Report: Buffalo Sabres Make Trade Offer For Jack Eichel
The start of NHL Free Agency begins on Wednesday, July 28th (an hour away as I type this), and the Buffalo Sabres should stay busy over the next 24-48 hours and beyond; especially considering they still are exploring trade offers for captain Jack Eichel.
It may have been a surprise that Eichel wasn’t dealt last weekend during the NHL Entry Draft, but many report that the Sabres asking price is very high for Eichel, as well it should be.
The New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks are a few teams that are said to be interested based on recent reports, and the Vegas Golden Knights are another team that is apparently in on a potential Eichel trade.
According to Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News, the Sabres asking price from Vegas for Eichel is forward Reilly Smith, center prospect Peyton Krebs, defenseman Nic Hague and a first-round draft pick.
Krebs was drafted 17th-overall by the Golden Knights in the 2019 NHL Draft and has played just four career NHL games. He’s played in the WHL.
Smith has been a 20-goal scorer nine times in his NHL career and the 30-year-old has one year remaining on his contract.
Hague is a 22-year-old defenseman, who has played parts of two seasons in the NHL with promise.
Looking at the pool of prospects, this is about as well as you could ask for if the Sabres are trading Eichel to Vegas. Krebs and the first round pick would be the most important pieces to that mock trade.
I’m sure Eichel wants to be traded sooner rather than later. We will see if that long-talked about trade happens this week.