Six years after taking Jack Eichel second overall in the NHL Draft and dawning a new era of hope around the Buffalo Sabres, trading that very same player to Vegas will begin yet another new era in Buffalo and, again, it's one of hope and optimism for better days ahead.
But while Eichel's arrival gave the Sabres the type of superstar No. 1 centre all organizations crave to build around, his departure leaves behind a wake of potential and perhaps a little more uncertainty of how, or when, it's all going to come together.
"It's really hard to put a timeline on [when the Sabres will contend again]," Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said Thursday. "So much still has to crystallize and come together but the expectation is we're going to build and build and we're going to keep challenging each other and holding each other accountable and I truly believe when you get the culture right and add to the talent in the locker room special things can happen. The expectation is extremely high in this organization, but we are not going to make a short-term compromise to chase something we think could set us back in the long term. We have to be patient."
Now we know what the Sabres are moving ahead with at least.
After months of rumours and speculation leading up to this inevitable move, Buffalo traded Eichel (and a conditional third-round pick) to Vegas overnight for Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, a conditional, top-10 protected 2022 first-round draft pick and a second-round pick in 2023. This followed off-season trades that sent out Rasmus Ristolainen (for Robert Hagg and first-rounder Isak Rosen) and Sam Reinhart (for goalie prospect Devon Levi and a 2022 first-rounder). Those three represented the leaders of a previous core in place for some stuck-in-the-mud seasons.
As far as the Eichel return goes, Krebs is the key piece, a 20-year-old centre who led the WHL with 30 assists in 24 games last season. He had a significant injury of his own to deal with when he tore his Achilles tendon in his draft season, which hurt his stock. Krebs was expected to be a top 10 prospect in 2019 at least (Sam Cosentino projected him as a Canuck), but ultimately fell to the Golden Knights at 17th overall. He recovered and has played 62 major junior games over two seasons since, totalling 25 goals, 78 assists and 103 points. He's had 10 points in seven AHL games between this season and last, and even played nine games for Vegas this season, though hasn't recorded a point yet.
Rather than rush Krebs into a situation where he'd immediately be viewed and measured as the guy traded for Jack Eichel, compared to the departed superstar on every NHL shift, Adams noted that Krebs will be assigned to AHL Rochester where he'll take time to settle in, gain confidence and develop.
"Absolutely Peyton Krebs was someone we had targeted and worked extremely hard on to get in this deal," Adams said. "It's just making sure we set him up for success. He could be jumping into our lineup tonight and playing and we know he's a really good hockey player right now. What we're excited about is the player he's going to become over time and that's our focus.
"It's a balance. It's never 'oh this guy is ready today or next week.' It's individual cases you look at and say 'what sets them up for success' and in our mind it was catch your breath, get your feet under you a little bit, get used to the organization and let's build this thing. When it's the right time he'll be here and be here for a long time."
Tuch is no slouch either. A 25-year-old power forward capable of consistently delivering 20 goals over a full season, he's currently injured as well and recovering from shoulder surgery with an expected return around February or March. He's also under team control, with a $4.75 million cap hit that runs through 2025-26 -- and he's local, a Syracuse, New York native who seems to be itching to get started with his home team.
That's no small thing at this critical transition period for the Sabres.
"It was about developing our young core and both of these players fit into our young core," Adams said. "Alex is a very good hockey player, proven in this league, under contract for this year and the next four years at a young age and a very productive player. High character. Leader. All the things, the intangibles. Wants to be part of the solution. He was unbelievable in my conversation with him in how excited he is to be a Buffalo Sabre. Told me it was a dream come true for him."
So now we'll see how the pieces start coming together over a few years.
Some of them are already in Buffalo. Rasmus Dahlin was picked first overall in 2018 and signed a three-year extension over the summer. Adams mentioned Tage Thompson as a player taking positive steps in the NHL. Dylan Cozens projects to be the other top-two centre the Sabres build around and he's in his second NHL season after being chosen seventh overall in 2019.
And even some current vets, including Jeff Skinner, 29, with his $9-million price tag extending into the far off future, could still be around whenever the team turns the corner.
But a lot of this picture is still taking focus.
Jack Quinn, eighth overall in 2020, is leading the Rochester Americans with 12 points in seven games and is third in league scoring. John Peterka, second rounder in 2020, has eight points in seven AHL games. Ryan Johnson, 31st overall in 2019, is still in the NCAA, as is Owen Power, the team's most recent first overall pick made last summer. Rosen remains in Sweden.
The Sabres also hold an additional three first-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft.
"We had to identify how we were going to move this franchise forward in not just short term but long term," Adams said. "We need to build an organization of people and players that want to be here, that are truly buying in and all in. And that was an important part of this. What I've talked to the players about is the connectivity to our fan base and we need to be a team that has the culture in the locker room of truly caring about each other and caring about putting the jersey on.
"That's all the stuff we're building. So we had to make decisions with certain players to make sure we were following that vision and that the players and pieces we'd be getting back were going to be buying into that. We're not in a rush."
Famed Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame GM Sam Pollock, regarded as perhaps the best at the job in league history, had a well-known philosophy that the team which acquired the best player in a deal wins the trade. Through that lens, the Sabres were always in a near-impossible position to "win" an Eichel trade. They were always giving up the best player in any move.
But Pollock was also famous for building through the draft and developing that talent successfully. Adams isn't the second coming of Pollock, but the Sabres find themselves at a critical juncture where staying patient with their youngest players is the absolute key. They may never win the Eichel deal, but if the next steps are done properly, the long-term pay off of this trade could still end up being worth the headaches and pressures that led up to it over several months.
"We're not afraid to bring along these players, develop these players to get them to feel for what it's like and that could mean young players in Buffalo or Rochester," Adams said. "What we're working towards is building around this young core that ultimately keeps getting better and keeps growing.
"We're not going to compromise in the short term to change our strategy along the way."
Buffalo's 5-1-1 start to this season was promising, but certainly a mirage. It's a start we've seen before with Eichel in the lineup and ultimately withered into another lost season. In this season specifically, expectations for wins was rather low. And, in fact, Buffalo's two losses in their most recent games -- along with the way their underlying numbers were trending -- was a reminder that the fans and organization shouldn't be getting ahead of themselves yet.
Today is another reset in Buffalo and will likely conclude with their 11th consecutive playoff miss.
For the sake of Sabres fans everywhere, this latest new dawn is hopefully the last one before the promised long-term pay off that would reward ongoing patience.
