The Buffalo Sabres offseason got off to a wild start with Jack Eichel’s end-of-season interview on Monday. I’m sure by now you know what was said, so there’s no reason to go over it all again. The writing seems to be on the wall that the end has come for Eichel in Buffalo. It’s rough for most fans to see happen, but I’ve begun to accept the reality.

I’ve been opposed to writing about the idea of trading Eichel when the rumors started last summer. Well…here we are. There’s no more hiding from it and it’s time to embrace it. In the 24 hours since this all went down, it has been a roller coast, but my brain got around to thinking about landing spots for him.

At this point, I feel four teams are the best trade partners for the Sabres for a variety of reasons. Over the next week, I’ll look at each of these four teams and break down the pieces that make sense for the Sabres.

Up first is the Los Angeles Kings.

Prospects/Young Assets

The team at the top of the list for myself and many others probably is the Los Angeles Kings. The first benefit is this trade would send Eichel across the country to play in the Western Conference. The Kings are in the middle of a rebuild, but they could be looking to take that next step. Anze Kopitar doesn’t have many years left at the top of his game and Drew Doughty has already been regressing for a few years now.

The Kings also sit on arguably the best prospect pool in the league. At the top of their list is 2020 second overall pick, Quinton Byfield. He would be the crown jewel piece to acquire in a deal with the Kings. Unfortunately, I have a hard time believing that they’d be willing to include him in a trade one year after drafting him.

After him, there’s a second-tier group that consists of a handful of players such as Alex Turcotte, Arthur Kaliyev, Gabe Vilardi, and Tyler Madden. Turcotte and Vilardi are two first-round picks. Vilardi is the older of the two at 21-years-old. He was the 11th overall pick in the same draft class as Casey Mittelstadt in 2017.

He finally got his first full-time NHL action this season playing 52 games. He scored 10 goals and 23 points. His underlying numbers were also impressive for a rookie. Early results in Micah’s model below have him as a break-even forward with above-average finishing ability.

He also graded out well in the Evolving Hockey’s goals above average model for a player of his age.

Vilardi is an NHL player right now, but there may be more waiting required with Alex Turcotte. The Kings selected Turcotte fifth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. The Sabres were high on Turcotte at that draft but walked away with Dylan Cozens. I was a big fan of Turcotte in that class, but his post-draft years haven’t been that impressive. He underperformed as a freshman in his D+1 season at Wisconsin University. His AHL numbers this year were nothing to write home about either with six goals and 21 points in 31 games for the Ontario Reign. You can get a glimpse at his post-draft production against Dylan Cozens in Byron Bader’s model below.

Turcotte is still a decent prospect, but personally, I prefer Byfield and Vilardi over him. As I mentioned, Madden and Kalyiev are two wingers that could be added to the deal with one of the three aforementioned forwards. The Kings also have a few prospects on the blue line that could interest the Sabres in Tobias Bjornfot and Kale Clague.

Draft Picks

The Kings have eight picks in the 2021 draft. Five of those eight picks are in the first three rounds of the draft. As of now, they would hold the 10th overall pick going into the draft lottery. Their 2021 first-round pick would absolutely be involved in any Eichel trade scenario.

That would give the Sabres two picks in at least the top 12 of this draft. A good starting point to refill their prospect cupboard that lacks dynamic players. Beyond that, Kevyn Adams could try to pry another pick out of the Kings, but not in the first round. Perhaps they could get a 2022 second-round pick out of them. The Kings will have either two second-rounders or two third-rounders next year depending on how Jeff Carter’s season finishes with the Penguins.

Taking Money Back

This is the part that won’t be fun in any Eichel trade, but it is what it is. Any team making this deal is taking on $10 million in cap space. The Sabres will need to take money back in some way. Two players that make sense for this part are Jonathan Quick and Dustin Brown.

Brown is 36-years-old, but he has played well for the Kings over the last few years. He scored 17 goals and registered 31 points in 49 games. He only has one more year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $5.785 million.

Quick is 35-years-old but has one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL the last few years. The Kings net now belongs to former Sabres draft pick Cal Petersen. Thus, it would make sense for them to move on from Quick. The Sabres have a need in goal at the moment and that may be why Quick makes more sense than Brown as the money dump. He has two years remaining on his deal with a $5.8 million cap hit.

Trade Projection

At the end of all of these, I’ll throw together a trade proposal for everyone to dissect. So here’s a fair deal for both sides that is realistic in my opinion:

Kings Recieve: Jack Eichel

Sabres Recieve: Gabe Vilardi, Alex Turcotte, Jonathan Quick, 2021 first-round pick, and a 2022 second-round pick

The Kings get to keep Byfield in this deal, but it costs them two of their best young assets. I have the Sabres getting both Vilardi and Turcotte in this deal, as well as the extra pick because they’re taking back Quick’s money.

It makes a lot of sense for the Sabres to find a trade with the Kings if they do indeed move Eichel this offseason. However, they’re not the only team that I like for them. I have three more teams that I’ll share with you over the next week.

Data via: Evolving Hockey, Hockeyviz.com, and Byron Bader

Photo Credit: Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images