Eichel situation may turn ugly as training camp draws near.

Will the Sabres go down this road?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Eichel situation may turn ugly as training camp draws near.
Joe Camporeale/CSM/Zuma

When it became clear earlier this year that Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel did not ever want to play another game in the National Hockey League for the Buffalo Sabres' organization, many expected some major fireworks would follow.

For weeks and even months now we have been hearing that Eichel will be traded due in large part to a dispute between the Sabres and Eichel in regards to how to properly treat a herniated disc that he suffered during the 2020 - 2021 season. In spite of those rumblings however Eichel has yet to be traded, and there are now some legitimate concerns about how this situation will unfold moving forward.

In theory the Sabres, assuming a trade is not made prior to players reporting to training camp, could simply put Eichel back on injured reserve and leave him there until a trade does materialize. In a recent article for The Athletic however, Buffalo Sabres insider John Vogl pointed out that the Sabres have dealt with situations that are similar to the one they find themselves in now quite harshly in the past. This has been true even when it comes to high profile players within the organization.

From Vogl:

In 2007, the Sabres suspended Teppo Numminen without pay when he failed his physical because he needed heart surgery. In 1997, the Sabres refused to let Pat LaFontaine attend training camp because team doctors wouldn’t clear him because of concussions, though the captain had other doctors saying he was good to play.

In this scenario Eichel would be forced to forfeit a percentage of his salary for each day that he would be absent from training camp, a percentage that amounts to a whopping $36,363.64 each and every day. That of course would be a huge financial blow to the player and no doubt would put him in an extremely uncomfortable position regarding both his injury and his future in the National Hockey League.

The hope of course is that that Sabres will not resort to these tactics, even if they fail to find a suitable trade prior to the start of training camp, but there's no question that things could soon get very ugly.

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