from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
On a hockey landscape where tracking and analytics grow more influential and all-encompassing with each passing season, the common rebuild remains the National Hockey League’s great, unquantifiable mystery.
When do they start? When do they end? How many re-sets in between?
Where’s the quarter pole? The halfway mark? The finish line?
Nobody ever knows where those milestones are buried in the minefield of losses, setbacks and disappointments that dot a project like the one they started in Buffalo on Feb. 28, 2014, when the Sabres dealt veterans Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to St. Louis in pursuit of the draft position that would land them Connor McDavid in the 2015 draft.
(Spoiler alert: They got Jack Eichel instead.)
When that rebuild fell flat they re-set and re-set again, trading Eichel to Vegas, dealing 2013 first-round pick Rasmus Ristolainen to Philadelphia, and giving up on the No. 2 pick in the 2014 draft — Sam Reinhart, whom the Sabres selected one pick ahead of Leon Draisaitl — sending him to Florida.
Specific to the rebuild in Buffalo, it's no wonder why Melody Martin gave up posting on Youtube two years ago, after season after season of flops in Buffalo, and their failure to make the playoffs. She had great videos on all things Sabre, but after Eichel returned to Buffalo as a Vegas Knight, that seems to be the straw that made her give up hope.
The team forced Eichel out over a medical decision. Eichel's position was my body, my choice and the team said not so fast actually it's ours. Eichel stuck to his guns and it is proving correct. As an aside so am I since I was openly begging for the Wings to trade for Eichel on this forum until he got moved to Vegas.
Eichel in his second season (but his first "full one") put 66 points in 67 games, leading the Knights in the regular season in points and finishing second in goals that despite he missed 15 games. But it was how he elevated his play in the postseason that showed exactly what the Sabres lost. Simply put he helped the Golden Knights win the Cup (with a huge assist from the team's capologist) and would not have been the same player if he was stuck in Buffalo.
Meanwhile in Buffalo--all these great pieces haven't been able to lead the Sabres to a playoff series. Tuch has been a nice secondary scorer and Krebs looks like a nice bottom 6 player--but neither are needle movers so it may well come down to the middle round (16th overall) Noah Ostlund a prospect from Sweden who won't come over to North America until 2025?
While Buffalo can claim it's a win-win: it's Cups that matter and Eichel is a huge reason why Vegas has one. Buffalo will still not make the postseason this year so you decide.
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