Jack Eichel being linked to a Canadian team
No one knows for sure what will come next on the Eichel front, but over the weekend NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Sabres have held significant talks with a Canadian franchise over the course of the last 24 hours.
"Buffalo is still looking for a definite prospect/draft pick based deal there," said Friedman. "I think they talked pretty heavily with Montreal yesterday. It was quiet last night."
The Montreal Canadiens have been in desperate need of a true star level #1 centerman for as long as I can remember, so it should come as no surprise that general manager Marc Bergevin has done his homework on Eichel and the Sabres. It's more surprising to learn that the two sides have been engaged "heavily," as Friedman would put it, and you have to wonder what kind of return the Canadiens would have to provide in order to lure Eichel away from the Sabres, as well as how the Habs would make this scenario work financially.
Eichel has a massive cap hit of $10 million per season, and while the Canadiens do have some cap space this summer, the majority, if not all, of it will be used to replace a number of unrestricted free agents, such as Corey Perry, Joel Armia, and Tomas Tatar, who will hit the open market on July 28th, and to sign restricted free agents like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Artturi Lehkonen to new contracts.
| POLL | ||
Would you like Jack Eichel as the 1C for the Habs? | ||
| Yes | 413 | 66 % |
| No | 213 | 34 % |
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