Kevyn Adams GM thread

[OkimLom]

I realized after my last post a better analogy for what is going on. I've called Adams a 'steward' of the team before rather than a GM.

But....Adams is an office manager. And by all accounts, he's a good office manager. He listens to his employees. The coach wants a guy (Greenway, Clifton), he gets their guy. The scouts say "get this forward at the draft" by golly he drafts that forward.

The problem is, a team needs a CEO. They need a guy who is sitting there, not just thinking about what the staff is asking for, but what the organization needs. Someone with the depth of experience to realize when to push a bit, when to pull back, and when to cut bait. Someone who can convince a UFA this is a good situation and can present a plan and roles to players and convince them to come here. Who can gain the owners trust without being the owners pet.

And that ain't Adams.

Adams needed a quality control supervisor. unfortunately the owner decided to streamline the management for cheaper costs.

 

[toddkaz]

He did add to this team. He added Clifton and Johnson. What did you want him to do? The core is pretty much set.

You mean he added the two worst free agents possible?

You do know Clifton and Johnson has the worst matrics out of every sabres player.

Don't you think accountability is important?

Clifton and Johnson are the problem on the ice. They are terrible but the bigger problem is the GM doesn't have the balls to get things done.

There also wasn't a lot of options out there. At least none that would have been starter material.

How do you know that?

Yzerman went out and signed and traded his way to a playoff spot.(as of now)

 

[toddkaz]

First of all, I think they probably expected some regression and growing pains, but I truly do not believe they felt pressure to make the playoffs this year, and I think most of the public comments about winning were just GM speak to appease the fan base. I still believe their plan is primarily to build a long-term contender that they feel will be achieved by slow cooking the rebuild.

I don't think it was the loses that they didn't anticipate, but the poor team performance in those loses... which has them on edge and is putting a large cloud over their slow cook plan.

As far as your description of Adams, I actually agree. He is one to avoid major decisions and defers to his "specialists" on the decisions he does make.

The thing about that is that it honestly is not the worst scenario.

Some GMs tend to draft well.
Some GMs tend to win trades
Some GMs are good contract negotiators.
Some GMs do well in the UFA market.
But most GMs do fairly poorly in most of these areas.

I'd rather have a GM that defers to good scouts and drafts well, and is hesitant to gamble on big trades or big UFA deals while rebuilding.

The majority of NHL GMs are their own worst enemies when they try to make big moves. I understand the frustration with Adams, but I also want to remind everyone that big moves often backfire more often than they work out.

Adams is not a top tier GM, but Terry Pegula is not likely to hire a top tier GM, so having a guy that does some things well and doesn't really screw the goose in anyone area is probably preferable to having a guy that swings for the fences everyday in the job and whiffs horribly on most swings.

I would rather have a GM that puts a team together that makes the playoffs.

 

[Beerz]

You mean he added the two worst free agents possible?

You do know Clifton and Johnson has the worst matrics out of every sabres player.

Don't you think accountability is important?

Clifton and Johnson are the problem on the ice. They are terrible but the bigger problem is the GM doesn't have the balls to get things done.


How do you know that?

Yzerman went out and signed and traded his way to a playoff spot.(as of now)

You mean two bottom pairing dman have the worst metrics on the team? It's almost as if it's suppose to be that way.

I mean the only dmen that have pissed me off is Dahlin to some degree and Power to ALOT of degree.

 

[TehDoak]

First of all, I think they probably expected some regression and growing pains, but I truly do not believe they felt pressure to make the playoffs this year, and I think most of the public comments about winning were just GM speak to appease the fan base. I still believe their plan is primarily to build a long-term contender that they feel will be achieved by slow cooking the rebuild.

I don't think it was the loses that they didn't anticipate, but the poor team performance in those loses... which has them on edge and is putting a large cloud over their slow cook plan.

As far as your description of Adams, I actually agree. He is one to avoid major decisions and defers to his "specialists" on the decisions he does make.

The thing about that is that it honestly is not the worst scenario.

Some GMs tend to draft well.
Some GMs tend to win trades
Some GMs are good contract negotiators.
Some GMs do well in the UFA market.
But most GMs do fairly poorly in most of these areas.

I'd rather have a GM that defers to good scouts and drafts well, and is hesitant to gamble on big trades or big UFA deals while rebuilding.

The majority of NHL GMs are their own worst enemies when they try to make big moves. I understand the frustration with Adams, but I also want to remind everyone that big moves often backfire more often than they work out.

Adams is not a top tier GM, but Terry Pegula is not likely to hire a top tier GM, so having a guy that does some things well and doesn't really screw the goose in anyone area is probably preferable to having a guy that swings for the fences everyday in the job and whiffs horribly on most swings.

GMs do come from varied backgrounds sure. There isn't a super GM out there that does everything great. But, typically what you see when a new GM is hired is they go out and find people to complement them from their past working in front offices.

Adams hasn't done that. Part of the reason is that his rolodex is empty...because he had no professional or even amateur experience in a front office. Yes, they did sign Karmonos...but he doesn't have any experience running a team either.

We don't know if he's drafted well (yet) we know he's drafted a lot. Time will be the judge there.

Adams isn't a good trader. His greatest trades came when he was a seller. He's almost abstained from the market since then other than minor moves.

Adams isn't a good contract negotiator.

Adams doesn't do well in the UFA market.

Adams is good at sticking to talking points and talking to the media.

He is good at managing the people in the physical office in Buffalo and doing what his boss tells him to do. After that, the things that make a GM an actual GM, he's middling at best.

 

[ValJamesDuex]

I want one of the people covering the Sabres to ask about this style/system change and who is responsible for it ? You will not get a straight answer most likely, but it needs to be asked.

Adams/Karmanos have built a SLOW & DUMB roster, in the mold of when Adams played that is torture to watch most nights, mismanaged goaltending for yet another year, hired coaches who cannot fix the power play, has had abysmal roster management, and is headed for yet another year on the outside looking in.

 

[TageGod]

I want one of the people covering the Sabres to ask about this style/system change and who is responsible for it ? You will not get a straight answer most likely, but it needs to be asked.

Adams/Karmanos have built a SLOW & DUMB roster, in the mold of when Adams played that is torture to watch most nights, mismanaged goaltending for yet another year, hired coaches who cannot fix the power play, has had abysmal roster management, and is headed for yet another year on the outside looking in.

Most of their players are fast so idk what this is. Do you mean Okposo and Murray? Goaltending has been FINE. Power play is the big one for me. Yikes. Little solace that Pens have the same problem.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

A team wide regression, or even a significant portion of the roster truly regressing is not something to be expected. If this team was playing the same style as last season we could make a more reliable judgement on this, but they've changed up to try and be more defensive, and almost the entire roster is struggling under new conditions from last season. Regression is not the problem. Implementing a new style is the problem because many players aren't playing with confidence or on instinct anymore. There is some ratio of coaching and player IQ that is mostly to blame...exactly what ratio is guesswork for now.

The backdrop is much like @littletonhockeycoach described - a GM that is doing the basics of making the owner happy, and not nearly inclined to make any major moves while the organization is on and selling the "internal growth" trajectory. Some moves may not be worth it while the team is clearly not a Cup contender for now anyway. I still think some lesser moves to add size and experience would be worth it now. A few current players and prospects also seem worth it to trade for improvements from my POV, along with a serious look at coaching. We shouldn't expect anything big until a few prospects pan out as "good" or "bad", forcing KA to make a decision. It seems that's how it's going to be...riding the "patience" message to a fault.

 

[OkimLom]

Most of their players are fast so idk what this is. Do you mean Okposo and Murray? Goaltending has been FINE. Power play is the big one for me. Yikes. Little solace that Pens have the same problem.

The team is not fast.

Peterka is probably our fastest player, followed by Tuch. In terms of explosive acceleration, again, Peterka is probably our best player with that as well. Robinson is right there as well. We will see where Quinn ends up post injury.

The rest of the team are a mixture of strong technical skaters with average top end speed and acceleration (Dahlin, Skinner, Tage, Power, Benson), average technical skaters with average speed (Cozens, Girgensons, Joker, Samuelsson, Oloffsson, Mittelstadt) or slow skaters (Clifton, Greenway, Okposo, Krebs, Jost, EJ).

 

[TageGod]

The team is not fast.

Peterka is probably our fastest player, followed by Tuch. In terms of explosive acceleration, again, Peterka is probably our best player with that as well. Robinson is right there as well. We will see where Quinn ends up post injury.

The rest of the team are a mixture of strong technical skaters with average top end speed and acceleration (Dahlin, Skinner, Tage, Power, Benson), average technical skaters with average speed (Cozens, Girgensons, Joker, Samuelsson, Oloffsson, Mittelstadt) or slow skaters (Clifton, Greenway, Okposo, Krebs, Jost, EJ).

I think you have some rankings mixed up and underestimate some players speed. That's not to say they are using their speed of course. VO and Cozens can skate faster than Benson, who just has good acceleration. Krebs and Jost are 100% not slow skaters.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

The team is not fast.

Peterka is probably our fastest player, followed by Tuch. In terms of explosive acceleration, again, Peterka is probably our best player with that as well. Robinson is right there as well. We will see where Quinn ends up post injury.

The rest of the team are a mixture of strong technical skaters with average top end speed and acceleration (Dahlin, Skinner, Tage, Power, Benson), average technical skaters with average speed (Cozens, Girgensons, Joker, Samuelsson, Oloffsson, Mittelstadt) or slow skaters (Clifton, Greenway, Okposo, Krebs, Jost, EJ).

As a whole, this team is fast. This year, not so much. Now whether that’s due to the team’s system or how the rest of the league is playing the Sabres is another discussion altogether

 

[stealth1]

You mean he added the two worst free agents possible?

You do know Clifton and Johnson has the worst matrics out of every sabres player.

Don't you think accountability is important?

Clifton and Johnson are the problem on the ice. They are terrible but the bigger problem is the GM doesn't have the balls to get things done.


How do you know that?

Yzerman went out and signed and traded his way to a playoff spot.(as of now)

I don't think this team is as bad as many here make them out to be. Games like they played against Vegas, Boston and Toronto show this team has the talent to compete and win against the best teams in the league. IMO the problem is not so much roster makeup but the younger guys figuring out to play that way night in night out.

 

[TageGod]

As a whole, this team is fast. This year, not so much. Now whether that’s due to the team’s system or how the rest of the league is playing the Sabres is another discussion altogether

They are bottling up the neutral zone and forcing Sabres to play simple dump and chase and cycle in the offensive zone, which they suck at.

 

[toddkaz]

I don't think this team is as bad as many here make them out to be. Games like they played against Vegas, Boston and Toronto show this team has the talent to compete and win against the best teams in the league. IMO the problem is not so much roster makeup but the younger guys figuring out to play that way night in night out.

I don't think anyone has an issue there. The issue is laying an egg against Arizona and thats on the coach. Back to back games? Sure thats tough but Arizona also played back to back games.

Coach has to get the guys to play 82 games.

 

[Ygo]

As a whole, this team is fast. This year, not so much. Now whether that’s due to the team’s system or how the rest of the league is playing the Sabres is another discussion altogether

Fair to say they are playing slow this year. Especially compared to last year. Lower relative top speed and a lot less bursts compared to the NHL average team.

 

[GellMann]

“Pointless in six games, Rosen holds a 5-on-5 xGF% of an incredibly low 31.69 percent. Kulich, on the other hand, boasts an xGF% of 50.12 percent, and though Savoie played just 3:55 in his one game, he held an xGF% of over 80 percent. I’m not sure what Adams sees in Rosen that he doesn’t see in one of those two.”

Look…I think the Savoie thing was about as stupid a thing as this dumb coach has done this year…but if he wasn’t going to play him there was no reason to have him here another minute.

The Kulich thing is also dumb. Your pp is costing you games and the one game you let him play (with no PP time) you stuck him on the 4th line in a game you got boatraced…and he STILL led the team in xGF%. And you never gave him a second game. That’s silly when your offence is in the mud. but the article ignores what the difference between Rosen and the other two is. His contract started. And they already let Benson’s start early. If they think it’s close…they are going to save the years.

This one is more Granato didnt give the opportunity than Adams seeing something. He sees a coach that played one guy 4 minutes and put another on the 4th line.

xGF% is a metric whose predictive power peaks somewhere around 40-50 games at the team level (ie close to 60 minutes per game)

I don't understand why "smart" outlets mention it on a game-level basis for individual skaters. Insane

Savoie at 80%? 4 mins of ice time. I was at the game he played and on one shift he threw three blind passes to the other team. He is not close to capably holding his own on NHL ice yet, I can't believe someone would even think to attach a shot location based-metric to his 4 minutes of action

 

[SabresFan26]

If Kevyn continues to stand by Donnie then he deserves to be fired. He hasn’t made the Sabres better.

This was supposed to be the year they make the playoffs and they’ve regressed by nearly a 20 point pace.

 

[Irie]

If Kevyn continues to stand by Donnie then he deserves to be fired. He hasn’t made the Sabres better.

This was supposed to be the year they make the playoffs and they’ve regressed by nearly a 20 point pace.

This was the year the *fans* expected them to make the playoffs.

While Adams gave everyone lip service about the goal is "always to win", I have to think in their roadmap that this was always to be another development year. (Adams may not be the sharpest GM in the league, but no one that played as long as he did could realistically believe the team built the way this team was built was ready to compete in the east, and there was never the feeling of playoff pressure which would be present if this season was "do-or-die")

Internally, I strongly believe this was the year the front office was going to make decisions on Mitts, Joker, Krebs, Jost, Peterka, Quinn, and UPL, and possibly some of the AHL guys.

Further develop the young core (Cozens, Dahlin, Sammy and Power) and determine who from the list above could be shipped off for upgrades elsewhere.

I do agree with you, that if nothing changes with the coaching staff (Granato or several of his assistants), then the organization should probably look to move on from the entire front office. If they can't see that this coaching staff severely lacks what is needed to properly develop this young team, then they should be removed from the equation asap.

 

[TehDoak]

This was the year the *fans* expected them to make the playoffs.

It's going to be 13 years since our last playoff appearance. Half the league makes the playoffs.

It's not a holy grail of goals. It's simply states "You have crossed the line from bad to mediocre"

While Adams gave everyone lip service about the goal is "always to win", I have to think in their roadmap that this was always to be another development year. (Adams may not be the sharpest GM in the league, but no one that played as long as he did could realistically believe the team built the way this team was built was ready to compete in the east, and there was never the feeling of playoff pressure which would be present if this season was "do-or-die")

Stop moving the goal posts. He clearly said the expectations was playoffs this year in his presser last year. And that was the talk all preseason that the goal was playoffs. They spend nearly 6.5M in new player acquisition in Clifton and Johnson. This was not a development year.

They wanted to be a playoff team and they (at least so far) have failed.

Internally, I strongly believe this was the year the front office was going to make decisions on Mitts, Joker, Krebs, Jost, Peterka, Quinn, and UPL, and possibly some of the AHL guys.

Further develop the young core (Cozens, Dahlin, Sammy and Power) and determine who from the list above could be shipped off for upgrades elsewhere.

I do agree with you, that if nothing changes with the coaching staff (Granato or several of his assistants), then the organization should probably look to move on from the entire front office. If they can't see that this coaching staff severely lacks what is needed to properly develop this young team, then they should be removed from the equation asap.

They missed the playoffs last year by 1 point. And they clearly tried to improve this summer. They did a terrible job at it, but they TRIED, which is more than you can say about most years under the Adams administration.

Now, will Adams likely make a big move or fire a coach over the failings in season? Probably not. He won't make a big move with ideal conditions, tons of draft assets, and a mountain of cap space. Is he going to make a move with other GMs knowing he's under fire and needs to do something?

But to come out and try to say "Eh you know its not a big deal, we wanted to do better, but you know, we are still evaluating" would probably cause pitchforks to come out.

 

[stealth1]

It's going to be 13 years since our last playoff appearance. Half the league makes the playoffs.

It's not a holy grail of goals. It's simply states "You have crossed the line from bad to mediocre"




Stop moving the goal posts. He clearly said the expectations was playoffs this year in his presser last year. And that was the talk all preseason that the goal was playoffs. They spend nearly 6.5M in new player acquisition in Clifton and Johnson. This was not a development year.

They wanted to be a playoff team and they (at least so far) have failed.




They missed the playoffs last year by 1 point. And they clearly tried to improve this summer. They did a terrible job at it, but they TRIED, which is more than you can say about most years under the Adams administration.

Now, will Adams likely make a big move or fire a coach over the failings in season? Probably not. He won't make a big move with ideal conditions, tons of draft assets, and a mountain of cap space. Is he going to make a move with other GMs knowing he's under fire and needs to do something?

But to come out and try to say "Eh you know its not a big deal, we wanted to do better, but you know, we are still evaluating" would probably cause pitchforks to come out.

I think he did a ok job in the off season. The signings he made haven't hurt the team. Adding Johnson to the room was good for veteran leadership. IMO it's the young that failing this team.

 

[Mattilaus]

I think he did a ok job in the off season. The signings he made haven't hurt the team. Adding Johnson to the room was good for veteran leadership. IMO it's the young that failing this team.

All else aside, if the best we can say about our acquisitions is they "haven't hurt the team", aren't we setting the bar mighty low?

 

[Irie]

It's going to be 13 years since our last playoff appearance. Half the league makes the playoffs.

They are not concerned with the history of the organization or the length of the playoff drought. As far as Adams and company are concerned, the plan started when Granato was named fulltime coach and the roadmap was established, presumably with Pegulas blessing.

Stop moving the goal posts.

I'm not moving any goalposts. My words were the same two years ago and the same this last offseason. I said this team was not a playoff team and that it looked to me like they were still a year away from seriously addressing the holes and roster balance because it looked like they still had evaluation yet to do on the group of players I listed.

They spend nearly 6.5M in new player acquisition in Clifton and Johnson. This was not a development year.

6.5 added while moving out Hinostroza's 1.7. Bjork's 1.8, Lyubushkin's 2.75 and dropping Okposo from 6 to 2.5.

There still is a cap floor, and they didn't want to have injuries crush the team like they did last year, so spending some of the money they jettisoned on temp D depth was a safety net, not a playoff guarantee.

They missed the playoffs last year by 1 point.

They accumulated 91 points last season.

Expecting to get into the playoffs with 92 points is usually wishful thinking. The year before it would have taken them 101 points to make the playoffs in the east. The difference between a 91 point season and a 101 point season is so much more than 10 points. The Quality of season a team has to put up to break the 100 point threshold is large. Every point above 90 is 10 times more difficult to get than the 10 points above 80, because with the limited amount of available points, the more you get means the more nights during the season you have to perform.

But to come out and try to say "Eh you know its not a big deal, we wanted to do better, but you know, we are still evaluating" would probably cause pitchforks to come out.

That is exactly why he would never say that, even if the reality was that they were still evaluating Mitts, Krebs, Joker, Jost, UPL, Peterka and Quinn and making decisions on who was expendable.

They obviously thought they would be better so far this year than they have been, but GMs are always going to overstate expectations on upcoming seasons. There was never any presser where I got the feeling Adams was saying "we have to make the playoffs". He was actually very careful with his words, and was pressed by reporters in every interview. His canned response was always, Playoffs are the goal this season. If playoffs were the bare minimum, his words would have been completely different.

 

[Chainshot]

All else aside, if the best we can say about our acquisitions is they "haven't hurt the team", aren't we setting the bar mighty low?

Clifton and EJohnson have made sure that guys like Bryson, Clague, Fitz, and even Pilut are now far enough down the depth chart to not be a danger on the ice. There are points last year where those folks actively hurt the team so they or this season's versions aren't out there.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

All this talk about Clifton and EJ being "the worst possible UFA additions" or some equivalent is really showing a short memory for what the faulty four (Bryson, Clague, Fitz, Pilut) provided for D-corps depth the first half of last season. Those guys were terrible and injuries forced them all to play way over their depth. The gap between EJ and Clifton and an above average 3rd pair is fairly small. The gap between EJ and Clifton and what Buffalo rolled out last season reaches past the edge of the map.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I don't think this team is as bad as many here make them out to be. Games like they played against Vegas, Boston and Toronto show this team has the talent to compete and win against the best teams in the league. IMO the problem is not so much roster makeup but the younger guys figuring out to play that way night in night out.

Further the Sabres look real good against those team when those team's execution and "puck luck" is bad.

Makes us all think we have more going for us than we really do........ lol