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Sabres Announce GM Jason Botterill has been Fired. Kevyn Adams Named GM


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6 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

Except one.

Another attempted joke?

2 minutes ago, jad1 said:

Yeah, but you have to build and set the direction of the staff, and that's more than a part-time job. 

Coaches have assistants, but they are still involved in preparing the team every day of the season.

Combining those responsibilities of both positions under one guy is too heavy a workload to be effective.

If Adams is a mediocre GM, Ralph won't have the time or opportunity to save him.

The only way it can possibly work is if that hands on coach only focuses on the NHL side of things, focusing on the players of that level.  He then needs to be on the same page with the developmental guys and trust their evaluation of the prospects.  So yeah, it really comes down entirely to your last sentence.  He's going to need a good group around him so it will be very interesting to listen to the next wave of hire over the upcoming weeks.

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Not to give the Pegulas much credit here but, frankly, I don't blame them for picking someone inside the org that they've known for a long time.

They've had plenty of "help" from the league, and advice from outside "experts", and look where it has gotten them? A bunch of schmuck GMs and coaches.

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Is the viewscreen ready for a remote teleconference? Yes. Ok, good....

You have failed me for the last time, General (M JBot). Captain Kevyn? Make ready to draft new players from beyond our current nets, and hire new staff and free agents, so that we're ready to deploy the RaKru system. You are in command now, General M Kevyn!

Also, RaKru's not a system, he's a man.

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7 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

Here comes the Russ Brandon Origin Narrative.

and what is this narrative?

1 minute ago, darksabre said:

Not to give the Pegulas much credit here but, frankly, I don't blame them for picking someone inside the org that they've known for a long time.

They've had plenty of "help" from the league, and advice from outside "experts", and look where it has gotten them? A bunch of schmuck GMs and coaches.

A different take on this is that the position isn't easy to fill and like NFL QBs, scouted by the best of the best, more fail than succeed.

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Wow!  I guess the owner support statement is truly the kiss of death.  

What exactly has Kevyn Adams done to earn a GM job?  Might as well have named Eichel as GM.

Now we have another 3 year setback as Adams puts his inexperienced hand on the team.  Yeah!  Can't wait.

Edited by GASabresIUFAN
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10 minutes ago, SDS said:

and what is this narrative?

A different take on this is that the position isn't easy to fill and like NFL QBs, scouted by the best of the best, more fail than succeed.

That they've been grooming him for this for a decade, he's a tireless worker, he worked his way up from nothing, he's a "people person" who brings people together, he understands all aspects of running the team because he's worked in all corners of it, he's a Local Boy, etc...

Edited by Cascade Youth
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I have been vocal about JBOT's poor performance and I have been fearful to leave him at the helm in a contract year as a lame duck GM - He was likely to waste more assets in desperation.  The rest of the league knows how to play him - as if the ROR trade had a hangover effect. 

What I do not like is the disfunction once again of endorsing someone, then firing him, and replacing him from the inside.  Kim Pegula goes out and endorses Bottrill in public, and even alienates the fans with her comments while doing so.  Three weeks later, based on more "candid conversations" they decide to part ways with Botterill.    Bizzare!

  • Kim 3 weeks ago on Boterill staying for his 4th year:  “I realize, maybe it’s not popular with the fans, but we have to do the things that we feel are right,” she said at the time. “We have a little bit more information than maybe a fan does, some inner workings that we see some positives in.”
  • Kim today:  “This morning, we informed Jason Botterill he will no longer be the General Manager of the Sabres. This decision was made after many candid discussions with Jason during a full review of our hockey operation. We recognized we have philosophical differences regarding how best to put ourselves in a position to compete for a Stanley Cup. So, we decided to make this change."

It would have made more sense to have the "candid conversations" first, then decide on what to do. 

Maybe Adams and Krueger will work well together and the team will start to rise up?   This sequence of events leads me to believe that the Kim Pegula management style is "Shoot, Ready, AIM".    Every time she talks she sounds like she just read something new in an MBA book.   I do not get the sense that she is a skilled or a natural leader.

I just hope they get lucky again, like they did with McDermott and Beane, but I  am not at all convinced that Krueger/Adams have that same pedigree or potential. 

 

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5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I have been vocal about JBOT's poor performance and I have been fearful to leave him at the helm in a contract year as a lame duck GM - He was likely to waste more assets in desperation.  The rest of the league knows how to play him - as if the ROR trade had a hangover effect. 

What I do not like is the disfunction once again of endorsing someone, then firing him, and replacing him from the inside.  Kim Pegula goes out and endorses Bottrill in public, and even alienates the fans with her comments while doing so.  Three weeks later, based on more "candid conversations" they decide to part ways with Botterill.    Bizzare!

  • Kim 3 weeks ago on Boterill staying for his 4th year:  “I realize, maybe it’s not popular with the fans, but we have to do the things that we feel are right,” she said at the time. “We have a little bit more information than maybe a fan does, some inner workings that we see some positives in.”
  • Kim today:  “This morning, we informed Jason Botterill he will no longer be the General Manager of the Sabres. This decision was made after many candid discussions with Jason during a full review of our hockey operation. We recognized we have philosophical differences regarding how best to put ourselves in a position to compete for a Stanley Cup. So, we decided to make this change."

It would have made more sense to have the "candid conversations" first, then decide on what to do. 

Maybe Adams and Krueger will work well together and the team will start to rise up?   This sequence of events leads me to believe that the Kim Pegula management style is "Shoot, Ready, AIM".    Every time she talks she sounds like she just read something new in an MBA book.   I do not get the sense that she is a skilled or a natural leader.

I just hope they get lucky again, like they did with McDermott and Beane, but I  am not at all convinced that Krueger/Adams have that same pedigree or potential. 

 

Maybe they did have the candid conversations, JBOT said one thing and they agreed with it then he came back and said "Well, I rethought this and here is what I want  to do instead" and they were like "Nope, we don't like that." Or maybe  JBOT wasn't being completely honest with them in regards to what he wanted to do or the full scope of it. Could be a lot of reasons behind the change.

Edited by matter2003
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9 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

That they've been grooming him for this for a decade, he's a tireless worker, he worked his way up from nothing, he's a "people person" who brings people together, he understands all aspects of running the team because he's worked in all corners of it, he's a Local Boy, etc...

Except that's not how Brandon got the GM & eventual Team President roles.  Aging Ralph Wilson installed Tom Donahoe as Team President (because Ralph knew at his age he couldn't handle the role full time) when he was brought in as GM.    When Ralph decided he didn't want an outsider leading his team anymore, that's when he turned to the marketer that got the boxes sold to make the new lease viable.  Brandon's background & story was far more Larry Quinn than Kevyn Adams.

Hoping Adam's can grow into the job quickly.  Fearing that my reason for not being fully on board with canning Botterill has come to fruition.  Time will tell.

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Well. Obviously it's much too early to say whether Adams will be good or bad. He certainly doesn't have the picks/assets to play with (like GMTM had). But he does have a lot of RFAs that he can move about or let walk. I've defended JBot more than my fair share, but that's mainly because he wanted to ice a fast team and he wanted to make ROC a stable place to play for incoming youth (and let's face it, I picture him as GM Lobot and how cool is that?). And for vision to become reality takes some time. Some time has passed and his execution wasn't there.

Now, GM Kevyn gets his 3 years to mold the roster to his liking and his approach. So now we're truly off the Eichel-prime timeline and into the Dahlin-timeline in terms of one-ice talent. Adams does get the opportunity to represent the Sabres for the Lottery drawing, and I hope for his and our sakes the balls bounce favorably and we're at 1-2-3, rather than 8th again.

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9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I just hope they get lucky again, like they did with McDermott and Beane, but I  am not at all convinced that Krueger/Adams have that same pedigree or potential. 

This bit from your post prompted me to think that the Kruegams tandem may - in the Pegulas' mind - be akin to the McBeane pairing.

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55 minutes ago, Ottosmagic13 said:

This just makes them seem like they (the Pegulas) have no idea what they are doing. Not two weeks ago Kim had a presser saying they were sticking with Botts. He must have done something real stupid. 

 

I'll wait and see this develop. Current threat level Orange - Skeptical. 

I agree with this. If you were going to fire him, then it should have been done a while ago.  Once you said you are keeping him, then keep him.

And I'm personally not someone who will never be happy with the Pegulas.  I have thought for the last year or 2 that it is becoming apparent they aren't good at running a team....but I also thought that if you are going to stay with Botts, then just stick with him---the worst thing you can do is keep changing your mind on things.

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15 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Maybe they did have the candid conversations, JBOT said one thing and they agreed with it then he came back and said "Well, I rethought this and here is what I want  to do instead" and they were like "Nope, we don't like that." Or maybe  JBOT wasn't being completely honest with them in regards to what he wanted to do or the full scope of it. Could be a lot of reasons behind the change.

Maybe Shmaybe, we can dream of "maybe's"  but the facts remain the Sabres front office has been lousy since The Pegula's have come on board.     

Good leaders have a vision, they know what they want, they know their people, they build organizations that breeds loyalty and commitment, were everyone is locked in.   This does not describe the Sabres under Kim Pegula. 

Poor leaders, like Kim Pegula, will consistently yield poor performance and high turnover.   Either Botterill is the right guy and they see things that we fans don't, or not.  Her credibility is ZERO.  No maybes about that.  

I will pray for more good luck. 

Edited by Pimlach
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