In the past 24 hours, significant progress has been made in the Jack Eichel sweepstakes. On Nov. 2, Emily Kaplan, a reporter at ESPN, tweeted that Jack Eichel’s new home has been narrowed down to either the Calgary Flames or the Vegas Golden Knights. Kaplan also claimed that both parties will allow him to get the surgery he prefers.
A mere day after Kaplan’s announcement, Kevin Weekes took to twitter and listed the assets the Calgary Flames had supposedly offered to the Buffalo Sabres.
According to Kevin Weekes, the Flames had offered the following for Jack Eichel:
- Matthew Tkachuk
- An upcoming first round draft pick
- A former first round draft pick
- And two prospects
While at first glance this offer seems like a highway robbery. It actually isn’t as ludicrous when you sit down and think about it.
First things first, when comparing Matthew Tkachuk to Jack Eichel, one-for-one, Eichel wins every time. While Tkachuk is a crafty player and has an excellent hockey IQ, he will never be the scoring threat Jack Eichel is. In his 358 NHL games, Tkachuk has posted 284 points. Which can equate to 0.79 points per game. In comparison Eichel has notched 355 points in just 375 games. An average of 0.95 points per game, which is not too shabby for an elite level player on an abysmal S team. The biggest difference between Eichel and Tkachuk is that Tkachuk will never score 40 goals or put up over 100 points. While Jack Eichel has never broken the 40 goal or 100-point plateau either, he has come darn close. And again, he has been on a bottom of the barrel team his entire career. Age is also not an issue between Tkachuk and Eichel as they are just one year apart. Tkachuk will turn 24-years-old in December, while Eichel just turned 25 in October. At the end of this season, both players contracts will be fairly similar as well. While Tkachuk is only making $7 million a year, his contract is up at the end of this season. Due his RFA status, Tkachuk’s next contract will have to be tendered at a minimum of $9 million. On the other side of the deal, Eichel will be getting paid $10 million until the end of the 2025-26 season.
Photo Credit: Patrick McDermott / NHLI via Getty Images
Nonetheless, the Flames will have to do some salary cap balancing as Jack Eichel’s contract will have to be accounted for, regardless of him being on the Sabres long-term injured reserve.
As for the other assets in Calgary’s offer, most of them were predicted.
An upcoming first round pick, a former first round draft pick, and a couple of prospects.
The list of former first round draft picks (aside from Matthew Tkachuk) is as follows:
- Trevor Lewis (2006 by LA)
- Mikael Backlund (2007)
- Erik Gudbranson (2010 by Florida)
- Sean Monahan (2013)
- Nikita Zadorov (2013 by Buffalo)
- Elias Lindholm (2013 by Carolina)
- Noah Hanifin (2015 by Carolina)
- Juuso Valimaki (2017)
I feel it is safe to assume that the likes of Gudbranson, Lewis, and Zadorov would be excluded from the deal as it would not make much sense for Buffalo. Backlund could also be sorted into that section as well but he does bring the leadership a young Buffalo team would need.
That being said, the players remaining on the list are Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, and Juuso Valimaki. Elias Lindholm is most likely NOT the ‘former first round pick’ Weekes mentioned, as Brad Treliving would not have offered a first-round draft pick and two prospects on top of a Lindholm and Tkachuk combination.
This leaves Hanifin, Monahan, and Valimaki on the chopping block. From the three players left, the most appetizing name is Hanifin. The 25-year-old defensemen already has 444 games under his belt and has solidified his spot as a top four defenseman on the Flames roster. It also makes sense to have both a somewhat veteran forward (Tkachuk) and defensemen (Hanifin) packaged to Buffalo.
The only grey area of Weekes’ tweet is whether recent first round draft picks like Jacob Pelletier, Connor Zary, and Matthew Coronato, are under the ‘former first round draft pick’ or ‘prospect’ sections.
Also, if what Weekes said is true, the Flames fans can rejoice as Johnny Gaudreau (fourth round), Dillon Dube (second round), and Andrew Mangiapane (sixth round) are all sticking around, for now.
As for the two prospects, it is a guessing game as to which names are in the mix, but it will most likely be at least one, if not two, of the Flames most recent first round picks – Jakob Pelletier, Connor Zary, or Matthew Coronato. If only one of the three is selected, then names like Walker Duehr, Yan Kuznetsov, Jeremie Poirier, Glenn Gawdin, or Matthew Phillips could also be in contention. Flames prospect goaltender, Dustin Wolf, could also be in the running but it seems quite unlikely, as Buffalo has two up-and-coming goaltenders in their system: Ukko- Pekka Luukkonen and Devin Levi.
While nothing is written in stone yet, Jack Eichel’s future will most likely be headed in the Pacific Division.
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