Kevyn Adams GM thread

[joshjull]

I would not be shocked in the least if the total cash spend on the entire coaching staff since Adams became GM tracked with the total cash spend on the NHL roster.

Here is how things have gone with the roster spend under Adams:

Year 1 - 18th (the high water mark)
Year 2 - 31st
Year 3 - 30th
Year 4 - 29th
Year 5 - 27th

As soon as Ralph was shown his walking papers, Granato was given the job and was paid like a rookie coach.

But, they also had a smaller coaching staff in general under Granato from the assistants through the development coaches. And we heard all sorts of reasons why. But, given all the other areas where they have run light since Adams came in and was told to lay off a bunch of people, it sure seems to be an organizational trend.

We will never know the truth. But, the optics are not good.

Pegula has never spent a ton of cash on the roster relative to the rest of the league during his ownership tenure. So why is now some sort of conspiracy?

 

[yasky]

Who would want to come here in this current situation? Any vet would need to be vastly overpaid and be willing to be a scapegoat for when the team goes on its many losing benders. As I'm exiting my prime and getting up there in years why on Earth would I want to subject myself to this mess (unless I'm being grossly overpaid) when I could catch on somewhere that has an actual shot at the playoffs?

As an aside, can anyone confirm that Terry is still alive and kicking through all this?

 

[Jim Bob]

Pegula has never spent a ton of cash on the roster relative to the rest of the league during his ownership tenure. So why is now some sort of conspiracy?

It's not some sort of conspiracy.

It is just more evidence that Pegula is not interested in doing everything possible to bring a Stanley Cup to Buffalo like he proclaimed when he bought the team.

Who would want to come here in this current situation? Any vet would need to be vastly overpaid and be willing to be a scapegoat for when the team goes on its many losing benders. As I'm exiting my prime and getting up there in years why on Earth would I want to subject myself to this mess (unless I'm being grossly overpaid) when I could catch on somewhere that has an actual shot at the playoffs?

As an aside, can anyone confirm that Terry is still alive and kicking through all this?

Here is proof of life.

 

[HaNotsri]

I made a snarky comment about the team/Peterka yesterday and saw Sam Lafferty liked it.

The discord is mounting.


It’s kind of hilarious that Adams said he can’t get good UFAs literally while Zucker is outplaying 9/10 of the team.

Someone should ask Zucker how he avoids taxes and enjoys palm trees in Buffalo.

 

[BFLO]

What Terry Pegula had to say about firing Sabres coach, GM (transcript)

The owner discusses what led to firing Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma.

www.newyorkupstate.com

Terry after firing Murray & Bylsma:



And then after moving on from Botts:

Sabres fire GM Botterill in series of cost-cutting moves

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula reversed course by firing general manager Jason Botterill on Tuesday as part of a drastic cost-cutting purge of front-office staff and scouts on a team preparing to sit idle for what could be the remainder of the calendar year.

apnews.com

Communication is a common theme between those two decisions. Since Adams has said that he talks to Terry every day, it seems like the communication is there...

Yep. This is similar to what I said a few pages back. Terry fired Murray and Botts over "communication". Which translates from Pegulaspeek to "They weren't Terry's b!tch boys like Kevyn is"

 

[BFLO]

I’m talking about what they spent relative to the cap. You’re talking about what they spent relative to the rest of the league. Those are two different things. One doesn’t refute the other and they can both be true. A team can be ranked in the teens and still be spending at, near or even above the upper limit.

We're not competing against the cap, we're competing against the other teams in the league. Comparing our spending against the cap is a useless exercise that you've used to try to downplay how cheap this team has been under Pegula.

Thats fine. But for me, it’s about Adams overrating of his own guys and not seeing the same roster needs we do.

The blatantly obvious example of overrating a player is his handling of Levi. The past two seasons have been about making the playoffs. Yet Adams, at the start of both, tried to force Levi into the starting goalie battle. He didn’t do it for budgetary reasons but because he thought it was best for Levi and the team. It was a bad assessment of the player and the situation.

I have a little trouble believing Adams is making similar bad assessments with other players at other positions on the team. So he doesn’t address needs we see.

It can be both.

Adams has obviously overrated his own guys. Like your Levi example.

Just like this team has obviously had a mandate to keep costs down.

And one does play into the other.

Step 1: Adams has a mandate from Pegula to keep costs down
Step 2: Adams overrates his own guys who all happen to be on ELCs and have low costs
Step 3: The season starts and the Sabres predictably struggle. "Aw shucks, my guys weren't as good as I hyped them to be. Guess it's another development year"

(Adams kept costs down by overrating his own guys and forcing them into the lineup and the cycle repeats)

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Dreger on Sabres Live, Kevin Adams wants to improve the team now, but there just is not a lot of activity out there right now.

 

[Fjordy]

Dreger, Kevin Adams wants to improve the team now, but there just is not a lot of activity out there right now.

A classic of the genre, the idiot sat in the summer and did almost nothing, but now, when few people are trading, he stirred. Let him sit without a playoff now and then they will fire him.

 

[oldgoalie]

Dreger on Sabres Live, Kevin Adams wants to improve the team now, but there just is not a lot of activity out there right now.

f*** that bullshit. there's been a series of moves lately. he's a lying sack of shit.

 

[May Day 10]

We have been hearing the same excuse for the last 2 complete year cycles.

Looking at past performance, I want someone else making those moves

 

[Jim Bob]

Former Oilers GM Ken Holland relishing NHL gig, but ‘not sure I enjoy a stress-free existence’

He’s sponging up life in the Hockey Ops department but, even at 69, he may never lose the GM itch.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

Holland had offers from multiple teams to join as an advisor. But that didn’t feel quite right. He prefers to have more decision-making power as opposed to being part of the furniture.

“We’ll see,” Holland said. “I’m enjoying this year and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully I can add to the Hockey Ops department.”

Holland has no shortage of options. He could continue on in Hockey Operations. But the hockey lifer admittedly still can’t quite kick the exhilaration of having skin in the game, the joy and pain of wins and losses.

“We’ll see,” Holland said. “For the first time, since July 1, I haven’t had any stress. It’s been an stress-free existence. But I’m not sure if I enjoy a stress-free existence.”