Insider suggests Eichel could be traded and identifies two teams who have the pieces needed

The Buffalo Sabres are the owners of a 4-6-2 record for their first 12 games of the 2020-21 season, but after signing prized UFA Taylor Hall in the offseason, and bringing in some veterans like Eric Staal and Riley Sheahan to compliment the existing core, the expectations were much higher coming into this season.

The club has been under a ton of pressure to perform, not only because of the length of time they have spent at the bottom of the barrel, but primarily because of the fact that they're eating into the prime years of superstar center Jack Eichel, who is already fed up after 5 years of losing, and looking at ahead at a 6th season with a lot of the same frustrations.

With Eichel's name already having circled the rumour mill over the last couple of seasons, WGR 550, a Buffalo-based sports radio station, brought on Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman to discuss, among other things, the possibility of a Jack Eichel trade, which Friedman confirmed is a possibility.

"Yes - Well here's the thing, obviously the way the Sabres came back out of the break, with two really tough losses, has started the talk about what could be happening" Friedman began.

"Look, we know this was something that came up last summer. And I don't know that it was ever close. The feeling I've always had is that Buffalo knew that Eichel was unhappy. They asked Eichel to take a big step last year and he really did," he continued.

Eichel had already been an elite offensive player for the Sabres, basically since his draft year, but especially beginning in his sophomore season in 2016-17, when he went from scoring 56 points in 81 games in his rookie year to racking up 57 points in just 61 games in an injury-shortened season.

Eichel has shown steady progression since then, recording 64 points in 67 games in 2017-18, before exploding in 2018-19, scoring a career-high 28 goals and 82 points in just 77 games.

Heading into last season, it seemed unlikely that Eichel would exceed his previous season's totals, but that's exactly what he did in 2019-20, setting a new career-high 36 goals in just 68 games, adding 42 assets for 78 points, finishing above a point per game for the second consecutive season.

Friedman stated that last offseason, when the interest in Eichel was really peaked, teams had made offers on Eichel, but that the Sabres were "not ready" to trade the young pivot.

Though no real progress was made toward a deal, Friedman suggested that there are two teams who he feels have the right pieces to offer the Sabres in order to make a deal work. Those two teams, according to Freidge, are the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings.

Obviously, both teams have been in rebuild mode for a few years and have been able stockpile young assets and also have a decent stable of veteran players with which to help the Sabres both now and in the future.

I'm not going to speculate as to what a potential deal might look like, but as you could imagine, names like Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Mika Zibanejad, Vitali Kravtsov, Quinton Byfield, Arthur Kaliyev, Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte, Gabriel Vilardi and Adrian Kempe would all be potential targets for Sabres GM Kevyn Adams if he did look to move Eichel.

Friedman did say that he doesn't believe that Eichel has asked for a trade, but as you can imagine, it's not such a farfetched idea that he could do just that if the Sabres are not able to turn their season around in a hurry.

MUST READ

1 hour ago  |  By Daniel Lucente Canadian Team Reportedly Desperate to Make Massive Trade for a Top Defenseman

3 hours ago  |  By Aaron Itovitch Metropolitan Team Acquires Young First-Round Pick From the Nashville Predators

4 hours ago  |  By Graham Montgomery Former Sharks Defenseman Doug Murray Shares Incredible Story About Joe Thornton's Generosity

4 hours ago  |  By Tom Banks Shocking Turn of Events in New York: Former 50-Goal Scorer Placed on the Trade Block

6 hours ago  |  By Julien Trekker Longtime NHL Referee Mike Hasenfratz Tragically Passes Away at the Age of 58

7 hours ago  |  By Aaron Itovitch NHL Hopeful Colin Brown Critically Injured in St. Louis Shooting: Community Rallies

10 hours ago  |  By Aaron Itovitch Don Cherry Brutally Calls Out Darnell Nurse for Actions Leading to Ryan Reaves' Suspension

10 hours ago  |  By Tyler Ball Columbus Blue Jackets Linked in Trade to 75-Point Scorer by NHL Writer

MORE STORIES