In 2020 Adams had a .500 team with a:
Franchise Center (Eichel)
Top Line Winger (reinhart)
1st overall pick d-man in development (Dahlin)
A starting goalie (Ullmark)
He had Cozens, Mittelstadt as former top 10 picks in the pipeline. Tage Thompson was coming off a major injury and really wasn't much of a consideration. And you had the Skinner contract looking like a big fat failure as well. You had Samuelsson, Jokijarhu, and Ryan Johnson in the defensive pipeline.
Thats the skeleton for a good team that a skilled professional GM with a budget could have built around and had success.
Unfortunately, we hired a loyalist with no experience and gave him no resources and no support.
His offseason moves, combined with bad coaching and injury luck, drove the team to a last place finish.
While the prospect pipeline is certainly stronger now that it was when he took over, the roster isn't in a significantly better place, at least in terms of results.
The management blew up what was a 7 year rebuild at the time and hit the reset button. Because the players weren't good? No, the cornerstone pieces other than Ristolainen have gone on and had great success since leaving. And even then, by all accounts, Ristolainen has done well in Philly. Because, they labeled the players as malcontents that "didn't want to be here". The angry players were the problem. But the reality was they simply wanted to be in a well run organization that knew how to win. It had nothing to do with the city of Buffalo and had everything to do with how bad of a job the Pegulas and the management they hired did in running the team.
So no, Adams has not done a good job since 2020. He dismanted a the skeleton of a good team, gathered assets, and his greatest success was missing the playoffs by a point....in a league where 50% of the teams make the playoffs. And that only happened because Tage Thompson came off the scrap heap to become a top line center, something he had no control over. Adams has constantly squandered dollars on bad players, left cap space assets ununused, and consistently failed to address obvious needs of the team.
The teams drafting has been, at least on paper, good since taking over, however, that has yet to translate to any tangible success on the ice.
The goal is to win games. In the NHL. To make the playoffs. And win the cup. Not amass prospects. And yes, having a good prospect pool can lead to great things. But, you need to be able to construct a legit NHL roster that can make the playoffs for that to matter. If all you are doing in developing prospects to the point they get sick of losing in the NHL and want to leave, you are just a developmental team for the rest of the NHL.
