dudacek

San Jose, Philadelphia, Nashville and Chicago are teams with extra picks in the 20s.

In his latest pod, Chad says he's "pretty confident they have decided what they are doing there." He said the Sabres have had the necessary conversations and established the market and the interested suitors. Now it's just about deciding which offer to pursue and cementing the deal. They want this off their plate early to clear the decks for whatever comes next. According to Chad, the Sabres have talked to teams that have multiple 1sts and told them a late 1st is something they would consider in exchange. He's says that's not necessarily the return we should expect, but implied their priority with this deal is gathering assets and creating flexibility for other moves.

Byram was the one who switched agents, not JJ. JJ's agent is feeding Frank Seravalli info about the Sabres not being able to sign him, that he's highly likely to be traded, and that the Sabres are broken and ripe for the picking in order to create a market for a better contract and/or a trade.

I want to trade JJ because I think the chances of improving the team are better down that path, than by crossing our fingers he's going to be better than he was during his breakout year. I agree the same logic can be applied to Byram and I am very willing to trade him in order to make the team better. Where the 2 differ in my mind is I think the majority of Byram's next 7 years will be better than this year and the majority of JJ's will not. I also think JJ's minutes can be at least partially replaced by players already in the organization, while that's not the case for Byram at all. It's also classless, me-first and damaging to the organization you are asking to give you $60M. It happens, but it is not standard practice. Right, just shut up and eat your gruel.

Exactly. This isn't about "we have to get rid of JJ". It's about stepping away from moves on the margins and asking "what meaningful asset can we afford to give up?" This is about selling high on a very good player of certain skill set for very good player or players with a skill set we lack.

For the record, I did not say or mean to imply moving JJ makes room for Rosen or Östlund. Right now we have Thompson, Tuch, Peterka and Norris pencilled into the top 6, along with two of McLeod, Zucker, Greenway, Benson, Quinn and Kulich. One of those players will not make the top 9 strictly on numbers and another will have to squeezed out if we want get older/tougher/more responsible. I'm saying I see enough in Kulich, Quinn and Benson that I expect all three to improve and any drop-off from JJ to the best of those 3 will be more than made up for by the JJ return.

Agreed. it was intended to be. It all comes down to what you think of Peterka moving forward: is he a Sam Reinhart, a Dylan Cozens or a Jeff Skinner? Does he have more to give, was this a peak, or is what we saw this year who he is?

As far as I'm concerned JJ is an avatar for the team: young, talented and more interested in the sizzle than the substance. The nonsense being stirred by his agent is proof of that. Far better to move Peterka now when his value is probably as high as it will ever be, than to sign him to a long-term $8M deal and watch him go on to a Jeff Skinner-esque career. You aren't going to get what you need trading Östlund or Rosen, and the team is better served giving JJ's minutes to players that understand winning hockey. If you believe in Kulich or Benson, then this provides them an opportunity. Same goes for Quinn. I'm a little tired of people whining about the Sabres not taking any big swings then immediately shutting down any proposals other teams might actually bite on. This is where we have both value and the depth to overcome trading it for what we need. This is the right move.

Hmm... no JJ Peterka. It's weird how only one Insider has him on their trade board, and how that Insider has him #1 and the Sabres may "have to trade him" when others have him at most as a potential offer sheet target. Beyond that: Andersson, Oleksiak, Miller, McDonough, Murphy, Hague...definitely names there I am interested in or the Sabres. Heck, I'd even kick the tires on Ristolainen.

Yep. That's the most salient thing for me that Fairbairn's piece drove home. And even though it's nothing we didn't know or at least suspect, @thewookie1 is right, having it spelled out so matter-of-factly is damn depressing.

I think the bold is a very strong take, and better helps me understand where you're coming from. It's like telling your 16-year-old: "What do you mean I don't care about you, I bought you a car and gave you a credit card." In regards to the spending, I haven't fully bought into my own thinking yet, but I find myself increasingly wanting to blame Adams for not spending to the cap. Bear with me: Terry spent money right up to EEE, with COVID past Terry no long needs EEE, Terry has spent money on firing coaches, buying out contracts, fixing roofs and rebuilding the hockey department, among other things recently; it doesn't really make sense that he is pinching pennies the past couple years on $6M in player salaries. Adams has consistently said that Terry has given him the resources he needs. I wonder if this wording is aimed at having it both ways: sticking up for his boss and avoiding blame for himself. I get a sense Kevyn has heard Terry grumbling about Botterill wasting his money, or how Terry thinks (fill-in-the-blank) is a waste. And in pure Wormtongue-like Adams hubris, Adams leans into that. He tells Terry "You're right. Under me we haven't done any of those silly things. Watch this, I can run this team without even spending to the cap." Instead of doing what a good GM would do and steering him in to the logical conclusion that spending to the cap is a necessary part of being competitive. That still allows plenty of room for your take: that a fully-invested Pegula would (should) have said: we've got the money Kevyn, let's spend it." Basically, its a mutual enabling of each others weaknesses, rather than a more proper checks and balances situation.

Any piece that involved 10 sources and an hour-long sit-down with Adams has been in the works for weeks and the Sabres were well-aware it was coming.

I'm guessing Promo is Sunshine, but I think Kittens is now posting over on Mammothspace We have a GM whose goal is to lean in to the owner's whims and cater to his ego, rather than manage and steer it down the proper paths, as I perceive Beane has been doing, and I believe most GMs do. It's the most essential GM skill that no one ever talks much about and it's totally absent in the Sabres heirarchy. I struggle to buy into "neglect" as the overriding issue due to one quote from a nameless former staffer in a lengthy article that paints a pretty clear picture of a GM that has attached himself to the owner like a barnacle and spends every day telling him what he wants to hear. Unless you're referring to neglect in the context of neglecting to formulate a clear-headed appraisal of the actual job Adams is doing? Then I can get on board. I don't see neglect in the more traditional sense of being absent, or uncaring due to giving all his attention to a favoured child. I thought it was handled very well in terms of simply allowing the facts to speak. In the modern media environment that's increasingly hard to find. This piece was far more resonant (and depressing) to me than the calculated Jerry Sullivan-style rant some seem to favour.

I don't think there can be any debate the flaws arise from the top of the pile: an owner who wants a GM to implement the owner's "vision" who has been unable to find a GM who can both do that, and be successful at the same time. I don't doubt he can find one; just look at Brandon Beane. But it's not been Kevyn Adams, and it's hard to find hope he will ever figure it out, no matter how many people Terry lets him hire.

Do people think the Sabres still have a bare-bones hockey department? Post- COVID it has gradually returned to what I perceived as more or less "normal" NHL levels. Last time I looked at things, they were still kinda shy in pro scouting but high in player development/coaching, and pretty typical in the front office, analytics and amateur scouting. The inner circle looks something like this: GM: Adams Senior advisor: Kekalainen Associate GM: Karmanos Head coach: Ruff VP hockey strategy and research: Ventura (analytics) Assistant GM Forton (scouting) Assistant GM Jakubowski (caps/contracts) Assistant to the GM: Staal Pro scouting: Crowe Amateur scouting: Nightingale Player development: Mair I don't think the Sabres website has been updated in a while and this is the movement season in the hockey business, but the team has roughly 13 scouts (it's not broken down into pro and amateur) 2 analytics engineers 4 NHL assistant coaches 1 AHL head coach 2 AHL assistant coaches 3 development coaches 2 video coaches 1 skating and skills instructor So that's 39 people. Plus it has a 10-person "performance department" dedicated to the health and fitness of the athletes (strength coach etc).

Here is the UFA market. Not sure there are answers there.

If I'm remembering correctly, the Sabres were running a skeleton scouting crew that year after EEE, with an "analytics department" consisting of Nightingale, right? It was Jeremiah Crowe's one and only draft and they went for Quinn after Adams told them/him to review the draft list through a "different lens".

Not possible these 8 guys go ahead of him: Schaefer, Misa, Martone, Desnoyer, Martin, OBrien, Frondell, McQueen? Or that somebody really wants a D, or really loves Eklund or Bear?

I'm getting a vibe that James Hagens is dropping like a stone. Any chance he's there when Buffalo picks, and if he is, should we be happy to take him? I get the sense he's more Casey Mittelstadt than Matt Barzal, but I guess someone in that range seems like decent value at #9.

At the time they said it was upside: they felt Quinn was a late bloomer who still had a lot of growth potential in his body and his game. The Sabres didn't say it, but it was being said that Rossi had kinda maxed out his growth. The argument was that Rossi's upside was 2C, and likely a 2C you'd want to upgrade from because of speed/strength limitations, whereas Quinn was the best goal scorer in the draft and had 30-40 goal potential.

Speaking of misperceptions, here's an interesting one about Kevyn Adams: He's creeping into the top half in terms of the most experienced GMs in the league. Ken Holland 28 years (hired with 37 years experience as a senior executive, played 4 NHL games) * Doug Armstrong 21 years (hired with 17 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Don Waddell 17 years (hired with 24 years experience as a senior executive, played 1 game in the NHL) Steve Yzerman 14 years (hired with 13 years experience as a senior executive, played 1514 games in the NHL) Stan Bowman 14 years (hired with 17 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Kevin Cheveldayoff 14 years (hired with 2 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Jim Nill 12 years (hired with 19 years experience as a senior executive, played 524 games in the NHL) Brad Treliving 11 years (hired with 17 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Don Sweeney 10 years (hired with 11 years experience as a senior executive, played 1115 games in the NHL) * Julien Brisebois 8 years (hired with 14 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Kyle Dubas 7 years (hired with 9 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Kelly McCrimmon 6 years (hired with 3 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Bill Guerin 6 years (hired with 4 years experience as a senior executive, played 1263 games in the NHL)) Bill Zito 5 years (hired with 7 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Tom Fitzgerald 5 years (hired with 13 years experience as a senior executive, played 1097 games in the NHL) Bill Armstrong 5 years (hired with 10 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Kevyn Adams 5 years (hired with no experience as a senior executive, played 540 games in the NHL) * Chris Drury 4 years (hired with 5 years experience as a senior executive, played 892 games in the NHL) Pat Verbeek 3 1/2 years (hired with 10 years experience as a senior executive, played 1424 games in the NHL) Patrik Allvin 3 1/2 years (hired with 4 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Kyle Davidson 3 1/2 years (hired with 2 1/2 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Kent Hughes 3 1/2 years (hired with no experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Chris McFarland 3 years, (hired with 21 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Jason Botterill 3 years (hired with 19 years experience as a senior executive, played 88 games in the NHL) Mike Grier 3 years (hired with no experience as a senior executive, played 1060 games in the NHL) * Danny Briere 2 years (hired with no experience as a senior executive, played 973 games in the NHL) * Craig Conroy 2 years (hired with 9 years experience as a senior executive, played 1009 games in the NHL) * Barry Trotz 2 years (hired with 1 year experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL but coached 23 years) * Steve Staios 2 years (hired with no experience as a senior executive, played 1001 games in the NHL) * Eric Tulsky 1 year (hired with 7 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) * Chris Patrick 1 year (hired with 9 years experience as a senior executive, did not play in the NHL) Matthieu Darche no experience (hired with 7 years experience as a senior executive, played 250 games in the NHL) * internal hires

I think we sometimes focus too much on our priorities and biases and look past what they are actually saying. Lindy says it took him a few months of being inside the organization to determine that a number of players were not what he perceived them to be from the outside. That should serve as a warning about our own perceptions. I think that is why Dylan Cozens was traded. And I think that is what will be behind what happens over the next 6 weeks.

I think the Sabres want to be a pace-pushing, always-attacking team, both on offence and defence. Adams has said it numerous times, as has Ruff.

Why do we think Rossi got 4th line minutes in the playoffs? He was their 10th most used forward (11th if you count Hinostroza, who played just 1 game) at 11:08 per game. He was behind Freddie Gaudreau and Marcus Johansen. He averaged 18 minutes during the regular season. Evason is an idiot is not an acceptable answer; he had reasons, what were they? Could the fact he went 3/6/9/-13 in 23 games down the stretch, been a factor? If so, why did he slump? His ice time was not cut in the regular season. Im not interested in investing assets in another guy who’s not a playoff-type performer.

I think Appert's rise is mostly due to his positive, upbeat personality. i know it can rub the hardcore hockey cynics of Sabrespace the wrong way, but it certainly seems effective in terms of how he's thought of around the office.