What would you grade Adams this off season (so far)?

[debaser66]

C
top six forward still missing
D Composition makes no sense

 

[Sabre Dance]

Lindy, another solid draft, and possibly building a solid bottom 6. All pluses.

But as currently constructed there will be a player from the bottom 6 that plays on the top 6, so that negates the bottom 6 additions.

I’m not sure how he gets a passing grade before adding a good player to the top 6 or defense.

This looks like another development year. If that is the goal then he gets a C. If not then it’s a failure.

 

[TageGod]

D. I think he needed a bigger addition to replace Mitts/Skinner. It isn't something to be commended for signing 4th liners in FA. Zucker is meh.

Overall improvement to the roster: B. We have depth.

Trade performance: D. Bad value on trades.

Coach: D. I'm sorry Lindy fans, but he did not conduct a real head coach search so bad GM, bad.

GM performance: F. Special section for his inability to make any significant moves before desperation hit and he is throwing value out the window.

Now the one that matters for this year is the best grade at least.

 

[Jim Bob]

C+

He identified most of the changes that the roster needed and he has addressed everything he mentioned except for the hardest one to add: a top 6 F.

Personally, I am disappointed that he has yet again not viewed finding the right partner for Owen Power as a priority, though.

 

[BFLO]

D-

+ Skinner buyout

+ remade the bottom 6.
-he's a year late in doing so
--massively overpaid in trades to do so

+Veteran goalie

-Top 6 forward

-Defensive specialist top 4 D, preferably right handed. 4th year in a row this has been the biggest hole on the roster. Acquiring Byram did not fill this hole, no matter what Adams says in press conferences.

The defense is imbalanced. We've got 3 top 4 LHD PMD, 2 bottom pairing RHD PMD and 1 top 4 LHD defensive specialist who is made of glass.

 

[Dubi Doo]

C+

He identified most of the changes that the roster needed and he has addressed everything he mentioned except for the hardest one to add: a top 6 F.

Personally, I am disappointed that he has yet again not viewed finding the right partner for Owen Power as a priority, though.

I think Dahlin will be Power's partner going forward. It'd be nice to get a real top-4 guy to play with Byram, though.

 

[Sabre Dance]

I think Dahlin will be Power's partner going forward. It'd be nice to get a real top-4 guy to play with Byram, though.

I guess the hope is Samuelsson. A 24 year old never healthy player.

 

[OkimLom]

Sorry for the novel.

D+ overall based on what my thoughts of what is wrong with the roster/team. Contending/Good teams in the NHL often have a functional top 9 with a 4th line to provide shifts that help shift momentum via many means. The days of a top 6 and bottom 6 seem to be going out the door. I think our roster makeup and potential lineups are easy matchups for teams. We are not a fast team with skating, we are not a fast moving team in terms of puck possession and movement of the puck. As many warts as Skinner had, his ability in the transition game will be missed, and I haven't seen anything from Adams addressing it in anyway, and it's an unknown how Ruff's coaching will impact that part.

The team may have added a little more grit in the more supporting roles, but this team still feels like a team that will be easily pushed around with not much answering going on. Adams hasn't done much of anything to add any sort of edge to the top 9. Of the majority of players on the roster that will have the playing time, this team is pretty damn soft. The 4th line should be fine, but I question just how much offensive production they can manage in their game.

Adams is running it back with the defense corp which was very inconsistent in their play, and had issues away from the puck. Not to mention, Adams, once again fails to address to get some top 4 vet leadership in the defense for a defense that is so young and will be a major part of the ice time for the team.

There is an awfully lot of responsibility on Ruff, a coach who probably is on his last legs for his career as a coach. I'm not sure how much Ruff will get out of this roster just based on how allergic the players are with attacking the net, especially with possession in the offensive zone. I also am a little worried with youth on the defense Ruff will need to utilize. He doesn't have a Brendan Smith or Dougie Hamilton to help him with his top 4. I don't feel Adams did enough to help Ruff, in the locker room, or even on the ice.

I'm not even going to get into as much as I want to in manner in which Adams handled the offseason in general, with teams going into the offseason KNOWING Adams is desperate and in turn, hardly improving the team with the value of picks and prospects he traded away. For the first time that I can remember a Buffalo GM put themselves in a position where teams knew from the beginning he was ripe for the pickings. Even with Murray, it never felt like that. Murray came off more like a guy that knew what he wanted and he was willing to pay premium for guys.

Plenty of time to improve the team before the season begins.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

C

FWs -
Replaced the whole 4th line. He had no other option but I really like the players he acquired, even if it was a year or so late. The Cs and top-six FW are still not very deep or have big question marks. Zucker is the type of player he needed to get last season for Quinn, not to replace Skinner's production. McLeod is a decent add but TT and Cozens are big "ifs" for a top-two tandem. There isn't anybody to pick up the slack if top-six guys go down for very long. The logic in losing top-six producers is lost to a large extent by failing to replace them with the added cap space, despite the revamp on the bottom-six.

D-corps -
Still can't see a cohesive unit here. Lots of talent, barely any experience or fit in roles.

G -
Reimer is a good add, but like the 4th line guys a year or so late.

HC -
A pretty good change to Ruff, so much of what's lacking from above could be made up for by his HC experience.

This grade is for this off-season, but the moves are mostly for holes that were there last summer (or before). The latest holes to the roster have not all been filled. I see this roster as a 10th-7th place team, but really that's what it should have been last season too, if not for inept coaching. So while a lot of us will be happy if a best case scenario has the drought ending, the team still isn't close to being a Cup contender (or even a ECF contender). It seems that next level will have to come from development and experience, not from big time trade adds.

 

[CrazyWayne]

As of right now to me it's a C

Get the rfas resigned to solid deals it will go up to C+ or B-

Now if he gets a top 6 forward without giving up a boat load of capital, this off season jumps all the way to an A

 

[sabremike]

D+ overall based on what my thoughts of what is wrong with the roster/team. Contending/Good teams in the NHL often have a functional top 9 with a 4th line to provide shifts that help shift momentum via many means. The days of a top 6 and bottom 6 seem to be going out the door. I think our roster makeup and potential lineups are easy matchups for teams. We are not a fast team with skating, we are not a fast moving team in terms of puck possession and movement of the puck.

Wait a minute: Didn't the organization literally go out and acquire several guys who were among the fastest players in the entire league? I really think people are underrating just how big an impact Lindy is going to have: He seems to have introduced the seemingly revolutionary to this organization concept of constructing a roster instead of just acquiring random pieces with zero thought given to need or fit (too bad he wasn't here a few months earlier to kill off the Mitts-Byram trade that epitomized that strategy).

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Heard the correct answer to this on the most recent Peters/Rivet podcast :

He gets a C for handing his work in late.

If you look at the moves he's made this offseason, it's clearly an A. If you disagree you're either biased or have unrealistic expectation. But you also have to factor in him sitting on his hands for so long when he should have made these moves a year or two earlier.

 

[Buff15Sabres]

C-

He improved the bottom six, but overpaid badly in doing so.

Hasn't done anything to address the DEF imbalance.

I'm not a fan of the Skinner buyout. Why would we do it this season when we're not spending to the cap? Call his bluff on the NMC and let him rot in the press box. If you can't work out a trade then you buy him out next off-season when it won't hurt our future cap as much.

On paper I'd say the ceiling for this roster is a bubble playoff contender.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Wait a minute: Didn't the organization literally go out and acquire several guys who were among the fastest players in the entire league? I really think people are underrating just how big an impact Lindy is going to have: He seems to have introduced the seemingly revolutionary to this organization concept of constructing a roster instead of just acquiring random pieces with zero thought given to need or fit (too bad he wasn't here a few months earlier to kill off the Mitts-Byram trade that epitomized that strategy).

I have a strong sense the Mitts/Byram trade was made consciously & fully in line with this 'new' strategy. We badly needed an F for D trade, we traded a slow F for a fast D. The moves made since this one fall in line. Too bad we haven't (yet) replaced Jokiharju though.

 

[OkimLom]

Wait a minute: Didn't the organization literally go out and acquire several guys who were among the fastest players in the entire league? I really think people are underrating just how big an impact Lindy is going to have: He seems to have introduced the seemingly revolutionary to this organization concept of constructing a roster instead of just acquiring random pieces with zero thought given to need or fit (too bad he wasn't here a few months earlier to kill off the Mitts-Byram trade that epitomized that strategy).

As a team overall, we're a slow team. Yes, he acquired a couple of quicker skaters, mostly for the 4th line, but in terms of upgrading the overall team speed, he really didn't do anything to address it, especially in the top 9.

 

[Gabrielor]

Incomplete.

This is the correct grade.

I don't actually believe yet that it is incomplete, I fear it is, and Adams will justify Zucker or Benson in the top 6 just like he justified Levi as the starter last year (and got INSANELY lucky that UPL covered up for that choice).

 

[DJN21]

Noteable additions:

A new 4th line that I kinda like but we overpaid for in trade capital.

A great vet goalie to insulate Levi's ascent to the roster

A coach I think will be good in the short term that we jumped the gun on and hired what a day after the season ended? We couldnt wait and see what shook out after the playoffs? Was the line to sign Lindy that large we had to jump it?! Ehh either way I'm here for it and kinda believe in it but it was a bad look for me.

...........Nothing else...........

Is the top 6 potent? Nope probably missing a piece.

Does the defense make any sense or has there been a notable RH vet added that we've needed for years? Nope

Does paying this quasi-Skinner/Zucker combo about what? ~9 mill this year make any sense? Nope.

Is Mcleod a good add...sure. Worth what we gave? Nope.

Did we turn draft capital into worthwhile and SMART additions without apparently bidding against ourselves? Nope.

Krebs and Joker still here with relatively undefined rolls? YUP

Offseason isn't over yet so it's hard to say but on this given day my expectation versus what actually happened is a D at best. Only that high because I think this new 4th line might actually click for us.

 

[Sabre the Win]

It's easy to give Adams a B or a C for some moves when he has consistently nailed a hard F by doing nothing every off season before but still getting some depth players is not enough to close the gap between the best teams in the division.

We are still relying on a core of kids to breakout all at one time and go back to a season prior where they had their best output offensively.

One thing you can say about Adams is he's a gambling man.

 

[Ace]

I would say it is completely inarguable that he improved the head coach and the bottom six. I also believe going from Matt Ellis to Seth Appert on the power play is the biggest jump at any of those places.

Some of the top six stuff will be fixed just by having a coach who knows what he’s doing. I can’t stress how brutal Granato was at adapting to opponents adjustments. If they couldn’t rush in…they were dead. Lindy demands a hard forecheck. One of the obvious reasons Skinner wasn’t going to play here. Plus…it’s no mistake that they targeted PK guys. Tage and company can be deployed on offense and not be killing penalties, tacking on more minutes so they’re less fresh when they need a goal (and I will never forget that he was injured while playing hurt…blocking a shot on the PK…down 4 goals). Lindy won’t do that shit. Granato was a boob.

The defense still makes no sense to me. Puzzle pieces that don’t fit together at all. And I never see pairings that fill me with any confidence. Lindy has his work cut out for him big time

And they are banking, again, on too many of their scorers to completely rebound or take immediate steps forward. Could really use another scoring winger.

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

Others have captured my thoughts quite well so I'll just throw another B- on the pile here.

The vision is there. I like the acquisitions, even if the costs have been on the high side. I'd like a vet d-man and a legit top-six forward yet but I'm good with how things have gone thus far.

 

[Ace]

I think it does make some logical sense to wait on that scoring winger btw. If the team doesn’t gel this year it wasn’t going to help much. Especially when you consider the likely acquisition cost and possible contract given to the people they could target.

That said…if the team gets together and is close…Adams absolutely owes it to the organization and the fans to be the biggest buyer this season. But I do understand waiting to see if you are adding to something that works…or saving the assets because it didn’t. Plus…Kulich could just get called up and score a bunch because he does that.

So I would say fixing the D is the priority. Make sure the foundation holds before making expensive additions. You’ll know if it does.

 

[Fezzy126]

He gets a C from me

I'm grouping the deadline deals here as well as part of the "offseason"

Forwards:
The Zucker signing and creating a real grinder/energy line is a year late, but better late than never - Ultimately the moves here are good on paper.
I like McLeod, but I really wanted someone with more sand in his game for that line. I'm not sure how that 3rd line will be constructed, but right now it looks like McLeod with Greenway and one of Benny or Zucker. Not sure what their role will be or how successful that line can be.
As for the top 6, there is a lot of lost 5v5 production with Mitts and Skinner leaving and I'm not a fan of just relying on internal growth. However, when you build your team through drafting and development I'm not sure how you fix it. All of these young players are too good for the AHL and not suited for a bottom 6 deployment, and I don't want to move any of them because I think all of them have the potential to be great. So I guess we just have to play them and hope for the best. Lastly, I like what Lance said in his last pod with Yerdon, our top 6 forwards have skill, but there's too much soft skill and not enough hard skill. We'll see if Cozens, Tuch, and Quinn play a harder game with Ruff as the coach.
What's the plan with Krebs?

Defense:
Well, KA did what he said he would do. He brought in Byram as the last piece of the top 4 to go with Dahlin, Power, and Sammy. I've said it before, but I'm just not a fan of the roster construction. My dream scenario would have been a guy like Ekholm or Weegar, but I would have been happy if he pushed hard for a Roy, Whitecloud, or Pesce. I know none of these were likely options when factoring in availability or player preference, but I wanted a defensively reliable guy to round out the top 4, that way Ruff would have the flexibility to create a shutdown pair or run balanced pairs, or change it up based on game situation. Having four LHD with three puck moving roamers doesn't seem like a great fit.
He added toughness in the bottom pair with Gilbert. Ok fine.
He brought back Bryson as a depth dman, a guy that is a great fit in the room, is dedicated to the franchise (seriously, he seems to attend every offseason event), and his on-ice impacts have been good outside of one down year.
What's the plan with Jokiharju?

Goalies:
Good job, whether it's Levi or Reimer, he's got a legit NHL goalie as the organization #3
I was worried about the Sandstrom signing because he sucks.

PP
The pieces have always been there, it's on the coaching to fix it.

PK
We have a bunch of forwards that are capable on the PK, but collectively our defensemen aren't very good penalty killers.

Coaching
Good job hiring Ruff, that was a no brainer.
But other than maybe Bales, not a fan of the assistants

 

[Fezzy126]

As a team overall, we're a slow team. Yes, he acquired a couple of quicker skaters, mostly for the 4th line, but in terms of upgrading the overall team speed, he really didn't do anything to address it, especially in the top 9.

The whole team speed topic is the big thing that has me starting to doubt our pro scouting approach this offseason. I was not a fan of seeing how much attention there was to how fast some of our new skaters are with the NHL Edge data. It's not that skating speed is bad, but Florida may have the slowest collection of skaters in the league, but they played faster than anyone.

There's that old adage, no skater can move faster than the puck. If we're going to play faster as a team, it will have little to do how fast they skate.

 

[Misko]

Matt Savoie for McLeod, a high 2nd for Malenstyn, no dman acquisition, no top 6 vet. Aside from drafting Helenius, which is a good choice imo and could come into the league and take McLeods spot as 3C sooner than people expect, I think Adams has had a horrible offseason so far. Adams just keeps proving to me year over year that he's fairly good at amateur scouting and seems to have done fairly well at drafting, especially in the 1st, but continues to show that his pro scouting and trading skills leave a lot to be desired.

I know that some people think that McLeod and Malenstyn do address needs that the team had at 3C and the 4th line, but the cost acquisition of these two players is horrid. Even with Savoie's injuries, I can't see a world where a 9th overall pick from only 2 drafts ago that could still be a genuine Top 6 scorer is only worth a 3C that was scratched multiple times by his own team in the playoffs. Nor do I think Malenstyn, a one year breakout 4th line grinder, is worth a high 2nd round pick which the Sabres could've used to get Cole Hutson just as an example.

Good GMs address their needs without paying through the nose for just bottom 6 players. These kind of trades, especially the McLeod one, are done by teams who are already contending and are willing to pay a premium for that one small upgrade to try and get over the hump, not by a team that hasn't made the playoffs in over a dozen years and hasn't played a single game yet with their head coach. If you don't have the talent or skill as a GM to make improvements to this team through Free Agency or by making smarter trades, then I don't see why I should consider Adams to be anything more than a terrible GM who has been above average at drafting and tearing down a team but seems out of his league when it comes to actually improving and building that team.

 

[Ace]

McLeod was, again, scratched exactly one time in the playoffs. A game they lost. He scored the next game and helped them shut down the Stars the rest of the way. That was the *checks notes* conference finals. He then played all seven games of the *checks notes* Stanley Cup finals, scoring three goals.

If you don’t like 24 year olds for getting scratched once in the playoffs. I can’t imagine why you’d be upset about a 9th overall pick who wasn’t going to make the NHL here in his draft plus three season. Where he was drafted stopped mattering a long time ago. When he got passed by guys. When he got hurt twice. When he bombed at WJC. When he wasn’t as good as Benson or Firkus on his juniors teams. If none of that matters he was scratched in the ahl playoffs once. That I know you must care about.