and Drury on the same day, and when the team filed for bankruptcy. This also comes after Sam Reinhart’s interview, which also didn’t go as well as fans would have hoped either.
After the media waited for Eichel to get out of his exit interview with Sabres management, he entered the zoom call, actually looking in high spirits. He was smiling and almost happy to talk to members of the media. He opened up, commenting on his desire to get healthy and that it may require surgery to do so. Eichel had suffered a herniated disk injury against the Islanders earlier in the season, which kept him sidelined for 35 games. Eichel then commented on the team’s performance after Ralph Krueger’s firing. It was nice to see younger players get opportunities and even better see them succeed once Don Granato implemented his system. He was happy for Michael Houser getting the chance to play and live out a dream he’d been fighting to hold on to.
Then comes the question from Paul Hamilton, Sabres beat reporter for WGR 550. When Hamilton asked how the season went and the organization’s overall direction if his feelings about wanting to still be a part of the solution here in Buffalo had changed, Eichel’s response was something that nobody in the city of Buffalo expected.
“I’ve been a bit upset about the ways things have been handled since I’ve been hurt,” Eichel said. “I’d be lying to say that things have moved smoothly since my injury. There’s been a bit of a disconnect between myself and the organization. It’s been tough at times. Right now, for me, the most important thing is just trying to get healthy, figure out a way to be available to play hockey next year, wherever that might be.”
The ending there, “Wherever that might be.” That quote, in particular, sent shockwaves through the NHL. Now looking at its entirety, he was asked whether or not he wanted to be in Buffalo next year, which isn’t entirely in his control. Sure he can request a trade, but he’s under contract to play for the Buffalo Sabres. If the Sabres want to trade him, they will do so. Now back to the rest of his comments. The “disconnect” between him and the team in terms of his injury. Eichel would elaborate when Hamilton asked a follow-up question about why he doesn’t get the surgery to fix the issue with his neck as he wants.
“With my injury, there’s been a little bit of, I guess, one side, my own camp on one page and the team on another,” Eichel said. “That’s been tough. We’re kind of going back and forth a bit on the best way to go about it, treatment, so there’s been a few conversations but more so just about getting healthy moving forward”.
“Listen, my number one interest and my number one goal is Jack Eichel, you know what I mean? You’ve got to look after yourself, you’ve got to look after what you think is best for yourself, and the organization has a similar job to do, but it’s to look after what’s best for the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, it was tough. I think that there was a little bit of things I guess maybe just haven’t been very black and white, to put it in perspective. I think we’re all trying to educate ourselves on the situation and what would be best moving forward. So I think that, yeah, there’s been some tough conversations, but I’ve got to do what’s best for me, you know what I mean?
Jack Eichel
There is a lot to unpack there. The next day in Elliotte Friedman’s “31 Thoughts” segment with Sportsnet, Eichel had a very “contentious” exit interview with the team right before joining the zoom call with the media when he made the jaw-dropping comments.
“The Sabres and their captain are believed to have agreed to a month-long “pause” to see how Eichel reacted to rest. The end of that period is approaching, and, from what I understand, he still wants the surgery. The Sabres aren’t thrilled with the idea and have not indicated they will approve”.
Friedman would go on to write that he believes Eichel is consulting the best doctors and surgeons available for his situation and that he also believes Buffalo and their hesitance or maybe even resistance for the artificial disk replacement surgery lacks evidence of “its effectiveness on elite-level athletes. It’s a relatively new phenomenon. As far as I could find, there are no examples of NHLers who returned to play after having one.” It is worth noting the UFC star Chris Weidman had this procedure done successfully in 2019.
According to the John Hopkins Website, the procedure is described as follows:
“Cervical disk replacement surgery involves removing a diseased cervical disk and replacing it with an artificial disk. Before this procedure was available, the affected disk was removed and the vertebrae above and below were fused together to prevent motion. The use of an artificial disk to replace your natural cervical disk is a new type of treatment that has recently been approved by the FDA. Disk replacement surgery may have the advantage of allowing more movement and creating less stress on your remaining vertebrae than traditional cervical disk surgery.“
Regardless of how this situation plays out over the next few months, this franchise has become the Detroit Lions of the NHL. This “disconnect” Eichel spoke of isn’t just a disconnect between him and the team. There’s an extreme disconnect between ownership, management, and the fanbase. They are a laughing stock and the living embodiment of why you never say, “Well, it can’t get any worse than this.” It always does. There’s never any bright light at the end of the tunnel. No, “Well, look at the bright side.” It is always doom and gloom. Just 48 hours after the Eichel interview, both Granato and General Manager Kevyn Adams addressed the media. While Granato had a strong showing, answering questions with transparency and detail about his future and the imminent coaching search, Adams towed the company line. Granato understands there will be an extensive coaching search and seems confident with his performance as head coach. He also said we still haven’t seen everything his coaching style offers due to the team’s makeup and the injuries to prominent vital players that required the Sabres to use six goalies throughout the season.
While it’s understandable why Adams wouldn’t elaborate on many of the Eichel questions, it just continues to add to the misery the fanbase goes through a year in and year out. From ownership down to management, its been mismanagement of the on-ice product, the in-game experience, scouting department, and most importantly, the carousel that has been the Head Coach and General Manager positions. The refusal to hire a President of Hockey Operations, which many believe would help build a better culture of winning. There is plenty of proof of it working throughout the league. Presidents of Hockey Ops like Brendan Shanahan with Toronto, Doug Armstrong with the St. Louis Blues, Lou Lamoriello with the New York Islanders, and Don Waddell with the Carolina Hurricanes have been able to turn their respected teams into Stanley Cup contenders.
During the Adams press conference, the comments that stood out most were the plan set in place between the Sabres medical staff, Eichel, and Adams. They agreed to a 12-week window for him to rehab without surgery. “There’s a high probability that through a conservative rehab approach, you are able to avoid surgery, and you’re able to come back and perform at the top of your game,” Adams said. He would add, “That is what everybody agreed upon, and that’s the hopes that we all still have. What I want to make sure you all understand is we’re still in that window.” Adams confirmed that neither Eichel nor his agent had requested a trade out of Buffalo.
While Eichel did agree to these terms, it’s also believed he’s spoken to multiple neurosurgeons who believe the artificial disk replacement is his best option at having a healthy neck in the future. The timetable for the artificial disk replacement is around three months, which if he were to have the procedure done as early as June, he would be ready to start training camp. If he doesn’t, and this rehab route the team wants him to take doesn’t work, the recovery from the surgery would put him in danger of missing the start of the season.
I can understand both points of view in the Sabres case. Eichel is your franchise player, so considering a surgery that’s never been performed on an NHL player before, one can understand the hesitancy when there’s no evidence of how successful or unsuccessful this could be. Weidman, as mentioned earlier, had the same procedure done in 2019 and has fought three times since with no setbacks. There is even a video testimonial where Weidman praises the success of the surgery and encourages it. Eichel’s view on the situation is also very valid. If he has some of the best neurosurgeons telling his camp that this surgery will help him both now and in the long term, coupled with his desire to get back on the ice to train for next season as soon as possible, one can understand his urgency to resolve the matter. He’s a competitor that wants to get healthy and get back on the ice. The timetable both parties agreed to is set to end in nearly two weeks, so one would expect that we will have more clarity at that time.
The Eichel news overshadowed statements made by both veterans Rasmus Ristolainen and Reinhart. During their exit press conferences with the media, both players expressed their frustrations with the past season and their careers in Buffalo. While Ristolainen was open to anything in terms of his future, Reinhart was a little blunter. “No one wants to go through a rebuild, especially into next year, turning 26 at the start of it or close to the start of it,” said Reinhart. He would add, “It’s tough not being able to play meaningful games down the stretch… I don’t think anyone wants to go through that.” Reinhart wouldn’t commit his willingness to return to the Sabres next season.
It’s been a dark week for the Buffalo Sabres and its fanbase. The possibility of losing both Eichel and Reinhart in the same offseason brings back memories of when the team lost both Co-Captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury in free agency back in 2007. The most significant difference here, though, is Buffalo would expect to receive a king’s ransom for both players in a trade. We don’t know where Reinhart will end up other than possibly out west or maybe Vancouver, where he was born; there’s believed to be many suitors for Eichel already. The New York Rangers and LA Kings are the two most talked about. If issues between Eichel and the Sabres organization are not resolved, players like Rangers forward and last year’s first pick Alexis Lafrenière, defenseman K’Andre Miller, or Kings forward and second overall pick Quinton Byfield could come back to Buffalo in a trade.
I believe, and some may think this is just me being an overly optimistic Sabres fan, that this team under the right coach, maybe Granato, and returning both Eichel and Reinhart, could make a playoff push as early as next season. This team’s biggest issue has had since the departure of both Briere and Drury over a decade ago has been depth at center. In Eichel’s absence, Reinhart proved he could be a very reliable, two-way scoring center. With Dylan Cozens or potentially Casey Mittelstadt, who turned his career around under Granato, slotting in as your third-line center, the return of Eichel would give them some hazardous depth down the middle. When building a winning hockey team, and teams like the Blackhawks, Penguins, or Lightning are a few that stand out, you want to have at least three scoring lines with reliable centers to drive the play. Buffalo could very well have that. So it seems just fitting that these frustrations and possible departures of Reinhart and Eichel happen now, when things may finally be looking up. It’s why you never say, “Hey, at least it can’t get any worse than this.”
Thanks, I’ll hang up and listen.
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