Confirmed with Link: Sabres add two scouts (Sutter/Vesanen) and Jakubowski back to AGM
- Thread starter joshjull
- Start date
Mattilaus
Registered User
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
Staff Directory // TEAM
They have 8 scouts listed. Given that they have generic scouts for pro & amateur scouting, I doubt they are back to the number of scouts they had prior to the firings that Adams carried out on his first day on the job.
Update:
In the 2019-20 Media Guide, there were 15 people listed as Amateur Scouts and 3 listed as Pro Scouts.
So, they still have less than half the number of scouts that they had under Botterill. And they also have fewer non-scouts in the hockey operations department now versus then.
Adams hockey department - 19 people
Botterill hockey department - 30 people
Last edited:
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
| Role | 21-22 Person | 19-20 Person |
| GM | Kevyn Adams | Jason Botterill |
| Associate GM | Jason Karmanos | |
| Assistant GM | Randy Sexton | |
| Assistant GM | Mark Jakubowski * | Steve Greeley |
| VP of Hockey Administration | Mark Jakubowski | |
| VP of Hockey Research & Strategy | Sam Ventura | |
| Director of Analytics | Jason Nightingale | |
| Dir of Pro Scouting | Jeremiah Crowe * | |
| Dir of Amateur Scouting | Jerry Forton * | Ryan Jankowski |
| Assistant Dir of Amateur Scouting | Jason Nightingale * | Jeff Crisp |
| Head of Collegiate Scouting | Jerry Forton | |
| Scout | Kevin Devine * | |
| Scout | Austin Dunne * | |
| Scout | Frank Musil * | |
| Scout | Anders Forsberg | |
| Scout | Graham Beamish * | |
| Scout | Tristan Musser | |
| Scout | Lukas Sutter | |
| Scout | Tommi Vesanen | |
| Amateur Scout | Cory Banika | |
| Amateur Scout | Steve Cocker | |
| Amateur Scout | Kevin Devine | |
| Amateur Scout | Austin Dunne | |
| Amateur Scout | Merk Ferner | |
| Amateur Scout | Marcus Fingal | |
| Amateur Scout | Scott Halpenny | |
| Amateur Scout | Randy Hansch | |
| Amateur Scout | Frank Musil | |
| Amateur Scout | Teemu Numminen | |
| Amateur Scout | Tom O'Connor | |
| Amateur Scout | Ron Pyette | |
| Amateur Scout | Rob Riley | |
| Amateur Scout | Matt Tiesling | |
| Amateur Scout | Magnus Welin | |
| Pro Scout | Graham Beamish | |
| Pro Scout | Jeremiah Crowe | |
| Pro Scout | John Van Boxmeer | |
| Coordinator of Team Services | Cole Burkhalter | |
| Dir of Team Ops | Cole Burkhalter * | |
| Head of Hockey IT | Kyle Kiebzak | |
| Manager of Hockey Tech/Team Ops | Kyle Kiebzak * | |
| Coordinator of Hockey Admin | Brett Ruff * | Brett Ruff |
| Executive Assistant | Terri O'Brien * | Terri O'Brien |
12 of the 19 people in the hockey department today were with the team in 2019-20.
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
Bourne’s article about a rebuild taking time so GMs are smart to do it reminds me of this move to go leaner etc.
Only time will tell if this works…
Paxon
202* Stanley Cup Champions
At a quick glance, the set-up seems pretty good overall, if they'd just hire more scouts
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
The cut from 18 scouts to 8 is the vast majority of the changes as the total number of people in the hockey department has dropped from 30 to 19.
So, the scouting cuts make up 91% of the overall departmental cuts. Plus, they likely drive an even bigger cost reduction as cutting scouts and relying more on video scouting reduces a lot of the scouting travel budget.
The other piece to the puzzle that we are unlikely to ever know is who else is in the hockey analytics department. We have heard of hockey analytics interns that the team used in the past that were never advertised.
It will be interesting to see if they put the two people that get hired to fill the two analytics job postings.
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
We don't have enough information to judge that, IMO.
If Nightingale was never given a real team or the ability to really influence decisions, that could say a lot less about Nightingale and more about the people above him.
MarkusKetterer
Shoulda got one game in
I offer my services to being a scout. I live where there is a major junior A team in my city (Soo Greyhounds), and live 3 hours away from a second (Sudbury Wolves) and 4.5 from a third one (North Bay Battalion). In addition, there’s a Div. I college team just across the river from me (Lake Superior State). This means I can do both in person and video scouting and not have lots of travel saving money 
KA seems very much interested in analytics though, at by his recent hires. why would he bump him to a different role if a.) nightingale wasn't the best option or b.) nightingale didn't want to do it?
I do agree, however, that past GMs didn't seem to give the data any time of time. that is definitely for certain
Buffaloed
webmaster
I'm glad they rewarded Jakubowki. He's probably had a hand in every player contract they've done since Adams became GM. They'd be lost without him.
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
Just because Ventura is a better option does not mean that Nightingale didn't do the best he possibly could previously given the situation.
Some of the shift will likely be Nightingale taking his analytics skills and focusing them on amateur scouting and allowing Ventura to focus more on the NHL roster. And Nightingale wanting to focus on the amateur scouting side does not say anything about his performance in his prior role.
Also, Adams is going down a path that will rely heavily on drafting well. If Nightingale was horrible in his prior role, why would Adams move Nightingale into a role to influence how they draft?
Buffaloed
webmaster
I think Nightingale was miscast in an administrative role. It was different when there was just Nightingale and an intern. Jason Karmanos oversees the analytics department now and his vision requires an administrator to hire and oversee a group of data scientists to develop policies and procedures to create a highly functional unit. Ventura isn't just an analytics guy, he's an accomplished administrator that's demonstrated he can develop an effective department.
The Sabres Just Made a Sneaky-Good Hire
