The Sabres GM and Front Office Thread

[TehDoak]

Given the fact that we are +3 days since the Pegulas and Adams met and he's still the GM, I think its safe to say that Adams is staying on.

There might be some staffing changes, but Adams will most likely still be leading the front office.

I think this should be stated, as clear as day:

The Pegulas do not care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team.

If you wanted to hand wave or explain away first few years post pandemic as the Sabres rebuilding, you could. If you wanted to blame the first year with Adams as GM on Eichel Injury, the pandemic, and Krueger, sure, you could.

If you wanted to blame the 2021-22 season on the fact we do a "culture change" and ONLY have "players who want to be here", fine.

But...in 2022-23, Adams, against all odds, found success. The team competed for a playoff spot while below the cap floor. Adams had proof of concept, right?

23-24.... The team spent JUST above the cap floor. They added two d-men in the summer and ran back the entire forward group. They regressed. He swapped Mittelstadt for Byram in season.

24-25: Adams himself claimed it was "no stone unturned" in adding players. He rebuilt the 4th line and added Mcleod and Zucker. And to his credit, his two large additions turned out well. His 4th line rebuild fell flat, however, and the team regressed in the standings despite strong seasons from Dahlin, Peterka, Thompson, and Tuch.

Two years post Adams 'breakout season' the team has spent more and done worse. No major injuries or bad luck to really excuse it. You can simply point to a poorly run front office to blame. And as it enters this summer, to make any significant moves, Adams acquired/signed players will have to be moved out because after signing the teams major RFAs, they will be up against the cap.

There is no excuse for this, an an organization. Adams has shown nothing to warrant a 6th year as GM. This is almost wholly his team and his contracts now. This is his second head coach he has hired. (3rd head coach overall). The peak of Adams success was built on an unsustainable special teams run that lasted almost 2 months. In one season, Adams got career years out of nearly every player on the roster...and still missed the playoffs. And he missed the playoffs because he didn't address the teams needs adequately in the offseason prior. In the years since, it's been normal ebbs and flows of development, which is common for NHL teams....and he hasn't been able to make necessary changes. He's gotten roster locked by unecessary extensions given to players before they've earned them.

By bringing Adams back....the Pegulas have accepted a comfortable front office over any sort of organizational standards. The Pegulas would rather have someone that will do what they ask unquestionably than have a winning team on the ice.

 

[Zman5778]

I think this should be stated, as clear as day:

The Pegulas do not care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team.

I disagree. I do think that the Pegulas care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team. BUT, they want the Sabres to win the way Terry wants them to win. And Terry hasn't yet figured out that his way doesn't really work.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I disagree. I do think that the Pegulas care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team. BUT, they want the Sabres to win the way Terry wants them to win. And Terry hasn't yet figured out that his way doesn't really work.

Agreed.

The NFL is easier to find success. Get a good GM and good HC, establish a culture, get a franchise QB. Everything else can change. Look at the drought years. The Bills has Bledsoe for part of it. I think there was a good culture beginning under Willams and Donahoe, but they could not sustain it with the shift from Bledsoe to Losman, I think Mularkey carried over the success in 2004, but then the QB change happened and everything tailed off.

That group didn't get enough time, and in part, sealed their fate with the Losman pick. Levy and Jauron had good teams but Edwards got his brains scrambled and that sealed that group's fate. And it was a circus from then to McDermott/Beane/Allen,

I don't really know what that winning formula is in the NHL. There may be multiple. But Pegula hasn't hit on it yet, aside from going to get an experienced GM. That's the one avenue they have not tried yet.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I disagree. I do think that the Pegulas care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team. BUT, they want the Sabres to win the way Terry wants them to win. And Terry hasn't yet figured out that his way doesn't really work.

Same difference

 

[toddkaz]

Given the fact that we are +3 days since the Pegulas and Adams met and he's still the GM, I think its safe to say that Adams is staying on.

There might be some staffing changes, but Adams will most likely still be leading the front office.

I think this should be stated, as clear as day:

The Pegulas do not care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team.

If you wanted to hand wave or explain away first few years post pandemic as the Sabres rebuilding, you could. If you wanted to blame the first year with Adams as GM on Eichel Injury, the pandemic, and Krueger, sure, you could.

If you wanted to blame the 2021-22 season on the fact we do a "culture change" and ONLY have "players who want to be here", fine.

But...in 2022-23, Adams, against all odds, found success. The team competed for a playoff spot while below the cap floor. Adams had proof of concept, right?

23-24.... The team spent JUST above the cap floor. They added two d-men in the summer and ran back the entire forward group. They regressed. He swapped Mittelstadt for Byram in season.

24-25: Adams himself claimed it was "no stone unturned" in adding players. He rebuilt the 4th line and added Mcleod and Zucker. And to his credit, his two large additions turned out well. His 4th line rebuild fell flat, however, and the team regressed in the standings despite strong seasons from Dahlin, Peterka, Thompson, and Tuch.

Two years post Adams 'breakout season' the team has spent more and done worse. No major injuries or bad luck to really excuse it. You can simply point to a poorly run front office to blame. And as it enters this summer, to make any significant moves, Adams acquired/signed players will have to be moved out because after signing the teams major RFAs, they will be up against the cap.

There is no excuse for this, an an organization. Adams has shown nothing to warrant a 6th year as GM. This is almost wholly his team and his contracts now. This is his second head coach he has hired. (3rd head coach overall). The peak of Adams success was built on an unsustainable special teams run that lasted almost 2 months. In one season, Adams got career years out of nearly every player on the roster...and still missed the playoffs. And he missed the playoffs because he didn't address the teams needs adequately in the offseason prior. In the years since, it's been normal ebbs and flows of development, which is common for NHL teams....and he hasn't been able to make necessary changes. He's gotten roster locked by unecessary extensions given to players before they've earned them.

By bringing Adams back....the Pegulas have accepted a comfortable front office over any sort of organizational standards. The Pegulas would rather have someone that will do what they ask unquestionably than have a winning team on the ice.

A major problem with Adams is when something isn't working he refuses to make changes. Once the season starts and the team is going in a certain direction he will do nothing to change that.

He does/did nothing to help Power develop and did nothing to help Dahlin. I don't understand when even Chris Pronger takes to Twitter/X and tells the world him having a mentor helped greatly in his development, directing his comments to Power Yet there is Adams doing nothing while the 1st overall prospect struggles.

Adams has damaged this franchise with his inability to make changes, change direction and see flaws in the team and fix them.

As an example Colorado needed a goalie in the middle of the season and within a week Colorado traded for Blackwood.and got rid of Georgiev who was terrible. Blackwood is far and above better than Georgiev.

If that was Adams he will go down with the ship and his goalie destroying any hopes of the playoffs.

He is a fake GM pretending to be a real GM.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I don't really know what that winning formula is in the NHL. There may be multiple. But Pegula hasn't hit on it yet, aside from going to get an experienced GM. That's the one avenue they have not tried yet.

There are other things they haven’t tried too.

• Hasn’t made pro scouting a priority
• Hasn’t made the fan experience a priority
• Hasn’t actually done a coaching search the last three coaching hires
• Basically no outside hires in the entire front office
• Hasn’t tried hiring a POHO
• Hasn’t tried a different philosophy for drafting

…and there are a hundred more.

 

[Der Jaeger]

There are other things they haven’t tried too.

• Hasn’t made pro scouting a priority
• Hasn’t made the fan experience a priority
• Hasn’t actually done a coaching search the last three coaching hires
• Basically no outside hires in the entire front office
• Hasn’t tried hiring a POHO
• Hasn’t tried a different philosophy for drafting

…and there are a hundred more.

I wrote strictly about the GM/coaching similarity to the NFL. They've tried old coaches, new coaches, etc. They haven't made the experienced GM move yet.

What you wrote has merit but was outside the scope of my topic.

 

[truthbluth]

He's better about it now, but in Adams first year he couldn't go an entire press availability without talking about how great the Pegulas were. When they won the draft lottery in 2021 he said he was most excited for the Pegulas.

Not to re-litigate his hiring because its been done ad nauseam, but Adams was hired because Botterill wasn't willing to fire half his staff during a pandemic, something Adams was willing to do.

Adams was willing to run the team at a below salary floor level for 2 years.

Adams made up excuses and lies for why they weren't spending.

An experienced GM would not have done any of those things.

Adams was hired because he would do the what the owners wanted. That's a yes man.

Adams effusively praises ownership when given the opportunity.....that's an ass kisser.

Yes, there are other reasons they have kept Adams on as GM, but in the end....he's IS, in fact, an ass kissing yes man. And, the fact he's likely being kept after 5 seasons of missing the playoffs, the Pegulas evidently find that more important than fielding a winning hockey team.

I think you missed the bulk of my point or maybe I didn’t elucidate clearly. But I don’t give a shit if the GM is an ass kisser, if he’s f***ing good at his job. Adams sucks at his job, which is a way bigger concern for me than that he kisses Pegulas ass.

 

[chi777]

I disagree. I do think that the Pegulas care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team. BUT, they want the Sabres to win the way Terry wants them to win. And Terry hasn't yet figured out that his way doesn't really work.

That really isn't "wants to win".

It like me saying I want to get in shape and have 6-pack abs. I could possibly want that, but not enough to stop eating Mighty Taco 4 times a week.

In reality, I don't care enough it to put in the work. Just like Terry doesn't care enough to put in the resources.

 

[May Day 10]

It's amazing how Terry pegula has played the fanbase for fools. The number of missteps since he took over is appalling. He does not learn from the missteps, he only keeps doubling down on his own comfortable management structure.

This is all so he can feel fulfilled being involved in a pro sports team because he is a bored rich old guy who never participated or followed sports.

It is so greedy and it's a tragedy. He stole our civic treasure with his gas money.


I'm sticking to my plan. Cancelled my seasons of almost 25 years. If no changes by June 1st, I'm disengaging with the Sabres completely. No checking scores, no apparel, and no engaging online about them. Dead to me.

 

[TehDoak]

I disagree. I do think that the Pegulas care about the Sabres being a winning hockey team. BUT, they want the Sabres to win the way Terry wants them to win. And Terry hasn't yet figured out that his way doesn't really work.

If I wanted to run a marathon, but I refused every piece of marathon runners advice in how to do it because I'd been a marathon fan for a long time and I could figure it out myself....and I kept failing to run that marathon for over a decade...did I REALLY want to run that marathon? You want to be involved in a marathon, but not actually complete it.

Agreed.

The NFL is easier to find success. Get a good GM and good HC, establish a culture, get a franchise QB. Everything else can change. Look at the drought years. The Bills has Bledsoe for part of it. I think there was a good culture beginning under Willams and Donahoe, but they could not sustain it with the shift from Bledsoe to Losman, I think Mularkey carried over the success in 2004, but then the QB change happened and everything tailed off.

That group didn't get enough time, and in part, sealed their fate with the Losman pick. Levy and Jauron had good teams but Edwards got his brains scrambled and that sealed that group's fate. And it was a circus from then to McDermott/Beane/Allen,

I don't really know what that winning formula is in the NHL. There may be multiple. But Pegula hasn't hit on it yet, aside from going to get an experienced GM. That's the one avenue they have not tried yet.

Its unquestionably harder to win in the NFL than the NHL.

First off, its a roster of 53 not 23. Your coaching staff is massive. Position coaches. The Sabres have 8 coaches. The Bills have 28.

You can have a good QB and good coach and not win. Look at Cincinatti last year. A top 5 QB and a top 10 coach....failed miserably. You can't just be good at one thing. 14 out of 32 (used to be 12) teams make the playoffs vs 16 out of 32.

The only thing I'd argue is easier in the NFL is that you don't really have to worry about player costs because the massive TV contracts make every NFL team profitable before anyone steps in the door.

In the NHL, if you assembled an average team and a good coach, you would make the playoffs reasonably consistently. Nashville was the king of this, OK team, good coaching, playoffs most years.

I would much rather start a NHL team from scratch than a NFL team.

 

[Ace]

I believe NHL leadership, whether that’s league execs like Bettman, or long tenured and respected GMs or POhOs around the league had an undue influence on Terrys first two GM hires. And Terry felt that both of those guys acted entitled to their jobs, which is why Terry brought in Kevyn. This is the rational explanation for Kevyn, rather that the standard bullshit about Kevyn being an ass kissing yes man. He’s grateful, but his problem isn’t that he is a suck up, it’s that he sucks. Terry only wants to hire a GM he already knows.

It ignores any facts or basis in truth…but if it gets you through the night…be delusional.

In reality…they said they were retaining Botterill and then Terry told him to gut the hockey department, firing dozens of people to save money…and Botterill told him no, man. Three weeks later he was fired. There was no GM search and he hired his unqualified puppet who, to the command of firing everyone and keeping costs as low as possible in every area of the organization…he gladly said: Yes, man.

That’s what happened. Ignoring it is a choice. The wrong one.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

It's amazing how Terry pegula has played the fanbase for fools. The number of missteps since he took over is appalling. He does not learn from the missteps, he only keeps doubling down on his own comfortable management structure.

This is all so he can feel fulfilled being involved in a pro sports team because he is a bored rich old guy who never participated or followed sports.

It is so greedy and it's a tragedy. He stole our civic treasure with his gas money.


I'm sticking to my plan. Cancelled my seasons of almost 25 years. If no changes by June 1st, I'm disengaging with the Sabres completely. No checking scores, no apparel, and no engaging online about them. Dead to me.

Damn dude, that’s sad to hear. I imagine you’re not the only one.

Hats off to a long term dedicated fan! You deserve better, as someone who has been doing more work to keep asses in the seats than ownership has.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

My guess is that Forton makes Terry "feel heard" during the scouting meetings.

All the hand ringing about internal caps and the like. “Feel heard” is the scariest thing an owner can say. Feel heard is drafting third round 4.2 receivers at 12OA. Feel heard is dictating play style and rejecting trades because of character issues.

 

[truthbluth]

It ignores any facts or basis in truth…but if it gets you through the night…be delusional.

In reality…they said they were retaining Botterill and then Terry told him to gut the hockey department, firing dozens of people to save money…and Botterill told him no, man. Three weeks later he was fired. There was no GM search and he hired his unqualified puppet who, to the command of firing everyone and keeping costs as low as possible in every area of the organization…he gladly said: Yes, man.

That’s what happened. Ignoring it is a choice. The wrong one.

I’m not ignoring anything. Or name calling, which you seem f***ing incapable of at this point. Do you think Terry went around in order of most qualified to least qualified person and asked them each, “would you be willing to gut the hockey department ,” and only stopped once he got a yes? Is that really your hypothesis? I didn’t say Adams isn’t a yes man, I said the reason he was hired is because Pegula trusted him. The fact that he happened to do what the owner wanted isn’t lost on me, but I’m not going to sit here and say that the reason Adams isn’t good at his job is solely because all he does is what Terry tells him to do. That’s a lazy f***ing take. NhL GM is a hard job, and Adams simply isn’t up to it.

But the greater point I was trying to make is that Terry will only hire a GM going forward that he knows and trusts. Feel free to choose to ignore that. My choice is, if Adams is still running this show at the lottery I’m going to find another team or just quit following hockey altogether.

 

[toddkaz]

I’m not ignoring anything. Or name calling, which you seem f***ing incapable of at this point. Do you think Terry went around in order of most qualified to least qualified person and asked them each, “would you be willing to gut the hockey department ,” and only stopped once he got a yes? Is that really your hypothesis? I didn’t say Adams isn’t a yes man, I said the reason he was hired is because Pegula trusted him. The fact that he happened to do what the owner wanted isn’t lost on me, but I’m not going to sit here and say that the reason Adams isn’t good at his job is solely because all he does is what Terry tells him to do. That’s a lazy f***ing take. NhL GM is a hard job, and Adams simply isn’t up to it.

But the greater point I was trying to make is that Terry will only hire a GM going forward that he knows and trusts. Feel free to choose to ignore that. My choice is, if Adams is still running this show at the lottery I’m going to find another team or just quit following hockey altogether.

It does look like Adams wont be fired.

Pegula cares more about trusting people than winning.

 

[toddkaz]

 

[May Day 10]

Damn dude, that’s sad to hear. I imagine you’re not the only one.

Hats off to a long term dedicated fan! You deserve better, as someone who has been doing more work to keep asses in the seats than ownership has.

It is sad. started watching in 1985 and rarely missed a game from about 1987-2013. At college parties with girls everywhere I would be sequestered in a room watching a Buffalo/Montreal game. Probably known by some acquaintances as "that Sabres guy" (*not that Im claiming to be the biggest fan, just showing this team meant a lot to me and was proudly intertwined with my personal identity). During the Housley years, they lost me a bit by holding onto him so long and I learned how to fill in those 9-12 hours/week with other stuff. Now, a season can go by and I only watch a few games. Even with season tickets this season, I attended 3 games. The previous season was maybe 4 or 5. It all blends together.

I'm just sick of this owner's selfishness and taking the fans for granted. He must think we are all stupid, at least that is how I feel.

It is just not worth any money any more, not worth any time investment. I am at the point where it is not even worth discussing in a forum. There is nothing of note to talk about. They are even deliberately going back to the black uniforms which I hate(d).

I really miss having an NHL team.

 

[OkimLom]

Chad really hedging his bets with that tweet. Just say "I don't know". Instead he's got to phrase it like he has any knowledge or connections of the situation.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Chad really hedging his bets with that tweet. Just say "I don't know". Instead he's got to phrase it like he has any knowledge or connections of the situation.

I don’t agree with many/most of his takes, but his inside stuff seems to be just as reliable as anyone else in the media

Who do people trust with insider info? No matter who it is, anyone who says they have inside info is immediately doubted and insulted on here.

They say Weeks is the best insider, but he never leaks any info, so it’s not useful to anyone.

 

[ValJamesDuex]

It's the Terry doesn't want to fire and pay people plan.

If it's Karmanos GM, he will have to prove and differentiate himself from KA pretty immediately. Have a few mentioned he still works remotely from Pittsburgh ?

Assistants have to go and hopefully Lindy is insisting on this!

I agree with Bakes & Fairburn, I would feel better with an outside hire of GM or POH.

I would think this comes to a culmination between tomorrow and Monday. Of course Pegula won't show up.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Even if KA moves to another title and Karmanos goes to GM, it's just a Maaco paint job on a beater. Same shit FO people, same shit culture.

 

[TehDoak]

Just imagine telling fans "So what are you going to do to change the front office". and the answer was. "we promoted everyone!"

IF they are moving Adams into the President role....then for the love of god get an experienced GM to come in. OF course, the flip side is: What experienced GM wants to report to a guy that doesn't know what he's doing.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

After the Sabres fumble f--- through another summer. No chess for me. It's going to be playing golf and working out. I'd rather hit balls into sand and sprain a shoulder than waste more time on the Sabres.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

So is there a gm change. ?