Kevin Adams: “I think our goaltending has been solid”

[thewookie1]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

He's actively terrible in net. Sometimes you need to demand more than the worst possible in the role. He literally could not have done worse. The expectation for competently filling a position doesn't change because of the varying degree of difficulty. 

The thing is what was he supposed to do if the trades weren't there? Would you have traded our 1st for some rental goalie? 

[DarthEbriate]

No one expected Hall, Eichel, and Staal to all have their worst s% and 5 on 5 stats of their careers at the same time, nor for it to last almost half the season. No one expected Skinner to continue to be utter dreck and skate on the 3rd/4th line because we got him a bona fide NHL center (even if having lost a step) to play with. The offense is not without blame. But at least GM Sheevyn made an attempt to fix the offense. (And what in the heck is Asplund doing in practice that he can't unseat Eakin or Okposo? The only guy he can replace in the lineup is Rieder for PK work? Does RaKru just hate him or is he really a completely failed prospect?).

The goaltending is more gaseous than solid. GM Sheevyn signed an AHL vet to expose (why hadn't JBot already planned for the expansion draft?). We had Ullmark and Hutton both coming off injuries. Hutton needed to be replaced with a goalie capable of a .900+ before the season, and really needed to be jettisoned once Ullmark was hurt if we're keeping JJ around at a level too high for him. UPL and JJ both needed AHL seasoning --- we all knew that. We've put JJ backwards in his development by sitting him on the taxi squad, and now he's overwhelmed as our #1. All offseason half the threads on this board were: goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. And that meant replacing Hutton because of the condensed schedule, in case Ullmark didn't continue his upward trend, or in case Ullmark got hurt. An NHL backup with a 2-year deal to expose. That was the last pie of the offseason pie. Instead, we got no dessert whatsoever.

[IKnowPhysics]

2 hours ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:

Pretty disingenuous to include Ullmark's solid play, and ignore the other 2 since game 18 or whatever Adams said.

Not making excuses for KA, and there's plenty of reasons to be critical of him, BUT...

These quotes are from back when Ullmark had JUST gotten injured and the question asked was regarding the goalie impact on the team record.  KA including Ullmark's play was absutely appropriate at the time.  And he was right.  The goalies, even with Hutton playing poorly, were not the reason the record was so so bad back then- it had more to do with 5v5 scoring simply not happening.

Since then, with no Ullmark of course, goaltending has been absolute *****.  And that is definitely on KA.  But he wasn't disingenuous at the time he was asked these questions.

Edited March 13, 2021 by IKnowPhysics

[Thorny]

Just now, thewookie1 said:

The thing is what was he supposed to do if the trades weren't there? Would you have traded our 1st for some rental goalie? 

I think the position that the backup goaltending is actively awful, so awful that even a minor upgrade would be noticeable, and is therefore necessary is an easier position to take than, "Maybe there were no trades available at all and if there was the price was insane". 

Doesn't seem likely when we aren't shooting for the moon. 

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

No one expected Hall, Eichel, and Staal to all have their worst s% and 5 on 5 stats of their careers at the same time, nor for it to last almost half the season. No one expected Skinner to continue to be utter dreck and skate on the 3rd/4th line because we got him a bona fide NHL center (even if having lost a step) to play with. The offense is not without blame. But at least GM Sheevyn made an attempt to fix the offense. (And what in the heck is Asplund doing in practice that he can't unseat Eakin or Okposo? The only guy he can replace in the lineup is Rieder for PK work? Does RaKru just hate him or is he really a completely failed prospect?).

The goaltending is more gaseous than solid. GM Sheevyn signed an AHL vet to expose (why hadn't JBot already planned for the expansion draft?). We had Ullmark and Hutton both coming off injuries. Hutton needed to be replaced with a goalie capable of a .900+ before the season, and really needed to be jettisoned once Ullmark was hurt if we're keeping JJ around at a level too high for him. UPL and JJ both needed AHL seasoning --- we all knew that. We've put JJ backwards in his development by sitting him on the taxi squad, and now he's overwhelmed as our #1. All offseason half the threads on this board were: goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. And that meant replacing Hutton because of the condensed schedule, in case Ullmark didn't continue his upward trend, or in case Ullmark got hurt. An NHL backup with a 2-year deal to expose. That was the last pie of the offseason pie. Instead, we got no dessert whatsoever.

Yeap. And it was all predictable. 

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Not making excuses for KA, and there's plenty of reasons to be critical of him, BUT...

These quotes are from back when Ullmark had JUST gotten injured and the question asked was regarding the goalie impact on the team record.  KA including Ullmark's play was absutely appropriate at the time.  And he was right.  The goalies, even with Hutton playing poorly, were not the reason the record was so so bad back then- it had more to do with 5v5 scoring simply not happening.

Since then, with no Ullmark of course, goaltending has been absolute *****.  And that is definitely on KA.  But he wasn't disingenuous at the time he was asked these questions.

It was still arguably disingenuous for him to frame the thing as not being an issue when it was actively costing us points. 

We are the Buffalo Sabres. The idea that we can brush away even a few points up for grabs is preposterous. Of course the 5v5 has been the bigger issue, but I missed the memo than went around saying in order for Adams to have failed at something it needs to be his worst failing. He's had his fair share. You admit fault to KA so I don't think we are far apart, I just differ in being OK with his answer, even then. 

[Weave]

Damned if he said it, damned if he said the opposite.

He's not (and he absolutely shouldn't) throwing any goalie, or any other player under the bus.  And if he did throw them under the bus we would flame him for doing that (rightfully so).  Look at how we reacted to RK throwing Skinner under the bus.  Even though we have no insider info regarding what is going on we slammed RK for him slamming Skinner.  But now we express outrage over KA not throwing goalies under the bus?

So maybe he just shouldn't say anything at all?  Wait... he already got called out for doing that.  No win situation.  This ship can't turn around fast enough.

[Radar]

2 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Not making excuses for KA, and there's plenty of reasons to be critical of him, BUT...

These quotes are from back when Ullmark had JUST gotten injured and the question asked was regarding the goalie impact on the team record.  KA including Ullmark's play was absutely appropriate at the time.  And he was right.  The goalies, even with Hutton playing poorly, were not the reason the record was so so bad back then- it had more to do with 5v5 scoring simply not happening.

Since then, with no Ullmark of course, goaltending has been absolute *****.  And that is definitely on KA.  But he wasn't disingenuous at the time he was asked these questions.

Agree. At that time and ,in my opinion, goaltenders were not the biggest problem. Our defense and lack of offense overshadow our questionable goalie performance. This teams problems should not be placed on that one position. KA should have upgraded that position as far as backups go and for all anyone knows he tried to. I think he should have made a claim from waivers and that's on him.

[Figster]

4 hours ago, Eleven said:

The team plays differently in front of Hutton because it has to.  It doesn't have the confidence in him that it has in Ullmark (as it shouldn't).  And even Ullmark is just ok.

Myself personally, I think Ullmark might even be a little above average IMO.

To say goaltending is not the problem with Linus Ullmark out for an extended period of time tells me everything I need to know about Adams. Hutton and J J don't even belong in the NHL in my humble opinion. Without confidence in your goaltending how in the world could you have any confidence as a team.

Truth is, you can't...

[Thorny]

6 hours ago, Weave said:

Damned if he said it, damned if he said the opposite.

He's not (and he absolutely shouldn't) throwing any goalie, or any other player under the bus.  And if he did throw them under the bus we would flame him for doing that (rightfully so).  Look at how we reacted to RK throwing Skinner under the bus.  Even though we have no insider info regarding what is going on we slammed RK for him slamming Skinner.  But now we express outrage over KA not throwing goalies under the bus?

So maybe he just shouldn't say anything at all?  Wait... he already got called out for doing that.  No win situation.  This ship can't turn around fast enough.

Good, that's exactly what it should be for a GM who fielded a No win team. 

He should feel the heat

[Figster]

Goaltending and D was not the problem vs the Penguins last night. Minus some sloppy puck handling at times the Sabres showed improvements against one of the best teams in the league. It begs to ask the question are the Buffalo Sabres on the right path to becoming a better hockey team. With many new faces needing to gel and when you factor in time off from Covid 19 the team has not had the best of circumstances to come together IMO.

I'm not trying to make excuses...

[Scottysabres]

Adam's actually said this?

There's a "Don't smoke crack kids" advertisement somewhere in that comment.

[bob_sauve28]

32 minutes ago, Figster said:

Goaltending and D was not the problem vs the Penguins last night. Minus some sloppy puck handling at times the Sabres showed improvements against one of the best teams in the league. It begs to ask the question are the Buffalo Sabres on the right path to becoming a better hockey team. With many new faces needing to gel and when you factor in time off from Covid 19 the team has not had the best of circumstances to come together IMO.

I'm not trying to make excuses...

I totally agree with what you are saying. The challenges facing this team have been huge, throw in Jacks injury , Skinner not producing at all and the team would faced an uphill battle. But toss horrible goaltending—-last night excluded—in and you are in dumpster fire 🔥 status. Better goaltending could have given them some breathing space to gel and improve. Teams need to build chemistry, but if you lose every night that makes it hard. 

[DarthEbriate]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:06 AM, Weave said:

Damned if he said it, damned if he said the opposite.

He's not (and he absolutely shouldn't) throwing any goalie, or any other player under the bus.  And if he did throw them under the bus we would flame him for doing that (rightfully so).  Look at how we reacted to RK throwing Skinner under the bus.  Even though we have no insider info regarding what is going on we slammed RK for him slamming Skinner.  But now we express outrage over KA not throwing goalies under the bus?

So maybe he just shouldn't say anything at all?  Wait... he already got called out for doing that.  No win situation.  This ship can't turn around fast enough.

GM Sheevyn should not throw the goalies under the bus in a press conference. He should acquire a goalie and kick Hutton to the taxi squad (or send JJ down to the AHL and keep Hutton as the backup, whatever works) and say that their play was admirable but that he saw an opportunity to add competition and did so.

22 hours ago, Radar said:

Agree. At that time and ,in my opinion, goaltenders were not the biggest problem. Our defense and lack of offense overshadow our questionable goalie performance. This teams problems should not be placed on that one position. KA should have upgraded that position as far as backups go and for all anyone knows he tried to. I think he should have made a claim from waivers and that's on him.

Yes, we had just lost Ullmark at the time and from the entire paragraph in the article he's talking mainly about Ullmark. The lack of anything 5 on 5 was what was killing us then. Well, since then the PP has gone silent, Eichel is out, Cozens is out, and the bottom has fallen out.

It doesn't absolve GM Sheevyn from not getting an NHL-caliber goalie to be on the taxi squad or replace Hutton outright to go into the season, knowing about the condensed schedule and Ullmark's injury last year.

In hindsight of course, but having Jared Allen and Tyler Toffoli would've been so much better than Taylor Hall. As a comparison for salary.