BillsFan4

They've looked really good in all phases so far today. Happy for Trubisky. He’s having himself a nice game. I know this one means a lot to him. Glad he’s playing well.

I thought on that last replay it looked like his knee might have been down. Need to see another replay though.

sucks that his last season is another damn tank year. I really wanted the Sabres to make the playoffs one more time before RJ retired.

rsngers fans taking out billboards in Buffalo. This is just so incredibly desperate, but also funny that they are so desperate and that they wasted money on this. Do they actually think it’ll have any effect? They also still don’t seem to get that if Eichel is traded for a less than ideal return, it definitely won’t be to an eastern conference team.

Wtf was that call?! Officials have been brutal.

That interview with Sanders was great. It’s so cool to see how much guys love playing for Josh Allen.

I believe he’s referring to the high ankle sprain he had. If so, I take issue with some of what he says. - The timeline to return from a high ankle sprain is roughly 6-8 weeks for many people (though symptoms can persist for much longer), so for him to say he shouldn’t have even been walking for 6-8 weeks seems like an exaggeration. - Riding a bike is low impact (less impact than walking) and a pretty standard first activity during rehab. They had me riding a bike pretty quickly after I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus in my knee. It’s important to maintain your mobility (especially if there is scar tissue). It’s also not surprising that they’d want him riding a bike to maintain his stamina. - iirc his set back was around 8 weeks after the initial injury (and I believe it happened once he was back on the ice practicing) so I don’t know that it had to do with the rehab. (edit - I might be remembering wrong on when the setback happened). Lehner talks a lot of **** about the Sabres, and a lot of **** in general. I don’t totally discount what he says though, because the Sabres did hire that one head trainer then fire him 8 months later (which is who was handling Lehner’s injury).

looks like it’s $6.5M x 3 years. 😢

Mine was supposed to be last year but 2020 had other plans...

Reminder that Hard Knocks premiers tonight at 10pm (EST)

Agreed, it drives me nuts! If you have a pair of headphones try listening with those. That’s what I did and it allowed me to hear the reporters questions. Josh Allen was on the left headphone and the reporter questions were on the right headphone. But when I try to listen without headphones I can’t hear the questions 🤷‍♂️

Sure does! 😁

Been waiting a LONG time to have a QB worth a contract like this!

It’s sooo nice to be getting excited about continuity! What a welcome change. I sure like it a lot better than the days of trying to get excited over the newest Bills coach/QB/coordinator (etc) hoping that they’d finally be the one to turn things around.

No wonder the Sabres don’t want Eichel to have this surgery. Seems like every respected expert recommends against disc replacement for any contact sports. Heck, even Dr. Prusmack (the doctor that Eichel wants to do his surgery) says that he would not recommend ADR for an NFL athlete due to the head on collisions. Dr. Prusmack has been a consultant for the Broncos for 2 decades and in that time never recommended an ADR for any NFL player. He says it’s due to the head on impacts. That in the NHL you want your body to flex when hit. Maybe if he were only talking about NFL linemen he’d have a point. But what about skill players like WR’s? how is an open field hit any different from an open ice hit? I’d argue that an open ice hit is even more vicious because of the speed NHL players reach and because of the hard ice surface (vs. turf/grass).

Learned some interesting things with regards to the surgery Eichel wants. https://buffalospinesurgery.com/dr-andrew-cappuccino The Sabres doctor is a world renowned expert and has done disc replacement surgeries himself. Yet he doesn’t recommend it. This is from a round table discussion with other experts: (discussion not related to Eichel, just disc replacement) not sure why none of the quotes are showing in bold, but you get the point anyway https://musculoskeletalkey.com/spine-and-sports-a-roundtable-discussion/ Spine and Sports: A Roundtable Discussion

🤣 To be honest though, I did not use the search function very well... I tried using the search function on this site and it didn’t pop up. I searched the exact title of this thread too, and it didn’t show. Not sure what I did wrong. I tried a couple different searches. I found it via Google search (kind of by accident). 🤷‍♂️

Was just going to post this video. It’s a good watch. Gets me excited for the season to start. Cant wait until Next Friday for preseason game #1!!

😡 I know it’s negotiations but this makes me furious. They know damn well how much we’ve had to worry about this team moving. For years.

agree about arbitration. I meant if the Sabres approve the disc replacement surgery, would the insurance company still cover the cost of Eichel’s contract if he could not return to play or was injured playing in the NHL (after the surgery). If it would void the injury insurance then the Pegulas would be on the hook for Eichel’s full contract even if he could never play again. Right now, the contract has injury insurance. If Eichel couldn’t play again the Sabres aren’t on the hook for the money owed. Im sure if he has the spinal fusion he would still have that injury insurance on his contract. Would he still have it if he has the replacement? (if Buffalo approved the surgery) As far as letting him have the surgery, I guess it depends on a lot of different things I don’t know the answer to. Do other teams approve of this surgery or are they telling Buffalo they wouldn’t trade for Eichel if he has it? Does it void the medical injury insurance on Eichel’s contract? What is the success rate for “return to sports” for the spinal fusion? Is it 75%? 80? 90? What are the benefits and risks of each? What are the specific reasons the Sabres medical staff doesn’t want him having this surgery? Is the main reason because it hasn’t been done on an NHL player and/or that it would void the injury insurance? I read that there is a small chance that the artificial disc could dislodge and paralyze him. Is that true and if so how high are the odds of it happening? etc etc. Seems like the spinal fusion is the safer bet, but it would also mean that Eichel most likely never return to 100% health. I’ve heard people say about 80% (don’t know if that’s true). So I can honestly see both sides of this argument. But IMO Eichel needs to find a better way to handle this. I have a feeling other teams are just as skeptical about this surgery as the Sabres are. Otherwise, if you think Buffalo is just being stupid here, why not trade for Eichel and let him have the surgery?

Im very curious to know if this surgery would void the injury insurance on Eichel’s contract. I’ve wondered for a while if that’s partly why the Sabres don’t want it done. But I don’t see why Buffalo would be concerned if they plan to trade him right away anyway. Wonder if it has anything to do with other potential trade partners not wanting him to have the surgery either. edit - on 2nd listen, this guy says a number of misleading or conflicting things. He says that spinal fusion has a 25% chance of needing a 2nd surgery within 10 years. Then minutes later said “it’s more likely than not he would need a 2nd procedure with a spinal fusion”. No, there’s a 75% chance he wouldn’t. That’s 3 in 4 patients... He later says that with the fusion Eichel will most likely need at least 3 additional surgeries (because of this 25% risk of needing a 2nd surgery). He then later says spinal fusion has a 70% chance to return to sports. Then minutes later says 80-85%. He also admits that he wouldn’t recommend this surgery for an NFL player because of the impacts they take and how risky it would be, but says in the NHL it’s different because they are on ice. He also says that there are issue with this disc replacement surgery in the NHL CBA and Eichel might not even be able to be cleared to play after having this surgery! He seems more like a salesman than a doctor. I feel like he has a vested interest in having an NHL player get this surgery.

Eichel can sit for 5 years for all I care. Sabres can not cave here. They have to hold strong and not trade him for a crap return. If I were Adams, I’d tell Eichel to knock off the **** Immediately. Tell him he’s hurting his trade value and if he ever actually wants to be traded to STFU. Because he’s not going anywhere until they get proper value and the more he pulls this crap the longer it’ll take. If what the agents said is true and all these doctors are/were in agreement, Why aren’t they going to injury arbitration anyway? Why handle it through the media?