There has been some movement in Jack Eichel's situation in the last couple of weeks and the ex-Sabres captain's switch of agents to Pat Brisson has certainly helped.
One of the league's most prominent agents is having regular dialogue with Sabres GM Kevyn Adams on the Eichel front and the sense you get is that fences are being mended in what had been a toxic situation.
But this is such a complicated process that it's hard to imagine any sort of trade is imminent either.
Brisson spoke publicly about Eichel for the first time Thursday during an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto. The key points he made on the new nationwide show hosted by Jeff Marek were these:
• Brisson revealed that he has spoken to teams that say they would likely allow Eichel to have an artificial disk replacement surgery, the type of treatment he'd prefer over the standard fusion procedure the Sabres' medical staff has deemed appropriate.
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• Brisson has had Eichel get more MRIs on the herniated disk in his neck and that information is being shared with teams. The agent is talking to teams about potential trades and going back and forth on a daily basis with Adams.
• Brisson confirmed that Eichel is getting antsy in part because he "absolutely" wants to be available for Team USA at the Beijing Olympics in February. The agent reminded Marek that the artificial disk replacement surgery timetable of three to four months allows Eichel to be ready for the Games if he has the surgery soon. The fusion surgery would essentially end Eichel's Olympic hopes.
• Perhaps of biggest importance is that Brisson said Eichel needs surgery – any surgery – as soon as possible because of nerve pain in his neck.
"Every day that goes by, I feel like I lost a day," Brisson said. "I'd like him to get the surgery tomorrow morning. There are opinions of well-renowned doctors feeling that the more pressure you get on the spinal cord, the spinal cord doesn't forget it, doesn't forgive so to speak, doesn't heal the same way as many other organs in the body. The more stressed and more time that goes by, it's not good. So the clock is ticking, and that's why we're putting a lot of emphasis and all the pressure on getting it done."
Adams has to do a difficult dance here because now that Eichel aligned with Brisson, Adams has to be sure to keep a long-term focus about his relationship with the agent. And not just for any potential free-agent deals with Brisson clients.
The big reason? Brisson serves as the "adviser" for Michigan defenseman Owen Power, the Sabres' No. 1 overall draft pick from July (NCAA players, remember, can't officially have agents). Someday later in this decade, Power might be in the spot where Rasmus Dahlin was this summer, with Brisson negotiating his client's first deal off his entry-level contract.
Adams can't afford to let his relationship with Brisson get stained by whatever happens with Eichel. Yes, I realize that assumes Adams is still in the GM's chair in, say four to five years and you can never make that assumption the way Terry and Kim Pegula have operated this franchise. But at some point, they're going to have to find an executive to run their hockey team and stick with him.
"We're communicating very well together," Brisson said of his talks with Adams. "We have hopefully the same goals. We've identified a few teams and Kevyn's having conversations with them. And I'm speaking with him as well and we're trying to move the needle as quick as possible."
Brisson came aboard Team Eichel in August after the player jettisoned former agents Peter Fish and Peter Donatelli. Brisson said it was initially a slow process as he had to learn the details of the case and get opinions on Eichel's medical situation.
"First and foremost is Jack's health," Brisson said. "That's what's important and everything that goes by it's a day that we lost in a sense. We want him on the (operating) table. We want him to get his surgery of preference. This is a really, really complex one because it's a unique situation."
Sure is. The Sabres did not consummate an Eichel trade to get a first-round pick in the 2021 draft and it now seems they will be hard-pressed to get one for him in the 2022 selection party in Montreal. As reported over the weekend by Pierre LeBrun of TSN and the Athletic, Eichel's uncertain health status makes it likely any trade will include a boatload of conditions tied to his health and playing status to give some protection to the team making the deal.
One outgrowth of that is it's entirely possible we'd see a first-round pick for Eichel coming in the 2023 draft rather than this year unless he has surgery, returns to action and plays a sizable chunk of games later this season with no further health issues.
With teams formulating their rosters for the start of the season in advance of Monday's 5 p.m. deadline to name their 23-man units, most are tight to the cap. Many would undoubtedly be wary giving up multiple NHL players for Eichel until later in the season when they know their team's status in the playoff race.
On Saturday morning, Capfriendly.com showed 11 teams capped out at or above $81.5 million limit, thus needing to make moves to become cap-compliant or use some long-term injured reserve space. Ten other teams were within $3 million of the cap.
From this view, Adams' No. 1 target should still be Anaheim. The Ducks have nearly $14 million in cap space, a GM in veteran Bob Murray likely feeling the heat to do something to help his team get better quickly after three straight playoff misses and a cadre of prospects the Sabres would be interested in. But as far as NHL players, no matter which team Adams ultimately deals with, he may have another issue to overcome in players' no-movement clauses.
At this bedraggled moment in the Sabres' history, you can bet a ton of NHL players have Buffalo on their no-way-I'm-going-there lists. It requires another tentacle of negotiation to work through.
"Long story short, we're trying to get the perfect fit here," Brisson said. "And it's not an easy trade because Jack's making 10 million a year and has five years left on his contract. He's an important player obviously. So there's a lot of pieces, but at the current time that we speak here he's not Jack Eichel. He's a depleted asset. And so there's a lot of moving parts that we're trying to assemble all together."
