Mango

My totally uneducated opinion is that more kids rely on the NCAA. Sure some end up in Europe, and some already stay in Europe when drafted. I think figuring out a way to put a cap floor on the AHL affiliates would be helpful. Maybe bigger roster sizes for both teams as well. Just my shoot from the hip ideas. I don't know though.

Cool then the irrelavance will continue when compared to other leagues,and teams will let kids with potential waste away in the dumbest most underfunded leagues in the world. There's like 1 18 year old per year that this matters for. Saying the NHLPA wouldnt be for it is silly. The amount of teenagers in the NHL is next to nothing comparatively. A total of 10 to start the 24-25 season. It's not that anybody is for it or against it It's that nobody gives a short to change it because they NHL is antiquated.

From a marketing/fan perspective people like story lines. Hell nearly every sports video game has a "create your own player/career" mode. Imagine downloading NHL25, creating a player, then only being able to play in the OHL where everybody in the game sucks. And then you have to do that for 3 or 4 years before you're even allowed to play with the NHL team. That's literally the NHL's model in real life. And hockey fans wonder why the league can't catch up to other leagues. Reframing the rules around the draft is integral. They have to increase the amount of players who can provide an immediate impact. To me I think that's one of the largest hurdles to make the sport compelling to people.

It doesn't matter. Like after the top 5 picks the draft is a scratch off ticket. Control, no control, it doesn't matter. The league has no reliable vision. I'd argue that a big part of the reason the predictibility is that way is because the kids aren't ready to be drafted.

I don't really understand why the NHL doesn't move the draft age up considerably. It is hard for the average hockey fan to give a short about the full cycle of their team if they can't watch their first round pick for 3 years. It would make the sport much more compelling with better/more immediate story lines. It's a violent sport, take a page from the NFL and make it 3 years after HS. Bonus, if let's the NCAA manage a lot more of player development rather than tracking a million guys around a million leagues all over the world. Somebody might turn on an NCAA game if they know it has all the best young players in the world. There's literally no way for the average person to watch the WHL, OHL, KHL, etc if you don't actively search it out.

Lindy has mentioned a few times he likes having guys play on their strong side. Easier to move the puck is the reason he has given. I don't understand why Kevyn Adams still works here.

I mentioned after one of the years draft "Embedded's" that I don't think Adams has control of the room, nor leads it. He reminds of Tom Hanks in 'Big'. He's just trying to fake it. He's talking about building concencus because he isn't making any decisions. He's loser. Go back and watch the behind the scenes with McD at the Sabres game. He basically B-lines it to Ruff after sort performatively saying hi to Kev-Kev. Then Ruff and Adams seem to chat together, and Adams like a 3rd grader goes "coach, I've always wondered, how many half time adjustments can you really make". It was clear that Lindy and McD were the alphas in the room and everybody was aware that Adams was Pegula cuck.

I think Ruff has some voice but Terry refuses to move on from Adams. Just via the smell test, the last two off-season don't seem to match Adams prior off-season. We haven't done enough but the type of player we target seems to be different. Plus the willingness to move on from Cozens, Savoie, and JJP (despite the request) is something I don't think Adams does without a major push.

Fair, I guess I'd pair that with my post about local sports coverage being cowards and spineless trolls by not addressing the ramifications of the Peterka trade. JJP getting traded because he doesn't want to be here, is the encapsulation of total failure by this regime. Both I high level structure and plan as well as failing at nearly every detail along the way. I cannot believe that Adams was able to make it out of that post draft/trade presser without one reporter framing it as a mascot for the clown car he is captaining. Pegula has certainly nailed the 'Major League' impersonation. This town has never hated this team more than they do right now. I cannot wait until Adams sells his house and has to leave in embarrassment.

Everything this off-season has been "fine". It's almost always "fine" it's just never enough or good.

The constant "great conversations" rhetoric is grating. Also, if you're going to talk JJP, nobody at the presser linking JJP refusing to stay with the fact that that goes against the entire ethos of Adams plan here is cowardly and and borderline unforgivable. It's the elephant in the room.

There's something about his head movements that make me want to bounce his face off a table. The weird head bobble back and forth, and I particularly hate the chin tuck, deep breath, look dook down, lower voice move he does. He's so smug, but small and afraid at the same time.

The Columbus -> Buffalo -> Dallas threw me. The amount it seems Jarmo is on the plane is surprising. But also I know Pegulas plane gets used even if it's not for him.

Nobody freak out There has to be another reason But....Pegulas jet was in Dallas this week after a little back and forth in Columbus and Buffalo. https://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/XSR960

Dude, I don't think you're making the point you think you are. A 23 year old Skinner, locked up until 28 at $7.5M per is tremendously valuable. The Skinner you hate is 10 years away. Trading away a 40 goal scorer with a reasonable contact because you might hate him in 10 years is insane.

This always seemed a little crazy to me. Like, shouldn't the expectation be that the $8m player should elevate those around him. Not remove a solid homegrown talent just to make him serviceable?

Here's a sad and crazy thought. What if saving money was actually number two or three on the priority list. When people talk about Adams pinching pennies for Pegula, if almost legitimizes Adams. As if he would be better at his job if not for Terry. The toughest part to swallow is that I think that Adams is really trying and believes in everything he does.

Probably should have locked up Tuch before you made your team worse.

I wouldn't be shocked if this is for the 4OA. The quote from his presser, "other teams say this is a 2 player draft but we see it as 5 or 6" is haunting me right now.

To be fair, we shouldn't take Adams word on anything either. But back to the possible trade. Unsure how I feel about it. During the presser yesterday whoever asked about the Peterka asking for a trade mentioned it was a get out of jail free card for these guys. I hate that that hits home. I hate that it signifies this whole thing failed. I hate that they guy who put it all in motion is still in charge of the whole forking thing. And lastly I think Peterka is going to be a very good player in the NHL.

The advisor thing is a no brainer. Of course it's remote. It's probably not even a full time role. I think the AGM is likely a bit of a rarity. Karmanos is probably not the only one, but I would be very comfortable in getting the under on 5 AGM's not living in their NHL or AHL city. That's a totally uneducated guess though But it is surprising that the most senior hockey guy on the payroll in any capacity is not coming in to be in the draft room in person.

Right, I get that. But also, it's a very weird public admission. One would think that there is some sort of biweekly touch base with scouts with a top line review and film. There can't be too much time in his day to review the top 3 guys each scout looked at that month. I don't expect the GM to be up until 3am in November watching film every night. But I do expect them to get familiar with them before January and start watching film on them before May. Let's just pretend the Sabres are a playoff team. Trying to cram for the draft during the playoffs would be a bear. But it's super manageable if you stay in touch with what your prospective draft pool is before, say January/May. Managing, directing, and sorting the information from your pro and amateur scouting staff should be like 80% of a GM's job.

Also his talk about the coaching staff was hilarious to me. At the front end he said that Lindy has a very firm idea of who or what he expects out of his coaching staff. He goes on to say that Lindy has had a lot of conversations with people ... Then goes on about how if Lindy or himself thought they could upgrade the staff they'd look into it. To me, it sounds like Lindy has a clear vision for the staff and has reached out to others to upgrade it.

Different sport entirely but when you hear Beane talk about prospects just down the road it's a "We scout 365 days per year", "we are looking at guys coming out of HS", "we are always reviewing film" But Adams goes "I don't get to know these guys until January and I don't start to take a deep dive until May." And then we talk about Jarmo who could probably rattle of stats from last week's u12 Tonawanda Lightening game.

Bellichick spoke in grunts and minimal words. Adams is a word salad. He falls all over himself. Unfortunately Forton is a much better public speaker than Adams. He also carries himself better. Again, all of this is unfortunate because I wouldn't be shocked if he becomes the GM post Adams. I would prefer he presents as terrible as possible so that it would be clear he's a bad hire. But unfortunately he sounds at least a bit professional.