Kevyn Adams GM thread

[Ace]

Honestly, I'd pay PPV prices for someone to sit down with Adams in a one on one interview and actually ask him hard questions.

Can I do it?

i’e had them ready for almost three years. Haven’t even needed to update one.

 

[TehDoak]

You'd pay top dollar to watch him say nothing and dance around all the questions?

I don't think he's ever been pressed on anything. The hardest interview he does is a press conference where he can just give a quick meaningless answer and jump to the next more friendly question

He's rolling in it and who are we to judge?

Misery, misery is what I am rolling in.

Can I do it?

i’e had them ready for almost three years. Haven’t even needed to update one.

Only if I get to be in the headset giving you more ammo as you go.

 

[Tijuana Donkey Show]

At the risk of whining for whining's sake.

Not so fun fact. Once the Sabres officially miss the playoffs this year he will have the 3rd longest active playoff drought among active GM's.

The other 2 are:

Jarmo Kekalainen (CBJ): But Jarmo has made the playoffs 5/10 seasons. But has not been a great team. By comparison their P% is .531 to the Sabres .431 since Jamo took over. and .461 (BUF) to .561(BUF) since Adams took over.

Steve Yzerman (DET): His name in the rafters and jersey number retired are certainly helping his longevity in the Motor City. Granted he was successful in TB.

Neither are great company at the moment.

 

[Beerz]

At the risk of whining for whining's sake.

Not so fun fact. Once the Sabres officially miss the playoffs this year he will have the 3rd longest active playoff drought among active GM's.

The other 2 are:

Jarmo Kekalainen (CBJ): But Jarmo has made the playoffs 5/10 seasons. But has not been a great team. By comparison their P% is .531 to the Sabres .431 since Jamo took over. and .461 (BUF) to .561(BUF) since Adams took over.

Steve Yzerman (DET): His name in the rafters and jersey number retired are certainly helping his longevity in the Motor City. Granted he was successful in TB.

Neither are great company at the moment.

At least Jarmo tries

 

[Tijuana Donkey Show]

At least Jarmo tries

I didn’t realize, but the KBC lease is up after next year.

My tin foil hat says that Kevyn Adams was never hired to win hockey games. He was hired to be the fall guy for trading Eichel. He’s hired to get a young core that somebody else could get excited about long term.

He’s hired to see the team off into the sunset.

The last few years I thought Terry would sell the Sabres in fairly short order if the Bills won a SB. I found Beane’s EOY comments about the salary cap and spending because Terry wants to win now strange.

But paired with the Sabres lease ending and next to zero effort to actually win hockey games, I can’t help but have a sense of doom.

 

[sabremike]

I didn’t realize, but the KBC lease is up after next year.

My tin foil hat says that Kevyn Adams was never hired to win hockey games. He was hired to be the fall guy for trading Eichel. He’s hired to get a young core that somebody else could get excited about long term.

He’s hired to see the team off into the sunset.

The last few years I thought Terry would sell the Sabres in fairly short order if the Bills won a SB. I found Beane’s EOY comments about the salary cap and spending because Terry wants to win now strange.

But paired with the Sabres lease ending and next to zero effort to actually win hockey games, I can’t help but have a sense of doom.

If the team is ever sold it will be like Dundon in Carolina where the buyer is informed prior to the sale that an iron clad condition of approval is that he will never be allowed to relocate the team.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I didn’t realize, but the KBC lease is up after next year.

My tin foil hat says that Kevyn Adams was never hired to win hockey games. He was hired to be the fall guy for trading Eichel. He’s hired to get a young core that somebody else could get excited about long term.

He’s hired to see the team off into the sunset.

The last few years I thought Terry would sell the Sabres in fairly short order if the Bills won a SB. I found Beane’s EOY comments about the salary cap and spending because Terry wants to win now strange.

But paired with the Sabres lease ending and next to zero effort to actually win hockey games, I can’t help but have a sense of doom.

Terry selling the team isn’t doom - it’s salvation.

 

[TehDoak]

At the risk of whining for whining's sake.

Not so fun fact. Once the Sabres officially miss the playoffs this year he will have the 3rd longest active playoff drought among active GM's.

The other 2 are:

Jarmo Kekalainen (CBJ): But Jarmo has made the playoffs 5/10 seasons. But has not been a great team. By comparison their P% is .531 to the Sabres .431 since Jamo took over. and .461 (BUF) to .561(BUF) since Adams took over.

Steve Yzerman (DET): His name in the rafters and jersey number retired are certainly helping his longevity in the Motor City. Granted he was successful in TB.

Neither are great company at the moment.

The difference being, of course, Adams took over a .500 team with a franchise center locked up long term, a franchise d-man, and plenty of prospects.

He has since taken that bounty and done zilch with it.

 

[May Day 10]

I didn’t realize, but the KBC lease is up after next year.

My tin foil hat says that Kevyn Adams was never hired to win hockey games. He was hired to be the fall guy for trading Eichel. He’s hired to get a young core that somebody else could get excited about long term.

He’s hired to see the team off into the sunset.

The last few years I thought Terry would sell the Sabres in fairly short order if the Bills won a SB. I found Beane’s EOY comments about the salary cap and spending because Terry wants to win now strange.

But paired with the Sabres lease ending and next to zero effort to actually win hockey games, I can’t help but have a sense of doom.

The conditions are certainly right for a relocation. No lease, an arena that is the worst in the league, and disappearing fans/crowds. The Sabres as a franchise have not been truly relevant in about 17 years, and those 2 seasons came out of lockout/bankruptcy situations. We are talking 2001 since the team ended a sustained run of playoff seasons. Nobody outside Buffalo would care, and probably support the move for a shiny new logo and branding.

With that said, I still do not believe Terry Pegula intends on selling us out like that. I also think the NHL would prefer expansion $ than a relocation fee.

 

[jd1970]

6th worst record in the NHL and this guy is showing no desperation at all to keep his job which tells me he considers this another "development" year, Pegula is on board with it, and the fans have been lied to.

 

[Jim Bob]

'It's desperately in need': are improvements on the way for Buffalo's KeyBank Center?

What does the future hold for Buffalo's KeyBank Center? Fans and exports weigh-in on what's needed and what's next.

www.wkbw.com

According to the county, the current lease with the Sabres runs through October 2027.

Erie County believes that the lease runs longer than through the 2024-25 season.

 

[Ace]

Obviously for me belief in Adams ran out completely the off-season before last year. But I don’t know how anyone could have any left by now. Once they missed the playoffs by 1 game in their NHL record 12th straight miss….and he didn’t add important pieces to the team…I mean. Quinn was injured and they KNEW they were missing a top forward and he did NOTHING. There is no reason to believe in him or his ability or commitment to build a team. Four off-season in he hasn’t. He can’t identify a coach. He can’t identify a top 4 D. He can’t even figure out he should replace Quinn. Twice. Kyle Okposo is on the top line. They can’t score goals and the idea to replace Quinn this time is an 18 year old with 4 goals. The PP is a disaster and Ellis is still here.

This isn’t going to get better. It might, at some point, get LUCKIER. But it will not get better as long as Pegula employs unqualified people in important positions.

 

[Ace]

6th worst record in the NHL and this guy is showing no desperation at all to keep his job which tells me he considers this another "development" year, Pegula is on board with it, and the fans have been lied to.

I wish they acted like it was a development year. I wish Okposo wasn’t on the first line. I wish Levi didn’t sit for almost A full month instead of playing in Rochester earlier. I wish they wouldnt run a PP1 with Okposo and Skinner on it.

what, exactly, are they developing aside from confirmation a coach they won’t fire has no answers and the GM doesn’t have a standard for his organization?

 

[Game suspension]

Why does Granato still have a job ?

 

[sabremike]

Why does Granato still have a job ?

Because he has 2 more years left on his contract and our owner (who is among the wealthiest in the entire league and just got a stadium deal so ridiculously lopsided that even Mike Brown would've been too ashamed to even ask for it much less take it) has decided he's not paying anyone not to coach under any circumstance.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Because he has 2 more years left on his contract and our owner (who is among the wealthiest in the entire league and just got a stadium deal so ridiculously lopsided that even Mike Brown would've been too ashamed to even ask for it much less take it) has decided he's not paying anyone not to coach under any circumstance.

Doesn’t he have three more years on his deal? It hasn’t starter yet and I don’t think he signed a two-yr deal

 

[HOOats]

Does anyone have a link for Adams interview on the pregame show Tuesday? Cannot find anything anywhere. Thanks.

 

[Zman5778]

Why does Granato still have a job ?

It's pretty obvious......even if you don't agree with the rationale.

This was never a "playoffs or bust" year for the front office, and they are unconcerned with the ups and downs of a young team.


Personally, I agree that this wasn't a "playoffs or bust" year.....but holy hell I wanted them to be at least in the race for the vast majority of the season. And the decrease in performance of our top players is putting out giant red flags. But again....they appear unconcerned with that.

 

[Ehran]

Because he has 2 more years left on his contract and our owner (who is among the wealthiest in the entire league and just got a stadium deal so ridiculously lopsided that even Mike Brown would've been too ashamed to even ask for it much less take it) has decided he's not paying anyone not to coach under any circumstance.

Yes, its very much in his favor. All NFL owners and stadium deals are like that.

But... he agreed to pay all cost overruns. The $1.4B stadium has already soared to $1.8B and they haven't even really started sinking the structural steel (STEAL) in. The NY politicians and labor leaders will bloat that construction for all its worth.

I'm going to laugh when (not if) the total construction costs blow past $2B.

 

[Chainshot]

Does anyone have a link for Adams interview on the pregame show Tuesday? Cannot find anything anywhere. Thanks.

Still haven't seen it anywhere either.

 

[HOOats]

Still haven't seen it anywhere either.

I've exhausted my online search, it's nowhere. Bizarre. If anyone has the pregame show from Tuesday DVR'd, that's our best shot.

 

[Tatanka]

It's pretty obvious......even if you don't agree with the rationale.

This was never a "playoffs or bust" year for the front office, and they are unconcerned with the ups and downs of a young team.


Personally, I agree that this wasn't a "playoffs or bust" year.....but holy hell I wanted them to be at least in the race for the vast majority of the season. And the decrease in performance of our top players is putting out giant red flags. But again....they appear unconcerned with that.

I do not get this line of thinking. The NHL is not a development league. After three years the shortcomings were obvious. A franchise in professional sports is essentially in the entertainment business. I find this management group lacking in providing an entertaining experience with the lack of winning being the major issue.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I do not get this line of thinking. The NHL is not a development league. After three years the shortcomings were obvious. A franchise in professional sports is essentially in the entertainment business. I find this management group lacking in providing an entertaining experience with the lack of winning being the major issue.

Buffalo has turned it into a development league. We’re also probably about to call up Kulich after the deadline, who isn’t fully baked.

 

[May Day 10]

That whole "development" nonsense is a stall tactic. There is no way we should be stuck 3rd last in the conference with halfway decent lottery odds in Adams' 4th year. This is madness and nobody should give him or Granato a pass for this.

No NHL team would employ Adams in that position since Wang hired his goalie to be their GM. A normal franchise, with an actual standard of success would have recognized granato 'aint getting things done, is full of empty platitudes of identity-searching and growth... and replaced him in November.

With a new coach since November, this team would have either challenged for a playoff spot... or we would have a lot more information on the components of the roster and how they responded to the new coach. This organization would be farther ahead than where they are now. We would know if the new coach was working out or not.

But they need to hang on to this coach. Because 'communication' and growth opportunities have never been better. Adams might be forced to sacrifice him at the end of the season, but I expect Appert to be elevated to keep this great environment of communication going. But there will still be a lot of question marks surrounding the makeup of this roster.

Adams is in over his head. He doesnt know what he is doing, and he has failed to acquire any player of consequence other than maybe Tuch. Maybe Peterka, but he was on the job for like a week-prior, so Im not sure how much credit he should get for that.

And so much falls on Pegula. Who knows how heavily his 'communication' is pulling strings. I heard Hamilton the other day kind of hint that Pegula was a big advocate for bringing Okposo and Girgensons back. He just needs to go away, hire a Team President, give them autonomy, and restore this destroyed franchise.

 

[BloFan4Life]

The conditions are certainly right for a relocation. No lease, an arena that is the worst in the league, and disappearing fans/crowds. The Sabres as a franchise have not been truly relevant in about 17 years, and those 2 seasons came out of lockout/bankruptcy situations. We are talking 2001 since the team ended a sustained run of playoff seasons. Nobody outside Buffalo would care, and probably support the move for a shiny new logo and branding.

With that said, I still do not believe Terry Pegula intends on selling us out like that. I also think the NHL would prefer expansion $ than a relocation fee.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-firstontario-centre-renovation-1.6972821

Renovations will be done Oct 2025, just in time for the season.