They went into a season where everyone said they have to make the playoffs with not only no #1 goalie…but carrying a guy who couldn’t win the #2 job, a guy who has only proven to be able to play backup when the starter takes 60 starts…and a 21 year old with no pro experience.
He had four off-seasons to prepare for this. Not one. Not zero. Four.
This is what he went with.
Not only didn’t he have a starting goalie…he planned to throw Levi in over his head years too early without any support they could count on whatsoever.
This is true.
It is unacceptable to a level beyond his failure to replace Quinn
I mean, of all his failures, we have a lot of scoring depth on wing going down Rochester, I'll complain a lot about Adams, I think this specific instance is acceptable though. Especially with Olofsson still on the team. Not ideal, sure. But missing Quinn for an extended bit shouldn't cripple the team.
The bottom six as a whole needed a restructure. To run it back with Okposo, Jost, and Girgensons was stupid. Of the 3, Girgensons probably would have been one I would have kept.
or address the glaring need for another D who can play big minutes and hard assignments. Which are all also unacceptable.
Quality over quantity is what was needed here. We went Quantity route.
Adams has put together a woefully incomplete team after four off-seasons, despite cap space and assets to do his job. Unless his plan is to run 12 skilled forwards next year and beyond…he has no plan. A fourth line of Rosen-Kulich-Savoie on the way?
Moves had to be made and he has failed in every respect to make them. He is unequipped to build a roster. The situation in goal should be the end of him.
At some point this has to start mattering to everyone. Will a fifth off-season do it? A sixth? How many years does he get to fail the roster? We know four is perfectly fine with many. Which is insane.
Where Adams gets credit is for what he didn't do. He didn't go out and try to bandaid situations and get into bad contracts. He didn't burn through picks making desperate trades.
However, the issue is, he went the complete opposite. He hoarded picks. He didn't identify weaknesses in the prospect pool and bring in vets to fill those roles. There is a real lack of identifiable roles outside the top line and bottom line. I liked his singular addition trade in getting Greenway. However, there has to be more. And it should have started two seasons ago.
People like to handwave away Adams first year. Which, while I don't agree, he was still the GM and his hands were on the wheel of an underachieving team that was .500 the last year that dove bomb into last place. Yes, the coach deserves the blame, but so does Adams. But, even if you give him the benefit of the doubt, the last 3 seasons, the needs have been pretty consistent:
Improve defensively, solve goaltending.
Failing to do that in a significant way over 3 summers is a fire-able offense