SabresVet

I would imagine after this off-season, the response was something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmPhaG1ud38

If Dahlin ends up leaving, pack it up and call it the end of the franchise. There's no coming back from that death spiral. And whether that happens comes down to, for the second season in a row, them taking the cheapest corrective action plan to the roster. Last year, the 3rd line center + 4th line revamp followed this year with some bottom 6 wingers and perhaps a 2nd/3rd pair defensemen. We're being sold again that the sum is greater than the parts. As in, better team defense and goaltending with equal offensive production moves them into the playoffs. I'll believe it when I see it. The lack of urgency is appalling and as @JP51 noted, the owner is completely ignorant that it's go-time. And even if Adams is fired during or after the season, Jarmo ain't stopping the bottom dropping out.

Anyone else get an email from the team with an offer to get the season opener for free with the purchase of a 10-game flex-pack?

I get it...when you've got the worst owner in the NHL and 14 seasons running I have a hard time trusting anything out of that organization. Doesn't help that Adams is completely unqualified for that job, inept in front of the media, shows almost zero ability to plan ahead, is working with a more limited budget, and both stupid and arrogant. I don't think Jarmo takes the senior advisor job without some assurances of a future promotion. Unless he doesn't want to be a GM anymore and is settling for being a senior advisor.

I don't believe Jarmo is here for any other reason that he's the heir apparent GM. He gets 2025-26 to become familiar with the organization, Adams gets eased out to save face for him and the owner, and TPegs gains familiarity with the incoming GM when this season ends in another non-playoff season. Terry has been traumatized from the GM hires previous to Adams and he's like Ralph Wilson now: unwilling to hire a GM he doesn't personally know. Enter Jarmo, whom we have to hope he learns to trust with hockey decisions and not overrule. That is, assuming Jarmo's up to the task. My concern, as you noted above, is that Dahlin, Tuch, and Thompson are gone or working to engineer their departure after this season if they're again finishing near the bottom of the division. It's the organizational equivalent of an airplane that's lost lift and diving for terra firma.

Sources inside KBC have reported these 2 delivered Adams' presentation. The boats portion allegedly is what got Terry most intrigued.

Two things can be simultaneously correct: that they still have those guys on the roster AND they have fewer easier to play against types this year versus last. It has to be Ruff pushing this move toward shaping a roster this way. His predecessor and Adams back then certainly weren't. My hope is that adding players like Kesselring, Danforth, and Doan (if he gets to the big club) provide the on-ice example to play this way and not the apathetic style we've seen. It ain't the top-6 forward or major shake-up I'd hoped for, but at this point it's the path they've chosen.

Interesting to hear Adams' response to the philosophy change on roster construction, notably with veterans. He talked about having their presence, which is a far cry from the narrative about not blocking the kids getting to the NHL. And, being tougher to play against. What changed? I'd speculate it's Ruff being in the room more than anything else pushing for this. And, because Jarmo's been there only a month now and besides, they made it a point to re-sign Zucker and Greenway late last season. Comes off as another off-season where they make 1 moderate move and a bunch of minor ones. Then, pronounce that the sum is greater than the parts while gambling/banking on unproven players to improve. Meh.

Do not doubt this at all, but I think Terry at least allows Ruff to weigh in on strategy and decisions. Behind both of them is Adams doing whatever they want to keep himself clean. Agree that Terry loves having a guy out in front taking arrows who doesn't mind so long as he keeps his job.

Guess there were too many shots of empty seats after the losing streak among other things.

Let's not get carried away: Rathbone doesn't guarantee a Stanley Cup, but with him on the roster the playoff drought is as good as over.

My issue is...Adams handed Cozens a major contract (for this franchise) and it was a clear mistake less than 2 years in. Samuelsson that way. No one is saying the Power deal is good either. Luukkonen? Eh. He gets credit for Tage, who probably got praise from Granato to extend, but otherwise, his extensions have hurt the team. Dahlin is another no-brainer. It's not just trades, it's the lack of a coherent plan and now the extensions. Everything he touches is almost guaranteed to go sour.

https://nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Kevyn_Adams/306/1 This is Adams' trade record going back 5 years now. The McLeod-Savoie deal is a TBD unless they re-sign him. Maybe the Norris/B-D for Cozens/Gilbert trade provided Norris is actually healthy. Otherwise it's dealing disgruntled players for less value, minor moves, and swapping draft picks. Or, adding a decent player who'll be flipped for goodness know what. Not anticipating some monumental move from this guy, who seems content with just keeping his job.

We're back to, as fans, assuming increased production from young players who aren't proven. Still not good enough when you're a franchise in this predicament. This deal confirms Adams has no real plan. We were told they didn't want to block players from being in the NHL. Then, they signed some vets when that plan was insufficient and they apparently realized the error of the original plan. It resulted in McLeod and some 4th liners last off-season. And now they are trading those younger players, necessary or not? So, we'll see the Samuelsson buyout perhaps and a trade of Byram. For what? More spare pieces? This is just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No plan. No vision.

Toughness is nice for a team that clearly lacks it, but they are constantly trying to add these types of players and neglecting talent. Buffalo's off-seasons are like a game of whack-a-mole. Fixing last year's issues without anticipating what they'll be faced with the following season. That's why assuming Kulich or another younger player will score enough to off-set this move is he's still mostly an unknown. And for a team that needs to make the playoffs or others will demand trades, that's not enough. Almost every single time we believe they'll get production from a young player it doesn't work. I can see them better defensively and struggling to score without a real move this off-season. And given who the GM and owner are, I'm not holding my breath.

I can see Jarmo's next job right now.

This is a good sign for that reason, but they can't let go of the stench from certain holdovers even hiring someone from outside the organization. Because I doubt Adams makes it. And then this individual likely takes over, albeit with factions still in place. They aren't going to hire someone with a solid record the longer those factions remain in place.

Time has a way of revealing the truth. Owners are always going to have a say, but the degree of control TPegs believes he should have in light of continued losing...shows a level of ego hard to imagine. As in, the owner cannot compromise at all on control over hockey operations and installs the puppet who'll ensure that. A GM whose blunders are so numerous and bad that either he's not making any decisions and someone more idiotic is...or this guy takes inept to another level. Not even the Great Depression lasted this long.

Pretty clear the owner attending games later in the season was all for show if Adams isn't fired. What person with a fully functioning brain goes to those games and walks away saying the team this GM constructed is capable of meeting their established 2024-25 goal of making the playoffs? Then again, this is the owner who thought speaking to the team in the midst of an 0-10-3 streak would elevate their play. And the GM has more of late been revealed as a puppet.

Sequence seems to go like this. 1. Star player signs big contract. 2. Teams keeps losing. 3. Star player makes it known he doesn't want to keep losing. 4. Team keeps losing. 5. Player makes trade demand. 6. Terry is offended and sends Kevyn out to say he wants players who want to be here. 7. Player gets traded and is blamed for not wanting to be in Buffalo. We're at step 3 right now. Step 4 probably happens next season. And it's Terry's fault for being a loser of an owner.

Funny how a GM who signed Cozens to a big contract now has to unload him and gets to negotiate the return. If only the Sabres were a real organization that held GM's accountable.

Adams received authorization to spend some money at the deadline. It's also a doubling down on their "guys" not to mention with a little term. Then again it's Terry and this train has made some weird stops along the way these past 14 years. Most have gone off the rails.

A team which hired a veteran HC and started the season with a mandate to make the playoffs is now in last place and has made not trades all season. The apathy from leadership, who I suspect really has little authority continues to defy logic. Maybe there's no deadline deal to make...but after this season a message must be sent.

Adams' lack of response as the season goes down like the Hindenburg is indicative that missing the playoffs remained more optional from a management perspective than what was advertised to fans. And if that's the case, the GM has almost no fear of losing his job regardless of performance. If there's a benefit to more losing it's how this illuminates that Adams has no real authority, there is a low internal spending cap, and the playoffs wasn't as big a priority as promised. And like last year when people debated whether Granato would be fired, I will not assume they'll fire Adams. They could easily sell Lindy Ruff, but a GM promoted from within like Forton is not going to move the needle after 14 straight missed playoff seasons.

I don't expect owners to be personnel executives, but I do expect them to find people who will advise, line up interviews, and help make a decision. He's not had that with either franchise when he went in. For example, Ryan's firing was extremely awkward: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-owner-explains-why-rex-ryan-was-fired-and-why-gm-had-clue/ Whaley's firing was pushed by McDermott, who at his introductory PC talked of being the one voice for the Bills. And Whaley was known throughout league circles as not the hardest working guy which conflicted with a workaholic like McDermott. All of this is to say, Terry's always been a bumbling mess with front office decisions. I'd be OK with that if he had someone to reliably advise him, but with neither the Sabres nor Bills has he had that. He just trusts the people he inherits, sees them predictably fail, and then finds himself needing to identify replacements...and this is why we're here.