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Sabres’ Adams Defends Team Against Eichel “Disconnect” Comments

Kevyn Adams didn’t seem angry, but he did seem a bit annoyed that there would be questions regarding the organization wanting what’s best for their superstar center. Clearly not pleased with the comments made by Jack Eichel earlier this week when the NHL center said there was a “disconnect” between he and the organization, the Buffalo Sabres GM took his turn speaking with the media today and tried to explain where the team was coming from.

Adams said, “Let me be clear about something, we all want the same thing here.” He went on to say that the best thing for everyone is that Eichel is healthy and that he gets the chance to move forward, play again and prove he’s one of the best players in the NHL. He added that the last game Eichel played, the Sabres did imaging and diagnosed him with a herniated disc in his neck. At that time, they discussed the next steps which they believed was conservative care and rehab treatment, with the hopes he could go through that process and return to play this season.

Related: Los Angeles Kings Expected to Be In on Jack Eichel Trade Talks

Adams said it wasn’t long after that Eichel asked if he could get a second opinion. The organization and Adams said they supported his right to do so and had no issue with him getting another trained professional to look at his situation. Adams said that personally, he believes that a second opinion is great and noted, “the more information the better.”

Adams said he wanted to hammer home the fact that there has been constant communication between all parties. From himself to Jack and the team to Jack’s agent, doctors to Jack and doctors to doctors, and what was agreed upon by the experts was “conservative rehab approach.”

Adams backed his medical staff and said, “our doctors are highly regarded in the medical industry, they are exceptional at what they do.” It was agreed that the rehab approach would offer Eichel the best odds of coming back, avoiding surgery and performing at the top of his game. Everyone involved wants to avoid a surgery if it can be avoided.

Adams did say that the team’s doctors are not comfortable with Eichel’s desire to want to consider a surgery that has never been done on an NHL player before.

What Does All This Mean For the Sabres and Eichel?

Adams said the end of this rehab window is the end of May and start of June. At that point, they’ll reimage Eichel and perhaps there won’t be a need to do anything further and that everyone is on the same page and he’s progressed nicely in his recovery.

That said, the two sides are clearly not on the same page here. Adams and his medical staff believe avoiding surgery is the way to go and, for some reason, Eichel wants to go with a new and widely risky surgery that could work wonders or backfire.

Jack Eichel Injury Sabres
Jack Eichel Injury Sabres

What Eichel should probably keep in mind here is that should both sides never agree on this and his injury not be improved at the end of this rehab window, he’ll still want to be traded and the Sabres won’t want to allow for a risky surgery on a player they are heavily invested in. Would other teams?

Some will say the Sabres are out of line to tell Eichel he can’t have surgery. Others likely understand where they are coming from and teams who might be interested in acquiring Eichel might not want to do so if his plan is to go through with a large experimental procedure.

Next: More Change as New York Rangers Fire Head Coach David Quinn

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