Are there major changes coming this summer and who will make them?

[That Aud Smell]

On 3/25/2025 at 7:56 PM, Crusader1969 said:

This could be nothing or could be something.  If you check Jarmo Kekalainen's X account.  He is following beat writers from 3 teams

1) Columbus Blue Jackets

2) Cleveland Monsters

3) Buffalo Sabres 

[Crusader1969]

4 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Yes I was going to m brag about my prediction from March but couldn't remember where I posted it. Lol 

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

I keep seeing things like this and I have a hard time believing it. Active? With Kevyn Adams? With no coaching changes? I will believe these things when they happen.

[Flashsabre]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

Let them be aggressive hiring Deboer and let Jarmo take the wheel on some deals.

[DarthEbriate]

Buffalo is active right now because it is hosting the Combine. 

Show me, Darth Pegulas. Show me. 

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I keep seeing things like this and I have a hard time believing it. Active? With Kevyn Adams? With no coaching changes? I will believe these things when they happen.

There's no way that they won't be active. The pressure has built to the point that even if the GM was reluctant to make moves, he will take action because he knows that not doing so puts him in jeopardy. There is no way that this is going to be a status quo offseason. There has been a lot of rumblings about the Sabres having dialogues with a lot of teams. That shouldn't be a surprise because this is the period of time where are all organizations are checking each other out. 

I have said it before, but I strongly believe that a priority has to be the goalie position, and another will be reworking the blue line. Will there be deals involving some of our young wingers? I believe so. If I had to guess I would put my money on JJP being moved. I'm glad Keka has been added to the staff to provide KA a sounding board during this critical period. We shall see. 

[Scottysabres]

Buffalo is always the most active in the off season, since their off season starts earlier than any other teams.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

There's no way that they won't be active. The pressure has built to the point that even if the GM was reluctant to make moves, he will take action because he knows that not doing so puts him in jeopardy. There is no way that this is going to be a status quo offseason. There has been a lot of rumblings about the Sabres having dialogues with a lot of teams. That shouldn't be a surprise because this is the period of time where are all organizations are checking each other out. 

I have said it before, but I strongly believe that a priority has to be the goalie position, and another will be reworking the blue line. Will there be deals involving some of our young wingers? I believe so. If I had to guess I would put my money on JJP being moved. I'm glad Keka has been added to the staff to provide KA a sounding board during this critical period. We shall see. 

I am not believing anything in advance. Been burned too many times. It's all bs until it changes.

[JohnC]

24 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I am not believing anything in advance. Been burned too many times. It's all bs until it changes.

I understand your position. However, when you go to the card table and the dealer asks you if want another card, you have to make a decision before knowing the outcome. I'm simply playing the odds as to what I think is likely to happen. My leaning toward KA taking some actions this offseason is that there is a lot of pressure on him to do so. When you are being squeezed you usually have to react. That's how I see it. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

I understand your position. However, when you go to the card table and the dealer asks you if want another card, you have to make a decision before knowing the outcome. I'm simply playing the odds as to what I think is likely to happen. My leaning toward KA taking some actions this offseason is that there is a lot of pressure on him to do so. When you are being squeezed you usually have to react. That's how I see it. 

That's how I felt last year. This year I'm waiting for a new dealer. 🙂

 

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

That's how I felt last year. This year I'm waiting for a new dealer. 🙂

 

The GM did make a number of helpful deals last offseason. Some of them very good, such as getting McCleod  and Zucker. However, he didn’t do enough. Now, there is even more pressure to act. The billboard is flashing. Not too difficult to get the message. 

[Archie Lee]

One of the philosophies of Kevyn Adams has been: don’t panic and make a desperation move. And here he is with one year left on his contract, and 5 straight years out of the playoffs overlayed on a league record 14 years of failure, and  the Sabres can’t make change without trading roster players because they are up against the cap, and the league knows that he is under pressure to make bold moves.

By repeatedly failing to make needed moves, Adams has backed himself into a corner. 

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

The GM did make a number of helpful deals last offseason. Some of them very good, such as getting McCleod  and Zucker. However, he didn’t do enough. Now, there is even more pressure to act. The billboard is flashing. Not too difficult to get the message. 

Those were good deals. The problem with Adams is that your house is leaking and you have to fix 5 things to stop it and Adams will fix 2 of the things and say “Mission Accomplished”

[sabremike]

53 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

One of the philosophies of Kevyn Adams has been: don’t panic and make a desperation move. And here he is with one year left on his contract, and 5 straight years out of the playoffs overlayed on a league record 14 years of failure, and  the Sabres can’t make change without trading roster players because they are up against the cap, and the league knows that he is under pressure to make bold moves.

By repeatedly failing to make needed moves, Adams has backed himself into a corner. 

What do you think trading Cozens and a 2nd rounder (another stroke of brilliance because it makes even the thought of an offer sheet impossible) for Gimpy Norris was?

[JohnC]

43 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Those were good deals. The problem with Adams is that your house is leaking and you have to fix 5 things to stop it and Adams will fix 2 of the things and say “Mission Accomplished”

The man is simply in over his head. A GM is supposed to have a broader perspective in evaluating his team. He's more of a bean counter type person who is looking at transactions as singular deals instead of looking at how the pieces fit together, reinforcing one another. It's more than adding talent----it's about building a coherent roster. It's beyond his capacity. He's a C student in an advanced physics course.  

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

One of the philosophies of Kevyn Adams has been: don’t panic and make a desperation move. And here he is with one year left on his contract, and 5 straight years out of the playoffs overlayed on a league record 14 years of failure, and  the Sabres can’t make change without trading roster players because they are up against the cap, and the league knows that he is under pressure to make bold moves.

By repeatedly failing to make needed moves, Adams has backed himself into a corner. 

You laid out the situation that he is now in. It's like a student who doesn't go to class and when he does, he doesn't pay attention. So when the finals arrive he panics and is forced to resort to all night study seasons and cheat sheets hidden in his sleaves in order to pass the test. 

I diverge with most of the participants here in that they are demanding desperate moves to compensate for the GM's prior lassitude. In my view, that would be a horrible mistake. It's time that this archaically operated franchise start acting more judiciously. A lot of action doesn't necessarily translate into productive action. The biggest impact moves that this front office can do this offseason is upgrade the goalie position and get a better mix with the blueline. I'm not suggesting that the forward lines don't need to be modified but the priority should be at the goalie and defender position. 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

41 minutes ago, sabremike said:

What do you think trading Cozens and a 2nd rounder (another stroke of brilliance because it makes even the thought of an offer sheet impossible) for Gimpy Norris was?

That wasn't the trade. You may not think much of Docker but he's an NHL player. 

[JohnC]

10 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

That wasn't the trade. You may not think much of Docker but he's an NHL player. 

It's a big if but if Norris can be more durable, this trade will be a positive deal. And moving Cozens was the right thing to do for the player. He needed a change of scenery.

[GoPuckYourself]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

The GM did make a number of helpful deals last offseason. Some of them very good, such as getting McCleod  and Zucker. However, he didn’t do enough. Now, there is even more pressure to act. The billboard is flashing. Not too difficult to get the message. 

Doing nothing when your team loses 13 games in a row is inexcusable. Nobody can tell me otherwise, your job as a GM is to put together a winning roster. You had to know losing 13 games would derail your entire season, his excuse was nobody was willing to come here yet we traded Cozens for Norris at the deadline.
Adams is terrible at his job and now we have to suffer another season with this clown.

[Flashsabre]

3 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Doing nothing when your team loses 13 games in a row is inexcusable. Nobody can tell me otherwise, your job as a GM is to put together a winning roster. You had to know losing 13 games would derail your entire season, his excuse was nobody was willing to come here yet we traded Cozens for Norris at the deadline.
Adams is terrible at his job and now we have to suffer another season with this clown.

It seems he wasn’t allowed. That was the point of Pegula flying into Montreal to give his “The answer is in the room” speech.  That was the “you guys figure it out I’m not signing off on any deal right now” speech.

[Flashsabre]

50 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The man is simply in over his head. A GM is supposed to have a broader perspective in evaluating his team. He's more of a bean counter type person who is looking at transactions as singular deals instead of looking at how the pieces fit together, reinforcing one another. It's more than adding talent----it's about building a coherent roster. It's beyond his capacity. He's a C student in an advanced physics course.  

Go back and watch the Blue and Gold of when he was hired. He states he doesn’t know what he’s doing so he has a little book with him and he says he asks a lot of questions and writes the answers down in the book. It was embarrassing at the time and hasn’t improved. 

[Dr. Who]

7 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

It seems he wasn’t allowed. That was the point of Pegula flying into Montreal to give his “The answer is in the room” speech.  That was the “you guys figure it out I’m not signing off on any deal right now” speech.

Of course, Adams should not be in charge, but the arrogance and obtuseness begins at the top. It's difficult to sustain hope when that is an obvious brake on future success. If TP is unable to learn a modicum of humility after 14 years, no amount of rational calculation regarding talent and roster construction is going to mean much. One is reduced to random luck, miracle, or change in ownership as what could conceivably pull the franchise out of its lamentable ways. 

[Flashsabre]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

Of course, Adams should not be in charge, but the arrogance and obtuseness begins at the top. It's difficult to sustain hope when that is an obvious brake on future success. If TP is unable to learn a modicum of humility after 14 years, no amount of rational calculation regarding talent and roster construction is going to mean much. One is reduced to random luck, miracle, or change in ownership as what could conceivably pull the franchise out of its lamentable ways. 

That why the Jarmo hiring gives me a little bit of hope that Terry is realizing what a mess this is.

[JohnC]

29 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Doing nothing when your team loses 13 games in a row is inexcusable. Nobody can tell me otherwise, your job as a GM is to put together a winning roster. You had to know losing 13 games would derail your entire season, his excuse was nobody was willing to come here yet we traded Cozens for Norris at the deadline.
Adams is terrible at his job and now we have to suffer another season with this clown.

The owner hired a person who had little qualification for the job. Then the owner allowed him to stay on the job when his record demonstrated that he should have been dispatched. This is not a normally functioning NHL franchise. This is a Terry Pegula owned franchise. What the Pittsburgh Pirates are to baseball, the Sabres are to NHL hockey. We are a steppingstone franchise for talented young players to move on from. Failure emanates from the top.