The more likely story is that Eaton will either be reduced to playing club and provincial football in 2012 or forced to head overseas in search of income.
Either way, or even if he does squeeze into a Super Rugby team, it will be a sad place for the 28-year-old to find himself. It wasn't that long ago that most of the country believed 2011 would be his crowning glory; that he would be an integral part of the All Blacks' World Cup campaign.
He could have been New Zealand's equivalent of Victor Matfield. His raw athleticism was so compelling when he burst onto the international scene in 2005.
He really did 'burst'. He was totally unheard of, having skirted round the edges of both Manawatu and Taranaki. A massive surprise when he was selected for the 2005 Grand Slam tour, it didn't take him long to show why he was there. In his debut against Ireland, he stormed around like he owned Lansdowne Road.
He'd taken a massive jump to play test football, but no one would ever have known. It all came so naturally to him and he showed his promise with an all-round display that included one memorable chase back to haul down an escaping Irish wing.
It took him less than 12 months to appeal as the long-term partner of Ali Williams. Eaton was that bit taller, faster and more aggressive than Chris Jack. The vision that sat in the All Black coaches' heads was of Williams and Eaton paired together in the critical World Cup knockout phase.
That combination would have given them the mix of grunt and mobility they were after and extra ball-carrying punch. But a serious knee injury struck Eaton down in early 2007 and with it his World Cup dream died. He has never really recovered.
It took him 10 months to rehabilitate and then another 10 to feel his way back into the game. He never looked the same athlete after that injury.
He never covered the ground with such ease and he became a touch laboured and lumbering. In the latter part of 2006, the selectors were edging towards seeing him as a lock-cum-blindside but, after his knee troubles, he was never able to fulfil that brief. He couldn't get down to the ball quickly enough and the agility was missing to make the destructive hits.
They had been veering that way because for all his promise in the loose, Eaton couldn't quite nail his chores at the lineout. His major weakness was his confidence in the air but the coaches always felt that would be fixed in time.
Eaton, after all, had the explosive power to leap, wasn't too heavy to be lifted and had the soft skills to deal with the ball once he'd got his hands to it.
Improvements to that side of his game were slow and after 2007, they stalled. In fact everything about Eaton's development stalled after that crushing blow to his joint. His luck was too cruel to believe when he damaged his other knee just as badly in early 2010.
It takes any athlete a year or more to come back from that sort of damage - but one the size of Eaton ... it takes longer again. While he started this season in good physical shape, the season drifted by without him making much impact.
The inference in him being unwanted by the Hurricanes is that his rugby is not the problem. The Hurricanes are hardly inundated with quality locks and Eaton's departure seems to be more about his close association with Andrew Hore.
Eaton has always been his own man, prepared to be a bit different and clearly such independent characters are not part of Hurricanes' coach Mark Hammett's planning.
Sadly for Eaton, he's not really part of anyone's thinking right now.
