So lo and behold there is renewed urgency to settle this Jack Eichel matter, and it is good to see that Slap Shots missed absolutely nothing during our annual late summer hiatus.
And, also pretty much right where we left it, we are being told alternately by well-placed sources that the Rangers are, A) pretty skeptical of the value of dealing for Eichel; and, B) in regular communication with the Sabres over this matter.
Can both things be true at once? Probably. Maybe.
But here is one truth: if the Rangers do become active bidders for Eichel, it won’t necessarily be because they prefer the Sabres’ excommunicated ex-captain to Mika Zibanejad, but because they know they won’t be able to sign No. 93 to a contract extension.
Remember, unless the Sabres agree to eat 40 or 50 percent of Eichel’s $10 million annual cap charge, the math will prohibit the Rangers from having both him and Zibanejad past this season given the extremely tight squeeze the club will confront starting next season.
And there is little likelihood Buffalo’s skinflint Pegula ownership, which would rather send Eichel anywhere else except Broadway, would swallow that kind of money under any circumstances.
I don’t think there is any question that the Rangers and general manager Chris Drury would prefer to extend Zibanejad than trade for Eichel. It is not only the risk involved in trading for an athlete who would undergo disk replacement surgery that is unprecedented for an NHL player. It is not only the cost in assets of the package going back to Buffalo. It is more so about the hierarchy’s belief that Zibanejad is a better player at this stage than Eichel.
There is a news blackout on the contract talks, but it is my belief the Blueshirts are attempting to get something done. But if Zibanejad is stuck on seven or eight years at upward of $9 million per, perhaps $10 million per on a contract that will kick in at age 29, I’m not sure at all that the hierarchy is going for it.
Now, Zibanejad has every right to set that as his market price. He very well might get it next summer if he has a big 2021-22. Florida’s Aleksander Barkov just signed an eight-year, $80 million extension. But Barkov will be 27 when the extension kicks in next year. Eichel, with five years left on his deal, will be 25 in a few weeks.
Barkov for months had been expected to re-up with the Puddy Tats. But the execution of the deal deprives the Rangers of a potential free-agent addition to fill the top slot in the middle in the event of Zibanejad’s departure. So Drury would face the possibility of going into the offseason without a top-six center, with Ryan Strome also a pending free agent. This would not be John Tavares leaving behind Mat Barzal in departing the Island.
Hence, it is clear why the Rangers would have interest in Eichel, even if agnostic regarding the matter. If the trade is built around, say, Zac Jones, Vitali Kravtsov, maybe Brennan Othmann and a No. 1 (Alex Georgiev might be sought, but could the Rangers really go with Keith Kinkaid as their backup?), that seems like something Drury would seriously consider.
And there is this to ponder. The convalescence period, we’re told, might be as short as eight weeks. But even if Eichel were not able to play until after the Olympic break ends on Feb. 24, the Rangers would be able to present a truly formidable Zibanejad-Eichel-Strome troika down the middle for the final 31 games and into the playoffs if they can get there.
Again, if the Rangers are able to agree on an extension with Zibanejad, or are on target to do so, Eichel almost certainly drops out of the picture. But if not, if the parties cannot agree and Zibanejad is on course to flee, then this becomes an entirely different matter.
So Alexander Ovechkin seems to have suffered a left leg injury while attempting to deliver a cheap shot from behind against Travis Konecny in an exhibition game on Friday, but what I want to know is why the NHL refuses to call hitting from behind unless a player is plastered against the wall?
Here is the rule: “43.1 Checking from Behind – A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body. When a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with his back, no penalty shall be assessed.”
But wait, there is more: “Rule 43.3 – Any player who charges, cross-checks or pushes a player from behind who is unable to protect or defend himself, shall be assessed a major penalty. This penalty applies anywhere on the playing surface.”
To repeat: “This penalty applies anywhere on the playing surface.”
Perhaps referees Kelly Sutherland and Kendrick Nicholson, who worked Friday’s game, should familiarize themselves with the rules.
Or perhaps the NHL should actually instruct its officials to enforce the rule book. How about that?
So, won’t the NHL be so proud when the first 10-year-old is spotted wearing the “authentic” 2022-23 Caps jersey with an advertisement of a bookmaking operation plastered on the uniform?
Wonder if the NHL would have had such compliance with vaccinations if it were not a requirement to play in the Olympics?
Wait a second. With a right side that could feature Norris winner Adam Fox, John Carlson, Charlie McAvoy and Jeff Petry four-deep, Blackhawks righty defenseman Seth Jones was named as one of Team USA’s first three Olympians … by problematic Team USA general manager Stan Bowman … of the Blackhawks?
This guy is a beauty.
Finally, could Robin Lehner not have made his point without defaming Alain Vigneault by innuendo on social media with charges that had no merit?
Or is that not important?