Kevyn Adams - New GM

[Wisent42]

I really think Adams is doing fine so far. The Staal-trade is obviously a big win, ass is getting Hall. I think Reider is going to prove to be a smart signing. I'm unsure of Eakins, and this is where it gets a bit tricky: Where all tired of giving our front office the benefit of the doubt. But, it may well turn out to be a smart move.
Yes, he hasn't touch the goaltending, but really; what can he do? He can't force someone to take Hutton, and without that, how does it fit under the cap? Besides, Hutton had problems last year and those problems are supposed to be fixed. Ullmark-Hutton isn't a great tandem, but it's not terrible.
And the situation on D? I think that will have to wait until everything has settled. Right now, we still have a little wiggle-room under the cap, which could come in handy once it's time to make a trade. A pure hockey trade from RD to LD is also very possible.
I'm not really a fan of letting Larry and Kahun walk, and while I love Zemgus (one of my favorite players) I don't like that contract. Those are the spots on Adams so far, but overall - good work!

 

[brian_griffin]

We're months away from the season start. More things will happen league-wide with cap-constrained teams, which should trickle down to Buffalo.

I can't wait to see whether Hutton will be the Sabres backup or not.
Problem is, Hutton can't wait to see, period.

 

[Fjordy]

So far, I am very pleased with Kevyn Adams, of course he does not act without mistakes, but I like most of his moves, be it trade, a new contract for our RFA or draft, I hope he will continue in the same spirit.

 

[TehDoak]

Doak, I think you should go from a C to B just because they actually have assembled a team. Instead of just putting a bunch of guys together, this offseason they actually "look" like they were looking at roles. I'm looking forward to this season just because of that. As Josh said, don't know if Krueger's system will work but at least they have identified how they want to play, the structure and players that will fit in that system...for that alone they get a B.

I don't even know why I'm responding, but all I'm going to say that if you think adding Staal, Hall, Cozens, Thompson, Rieder, and Eakin, isn't going to change how your D and G produce, then it's tough to say anymore.

I think Ullmark is more than capable of winning you a Stanley Cup as a goalie in this league. He is good enough in this day and age of the NHL. With a shortened season, how many games is Hutton even going to play this year?

The D has pieces, they just didn't play all that well enough. If we were scoring more, I feel like I don't think I would care about the defense. Could they be better, absolutely, but I also feel like they were put in really bad spots when the offense was so bad.

I'm glad we are building the offense and not the defense. I will always be an advocate of scoring more versus defending more.

I'm not minimizing the Hall and Staal deals, our top 6 forward group is improved. We have a 2nd line now. We probably have an above average NHL top six forward group.

My issue continues to be I see obvious issues with this team that need to be resolved and my concern is that Adams doesn't think its a big deal.

However, I look at the bottom 6 forwards and I say "Ok, who is going to take d-zone starts? Who is going to kill penalties? How much offense is 3rd line going to produce?" And all I have is more questions. Given how Ralph deploys people, losing Larsson is a big loss. Eakin isn't a great defensive center. Lazar isn't either. Is Thompson going to be a NHL regular? He hasn't proven that yet. I'd rate our bottom 6 forward group as probably in the lower tier. We are missing some key pieces.

And for the defense, we have a lot of vets, and Dahlin is going to get better, but I really felt that like the Sum was less than the parts if that makes sense. I think forcing a guy to play his offside again this year is a mistake (Montour), the results were bad this year, I don't know why'd they would be better this year. I don't think we have a D-man to play the PK and without great forward support, our D are going to struggle in our own zone.

Hutton is still a huge issue. Even before his eye problems, he was bad. He's had one outlier season where he's played out of his mind and 5 years of mediocrity.

The, as it currently stands, is improved, but still needs work.

An A offseason is "nearly all major issues resolved, team is in a much better shape than you found it"
A B offseason is: "Great strides going forward, much improved team, still a lingering issue, could be resolve internally"
A C offseason is: "Improved team, still some areas that need improvement"
A D offseason is: "Some changes might help, we'll see how the season goes"
And a F offseason is: "These moves don't make a lick of sense, what direction is this team going in"


This feels clearly like an "improved team, but...." situation.

That being said, the offseason isn't over. Let's see where it goes.

 

[couture23]

Agreed with @Wisent42 's take about Hutton and not being able to do much about the goaltending. Unfortunately this is our tandem for one more year and I'm sure Adams will do everything he can to improve it next offseason.

I think Adam's only real blunder is slightly overpaying Girgensons and not allocating funds to Kahun. However, this likely doesn't have as big of an impact on the team as we might think.

 

[Wisent42]

Agreed with @Wisent42 's take about Hutton and not being able to do much about the goaltending. Unfortunately this is our tandem for one more year and I'm sure Adams will do everything he can to improve it next offseason.

I think Adam's only real blunder is slightly overpaying Girgensons and not allocating funds to Kahun. However, this likely doesn't have as big of an impact on the team as we might think.

Exactly. We don't know how coaches and managers think about different players. We don't know how players fit together and work as a unit. Those are factors that we simply lack intel on but have a relevant impact on decisions made. It is possible that Kahun just didn't mesh well with the rest. It is possible that they view Zemgus as very important for the group, and that's why they wanted him to stick around and get paid. I'm not claiming any of this to be facts, I'm just arguing that we simply don't know what goes into every decision.

Everyone who has ever been part of a unit, be it on a sports team, the military, or at work, knows a little something about how the performance of both individuals and the unit is affected by how the people involved feel about each other. It's more than just assembling people with the right skillset. Good managers know this. Bad managers don't. I've worked for both.

 

[Wisent42]

Something else that strikes me after watching those behind the scenes-videos on the draft and, especially, the Hall-signing, is how down to earth Adams seems. This can, of course, be an effect of contrast to the former GM:s robotic demeanor, and it could also be because we weren't able to get this kind of view on the previous GM. Or the ones before that. But even so, I find that I like Adams personality. He seems humble and real, while allowing himself to dream big. That's my take on him. And I like how Ralph seems to be a big part of the process, that they seem to work together and how they repeatedly mention that they want the players that fit. They seem to have a profile of what they want a Sabre to be. I don't yet know if we will agree on that profile, but I like that there IS a profile. That they want to build a culture and a team that works together. Again, this could be due to not knowing or seeing that side of things with previous GM:s, but I never got the feeling that Botterill valued that part of the teambuilding. Murray? Well, kind of. It was clear he was looking for a certain type of player and that he wanted a team that was tough to play against, but I don't know how much thought process went into making sure the characters meshed together.

It's quite possible that I'm reading too much into all of this, but seeing this side of things makes me like Adams more and more. I'm quickly moving from him being a half-assed hiring because owners were either giving up or wanted a puppet in charge, to being onboard and thinking he actually knows what he is doing. (I'm setting myself up for disappointment, right?)

 

[Djp]

I'm not minimizing the Hall and Staal deals, our top 6 forward group is improved. We have a 2nd line now. We probably have an above average NHL top six forward group.

My issue continues to be I see obvious issues with this team that need to be resolved and my concern is that Adams doesn't think its a big deal.

However, I look at the bottom 6 forwards and I say "Ok, who is going to take d-zone starts? Who is going to kill penalties? How much offense is 3rd line going to produce?" And all I have is more questions. Given how Ralph deploys people, losing Larsson is a big loss. Eakin isn't a great defensive center. Lazar isn't either. Is Thompson going to be a NHL regular? He hasn't proven that yet. I'd rate our bottom 6 forward group as probably in the lower tier. We are missing some key pieces.

And for the defense, we have a lot of vets, and Dahlin is going to get better, but I really felt that like the Sum was less than the parts if that makes sense. I think forcing a guy to play his offside again this year is a mistake (Montour), the results were bad this year, I don't know why'd they would be better this year. I don't think we have a D-man to play the PK and without great forward support, our D are going to struggle in our own zone.

Hutton is still a huge issue. Even before his eye problems, he was bad. He's had one outlier season where he's played out of his mind and 5 years of mediocrity.

The, as it currently stands, is improved, but still needs work.


This feels clearly like an "improved team, but...." situation.

That being said, the offseason isn't over. Let's see where it goes.

What exactly are the short comings?

The team can go 3 offensive lines in

Hall-Eichel-xxx
Skinner-xxx-Reinhart
xxx-Staal-Cozens

On D maybe Risto or Joki can play left side

I don’t feel things are done. Trades will be made.

Agreed with @Wisent42 's take about Hutton and not being able to do much about the goaltending. Unfortunately this is our tandem for one more year and I'm sure Adams will do everything he can to improve it next offseason.

I think Adam's only real blunder is slightly overpaying Girgensons and not allocating funds to Kahun. However, this likely doesn't have as big of an impact on the team as we might think.

Girgensons is NOT overpaid. He was a UFA to be...not an RFA. He can play multiple lines snd play center or wing and has speed.

Something else that strikes me after watching those behind the scenes-videos on the draft and, especially, the Hall-signing, is how down to earth Adams seems. This can, of course, be an effect of contrast to the former GM:s robotic demeanor, and it could also be because we weren't able to get this kind of view on the previous GM. Or the ones before that. But even so, I find that I like Adams personality. He seems humble and real, while allowing himself to dream big. That's my take on him. And I like how Ralph seems to be a big part of the process, that they seem to work together and how they repeatedly mention that they want the players that fit. They seem to have a profile of what they want a Sabre to be. I don't yet know if we will agree on that profile, but I like that there IS a profile. That they want to build a culture and a team that works together. Again, this could be due to not knowing or seeing that side of things with previous GM:s, but I never got the feeling that Botterill valued that part of the teambuilding. Murray? Well, kind of. It was clear he was looking for a certain type of player and that he wanted a team that was tough to play against, but I don't know how much thought process went into making sure the characters meshed together.

It's quite possible that I'm reading too much into all of this, but seeing this side of things makes me like Adams more and more. I'm quickly moving from him being a half-assed hiring because owners were either giving up or wanted a puppet in charge, to being onboard and thinking he actually knows what he is doing. (I'm setting myself up for disappointment, right?)

Adams being a bad hiring is a joke.

What does it take to be a GM? A GM is more than just player development and managing an NHL roster.

He worked 10 years learning operationally beyond the player piece. Him bring a former Nhl player becoming a team gm is nothing new.

Murray vs Botterill. Murray had a plan in mind and tried to get better. Disagree or not with it is irrelevant. Botterill didn’t seem to have one and didn’t try to get better. In trades Murray tried to get better and was willing to overpay for the right players. Botterill got taken to the cleaners...

 

[HaNotsri]

Time to fire him. He did nothing to fix the roster.
Adding Hall means nothing when everything else is in shambles.

Anyone who starts a season with our goalies is either tanking or an idiot.

If we fire him + Krueger right now the new guys will have a chance to retool the rebuild instead of going 3.0

 

[Team Cozens]

I really like all the moves Adams has made so far. Hall, Reider, Eakin and Staal. The depth is noticeably better. The team is better. He has got to be disappointed how terrible Dahlin has looked and played. I honestly didn’t see this coming from him. Unfortunately it’s his lack of addressing the goalie issues that will be his and the teams downfall. This is and was a critical year for the Sabres and he has a week or two to recognize and address it.

 

[Fjordy]

I really like all the moves Adams has made so far. Hall, Reider, Eakin and Staal. The depth is noticeably better. The team is better. He has got to be disappointed how terrible Dahlin has looked and played. I honestly didn’t see this coming from him. Unfortunately it’s his lack of addressing the goalie issues that will be his and the teams downfall. This is and was a critical year for the Sabres and he has a week or two to recognize and address it.

Staal and Eakin don't look good

 

[Team Cozens]

Staal and Eakin don't look good

Staal I will agree with. Maybe that’s one of the reasons the Sabres have inquired about PLD and Barkov?? Eakin brings a ton of speed, has been solid defensively but he isn’t in a deployment to expect any offence.

 

[Member 308457]

I strongly don't agree with getting Dubois. The guy has quit on his team and he's only 22. Did anyone see highlights from the other night? He didn't even compete. Let's say he comes here, to this dumpster fire with nothing going -- we're in last place again -- and pulls the same stuff. We don't suit him either. Where does that leave the Sabres? Sounds like he's immature and a very bad influence. Buffalo has enough problems without a guy like this.

 

[OkimLom]

Outside of Hall, which should be a positive check to Adams, So far this season, Adams’ acquisitions have been very underwhelming for his depth and value deals. His best signing was Sheahan. Rieder has been mostly invisible, Staal despite his goal, is broken down, Eakins has been a body in the way.

So far, he’s had a lousy return on his first offseason. BUT, GMs have a longer leash and more time to correct things, and with the way the offseason was for the NHL, this is a throwaway year for me in terms of expecting success, but you can still take away the quality of players he did bring in.

He’s got a long road ahead of him and a lot to clean up.

 

[Ehran]

Staal was 19-28-47 in a shortened season last year for the Wild. His lack of production this year is NOT on Adams. That trade should be a steal but lets face it, Buffalo is where good players come to die.

 

[joshjull]

Staal was 19-28-47 in a shortened season last year for the Wild. His lack of production this year is NOT on Adams. That trade should be a steal but lets face it, Buffalo is where good players come to die.

IIRC Wild fans said he started slow last year as well

 

[EmeraldCitySabre]

IIRC Wild fans said he started slow last year as well

Last year Staal had 2 points in his first 8 games and was a -9, finished with 47 in last 58 and 0 +/-.

 

[Paxon]

Outside of Hall, which should be a positive check to Adams, So far this season, Adams’ acquisitions have been very underwhelming for his depth and value deals. His best signing was Sheahan. Rieder has been mostly invisible, Staal despite his goal, is broken down, Eakins has been a body in the way.

So far, he’s had a lousy return on his first offseason. BUT, GMs have a longer leash and more time to correct things, and with the way the offseason was for the NHL, this is a throwaway year for me in terms of expecting success, but you can still take away the quality of players he did bring in.

He’s got a long road ahead of him and a lot to clean up.

When Rieder was signed, we considered him to be a 4th liner/13th forward. I don't really see how anyone can say anything bad about Rieder vs. expectations. He's played well. I like him, frankly. The Staal trade was a no-brainer. To rag on it after one week because he has had a slow start is silly. Even if it turns out his wheels did fall off, so be it. It was a smart trade. Eakin is who we thought he was, though. I would love to have had a good third line center in his place.

 

[joshjull]

Last year Staal had 2 points in his first 8 games and was a -9, finished with 47 in last 58 and 0 +/-.

I’d also add he was the #1 center in Minny playing on the top PP unit. He obviously isn’t that here nor will be.

 

[joshjull]

When Rieder was signed, we considered him to be a 4th liner/13th forward. I don't really see how anyone can say anything bad about Rieder vs. expectations. He's played well. I like him, frankly. The Staal trade was a no-brainer. To rag on it after one week because he has had a slow start is silly. Even if it turns out his wheels did fall off, so be it. It was a smart trade. Eakin is who we thought he was, though. I would love to have had a good third line center in his place.

I’ll give Eakin a pass until Okposo returns. I feel quite confident that line will start grinding out possession once that happens.

 

[OkimLom]

When Rieder was signed, we considered him to be a 4th liner/13th forward. I don't really see how anyone can say anything bad about Rieder vs. expectations. He's played well. I like him, frankly. The Staal trade was a no-brainer. To rag on it after one week because he has had a slow start is silly. Even if it turns out his wheels did fall off, so be it. It was a smart trade. Eakin is who we thought he was, though. I would love to have had a good third line center in his place.

Im not talking about expectations. Rieder hasn’t played well in my opinion. I don’t care about what they expected out of him. If you’re in the lineup, you are expected to play well. It’s fine if you don’t agree with this, but that’s my take on him.

The Staal trade had a risk factor, namely, can Staal still play well at his age and be an effective player. Trading away a player younger than Staal that was one of the few players that played decent under Ralph for a player higher in age, that was sheltered and playing favorable minutes and role in his previous team, was far from a “no-brainer”, especially 1 for 1. I get the reason why Adams did it, but it’s not as much of a slam dunk as people should believe it is. That’s not even including the lack of future upside to make the trade to help your team. If his wheels fall off, it would not be a smart trade, it would be a dumb trade. And yes, this is based on his play so far.

Eakin was grossly overrated by most fans here. I don’t think you remember how he was looked at when he was brought in here. Especially in the context of Buffalo moving on from Larsson. He’s been ineffective on this team when you needed an improvement for your 3rd line.

There’s plenty of time for guys to improve and make Adams look smarter, but as of today, his management has been poor based on the overall changes Adams made. He does look “smart” bringing in Hall for a year.

 

[joshjull]

Im not talking about expectations. Rieder hasn’t played well in my opinion. I don’t care about what they expected out of him. If you’re in the lineup, you are expected to play well. It’s fine if you don’t agree with this, but that’s my take on him.

Reider hasn’t played well?

OZS% —> 41%
CF% ——> 53%
SF% ——> 52%
SCF% —> 56%
HDCF% -> 73%
GF% ——-> 50%
xGF% ——> 48%

He also scored a goal.

The Staal trade had a risk factor, namely, can Staal still play well at his age and be an effective player. Trading away a player younger than Staal that was one of the few players that played decent under Ralph for a player higher in age, that was sheltered and playing favorable minutes and role in his previous team, was far from a “no-brainer”, especially 1 for 1. I get the reason why Adams did it, but it’s not as much of a slam dunk as people should believe it is. That’s not even including the lack of future upside to make the trade to help your team. If his wheels fall off, it would not be a smart trade, it would be a dumb trade. And yes, this is based on his play so far.

He added experience to help young players. If he is mediocre as a player its not the end of the world since the 2C he replaced in the trade wasn’t good in the spot.

Eakin was grossly overrated by most fans here. I don’t think you remember how he was looked at when he was brought in here. Especially in the context of Buffalo moving on from Larsson. He’s been ineffective on this team when you needed an improvement for your 3rd line.

Most posters were ripping the Eakin addition not praising it. I’d also point out he was brought in to center a 3rd line missing 2 parts at the moment. We’ll only get one of them back.

There’s plenty of time for guys to improve and make Adams look smarter, but as of today, his management has been poor based on the overall changes Adams made. He does look “smart” bringing in Hall for a year.

Hard to argue the decisions made were poor ones based on what we’ve seen so far.

 

[Hasekperreault23]

Im not talking about expectations. Rieder hasn’t played well in my opinion. I don’t care about what they expected out of him. If you’re in the lineup, you are expected to play well. It’s fine if you don’t agree with this, but that’s my take on him.

The Staal trade had a risk factor, namely, can Staal still play well at his age and be an effective player. Trading away a player younger than Staal that was one of the few players that played decent under Ralph for a playertaal higher in age, that was sheltered and playing favorable minutes and role in his previous team, was far from a “no-brainer”, especially 1 for 1. I get the reason why Adams did it, but it’s not as much of a slam dunk as people should believe it is. That’s not even including the lack of future upside to make the trade to help your team. If his wheels fall off, it would not be a smart trade, it would be a dumb trade. And yes, this is based on his play so far.

Eakin was grossly overrated by most fans here. I don’t think you remember how he was looked at when he was brought in here. Especially in the context of Buffalo moving on from Larsson. He’s been ineffective on this team when you needed an improvement for your 3rd line.

There’s plenty of time for guys to improve and make Adams look smarter, but as of today, his management has been poor based on the overall changes Adams made. He does look “smart” bringing in Hall for a year.

Hall,Sheahan and Reider have played well so far.Reider and Sheahan role is to play defensively and PK.They have done that very well so far.Staal has been poor to be frank so far.I will give him the benefit of the doubt since he has had an illustrious career.Eakin has come in and added much needed speed and although hasn't scored he has been in the PK and done well.The problem in my opinion so far is our best players haven't been our best players plain and simple.Eichel and dahlin in particular has gotten off to slow starts and Skinner could have 10 goals by now and has none.Iam frustrated as hell but after 5 games iam not going to rip Adam's thought he made good acquisitions.The goaltending needs to be upgraded as well all stated but even that hasn't been that bad.I think we have played well enough to have a winning record but when your top goalscorer have 1 goal between them ( Skinner,Eichel and Hall) your not going to win too many games They will score just hopefully as soon as next game

 

[Buffaloed]

Adams has been very quiet. Too quiet.

 

[SundherDome]

Adams has been very quiet. Too quiet.

Hopefully he does something, the roster evaluation could basically be completed over the course of a few periods. He is actually in a position to finally make and drive change. He did some nice low key stuff Staal trade, signing Hall, going back up for Peterka. But it's time to undo what Botts did and put a stamp on his team. It is his team. He should bring in his own coach and players that match his vision.