Kevyn Adams Press Scrum, July 2, 2025

[Pimlach]

9 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I really think you guys are missing the crux of the JBD discussion.

adams called him an 8 and threated him like he's an 8. If JBD is just that — another in a long collection of Adams blueline tweeners, he made the right call. If he is a clear step above Bryson, Johnson and Jones and a serviceable #6D the board is right and Adams ***** up.

It's not really about anything other than player evaluation.

Adam’s called him an 8, so he was slotted behind (4) Kesserling, (5) Muel, (6) Timmons, and (7) Bryson.   I think Jones was signed after JBD was let go.  

Last season there were several people on this board that liked JBD as the 4 playing with Power.   Some thought he could be the surprise of the Cozens-Norris trade, remember?   We shall see soon enough what he does in Detroit. 

I don’t see any point in worrying about him being gone. 

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

Adam’s called him an 8, so he was slotted behind (4) Kesserling, (5) Muel, (6) Timmons, and (7) Bryson.   I think Jones was signed after JBD was let go.  

Last season there were several people on this board that liked JBD as the 4 playing with Power.   Some thought he could be the surprise of the Cozens-Norris trade, remember?   We shall see soon enough what he does in Detroit. 

I don’t see any point in worrying about him being gone. 

IF they finally have found a partner for Power that makes that what we'd hope the pairing should be, then yes, Bernard-Docker being gone is a nothing burger.

But, if, once again, they've failed to find Power's partner, it's a huge error.  Because Power and JBD played well together.

Time will tell.  Hoping Adams and Wilford are right.  And honestly, am FAR less interested in what he does in Detroit as what Power does with Kesselring &/or Timmons.

[dudacek]

7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Adam’s called him an 8, so he was slotted behind (4) Kesserling, (5) Muel, (6) Timmons, and (7) Bryson.   I think Jones was signed after JBD was let go.  

Last season there were several people on this board that liked JBD as the 4 playing with Power.   Some thought he could be the surprise of the Cozens-Norris trade, remember?   We shall see soon enough what he does in Detroit. 

I don’t see any point in worrying about him being gone. 

I think JBD was let go with Adams believing he could get an equal or better player at the same price with no risk of arbitration.

Jones ended up being that guy.

We'll see if he's right.

Edited 15 hours ago by dudacek

[Pimlach]

8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

IF they finally have found a partner for Power that makes that what we'd hope the pairing should be, then yes, Bernard-Docker being gone is a nothing burger.

But, if, once again, they've failed to find Power's partner, it's a huge error.  Because Power and JBD played well together.

Time will tell.  Hoping Adams and Wilford are right.  And honestly, am FAR less interested in what he does in Detroit as what Power does with Kesselring &/or Timmons.

I can agree to this.  But JBD being the 8 was Adams spitballing because they acquired Kesserling and Timmons and Adams already committed money to his boy Bryson. 

I have high hopes for Kesserling.  

[Archie Lee]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I think JBD was let go with Adams believing he could get an equal or better player at the same price with no risk of arbitration.

Jones ended up being that guy.

We'll see if he's right.

I guess the follow-up question would be, did Adams try and get JBD signed before a decision on a qualifying offer had to be made?  If he did and there was no interest in extending, then I can see the logic. If no attempt was made to get him on a 1-2 year deal at $900-950 K, then I think it was a mistake. Fatal?  Of course not. 

I would rather have JBD as the #7 than Bryson (right shot, bigger, 3 years younger, higher pedigree). 

[oddoublee]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Thing is, they aren't really storing up all that much cap space.

Per puckpedia, with 14F's, 6D, and 2G's, they have $12.865MM in cap space with Byram, Timmons, and Levi left to sign.

Byram will be at least $6MM on a bridge and likely around $8MM on a deal cutting into some of his UFA years.  Leaving them with ~$5-7MM.  Timmons will be ballpark $1MM.  Levi ballpark $2MM.  Yes that's 24 bodies, not just 23, but how often is the team going to only have 23 players on the big club's roster.  And after those signings, they'd have ~$2-4MM left.  Which shockingly is what NHL teams end up with.  Not the $8MM+ they tend to like to keep available.

Once Byram's fate (contract, whatever) is determined; then we'll know if there's room for any other moves.  But it's not like they're sitting at $20MM waiting on making sure Byram doesn't get a $13MM offer (and he ain't getting a $13MM offer).  They're about where they should be $wise, but personally would like to see them about $1MM away from the cap on opening night rather than $4-5MM away.

Pretty sad that they are that close to the cap and they still suck big giant salty balls compared to the rest of the league. 

Our favorite team is a clown show. 

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I can agree to this.  But JBD being the 8 was Adams spitballing because they acquired Kesserling and Timmons and Adams already committed money to his boy Bryson. 

I have high hopes for Kesserling.  

Personally, have very high hopes for Kesselring too.  And maybe he could be not only a great partner for Power, but maybe Dahlin as well.  Give them some flexibility in how to deplay the backliners.

But, just can't get past how well Power and Bernard-Docker looked together.  Also, have made no secret of it, am no fan at all of Wilford.  Am very concerned that they won't find as good a pairing as that was.  And if Kesselring & Power are a great pairing will be very happy to be wrong about being concerned about them letting a guy that will likely be no more than a journeyman, if not in the correct situation, go off on his journey.

[Porous Five Hole]

58 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Personally, have very high hopes for Kesselring too.  And maybe he could be not only a great partner for Power, but maybe Dahlin as well.  Give them some flexibility in how to deplay the backliners.

 

I am also signing off on the concept of Kess. In his latest pod, Fairburn said the best player in the trade may be Kesselring.  I’m optimistic.  Losing an unhappy JJP seems to suck right now, but we could be laughing all the way to the bank on this one. Here’s to hoping (which I recognize is a ***** strategy).

[...]

7 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I am also signing off on the concept of Kess. In his latest pod, Fairburn said the best player in the trade may be Kesselring.  I’m optimistic.  Losing an unhappy JJP seems to suck right now, but we could be laughing all the way to the bank on this one. Here’s to hoping (which I recognize is a ***** strategy).

Did Fairburn provide reasons? Is it worth the listen?

[Porous Five Hole]

Just now, ... said:

Did Fairburn provide reasons? Is it worth the listen?

Expected Peterka regression (not unfair) and ascending Kess as a player isn’t exactly a hot take. The Baker Fairburn Hockry Show is a decent listen either way.  Kess is a high character guy and a major position of need. 

[dudacek]

21 minutes ago, ... said:

Did Fairburn provide reasons? Is it worth the listen?

 

17 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

Expected Peterka regression (not unfair) and ascending Kess as a player isn’t exactly a hot take. The Baker Fairburn Hockry Show is a decent listen either way.  Kess is a high character guy and a major position of need. 

I’ve heard this from a few informed sources. 

There’s a minority opinion out there that the great unwashed may have an inflated view of Peterka and don’t know how good Kesselring is. Even most of these people still think JJ is the best player in the deal, so it was interesting to hear Fairburn - the most credible of the Sabres beat guys - say it may end up being Kessel.

Wishful thinking I’m sure, and I’ve had a lower opinion of Peterka than most.

Edited 13 hours ago by dudacek

[dudacek]

The pod also had some interesting tidbits on Danforth and Doan.

I’d have to re-listen for the particulars, but the gist was that they are at the high-end of NHL forecheckers; I think they said Doan’s retrievals per 60 were at a stand-alone level, almost literally off the charts.

[Thorny]

8 hours ago, oddoublee said:

KA is kind of silly

 

7 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Thats WAY too positive of a take. Don't you know around there you can only post about Adams if its pure, 100% bashing? Nothing he can do, say, no movement of his body can be anything but a total disaster destined to make the Sabres (along with the life every citizen of WNY) worse in every way.

The funniest part of trying to being sarcastically hyperbolic about Adams and the sabres is that it doesn’t work because you just hit the nail on the head 

[SABRES 0311]

I’m fine with the JBD explanation. Makes more sense than the idea of Benson starting in the top six 😂 

[PerreaultForever]

If you stop and think about it they traded Jokiharju away for a 4th and then gave up a second for his replacement for the balance of the season. So they traded a 2nd round pick for a 4th round pick. They still think they know what they are doing. 

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

If you stop and think about it they traded Jokiharju away for a 4th and then gave up a second for his replacement for the balance of the season. So they traded a 2nd round pick for a 4th round pick. They still think they know what they are doing. 

Making a mistake with a non first round pick is not something to be exercised over. There are plenty of other issues to draw one’s attention to.

[LGR4GM]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

If you stop and think about it they traded Jokiharju away for a 4th and then gave up a second for his replacement for the balance of the season. So they traded a 2nd round pick for a 4th round pick. They still think they know what they are doing. 

Adams has demonstrated he has 0 understanding of what a 2nd round pick is worth.

[JohnC]

9 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yep.

Hope for the best.  But believe they'll actually spend to/near the cap when they actually do so.  And not a minute sooner.

Is the level of spending due to the boundaries that the owner has established? I believe so.  And have the cap boundaries been loosened this off-season? I believe so.  And to what degree? As you noted, we shall see.

[Believer]

11 hours ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

We need somebody with vision, fortitude, and most importantly BALLS to do the job.

Agree.

In some earlier thread I posted about Gerry Meehan. As Sabres GM in 1989, he was instrumental in helping the first Russian player defect from the Soviet Union to the Sabres, Alexander Mogilny.

My comment was I didn’t think Adams had the audacity to do anything even remotely similar.

Somebody gave me an eye roll. Hahaha. Must be an Adams fan. After five years, I’m not.

[JP51]

14 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

If they can prevent the same number of goals JJ scored, it's a wash.

This^

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Adams has demonstrated he has 0 understanding of what a 2nd round pick is worth.

and this^  

[Sabres Fan in NS]

He's really lost a lot of hair, eh !!

Also, he says the same damn thing every year.

Just win !!  

No one cares about anything else.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Adams has demonstrated he has 0 understanding of what a 2nd round pick is worth.

It’s worth an NHL player about 25% of the time 4 years from the date the player was drafted.

Here are KAs 2nd rd picks

1 - star - JJP who he promptly traded away for a former 6th pick to play top 4 defenses and a former 2nd rd pick who has yet to establish himself as a full time NHL forward.  

3 - busts - Kisakov, Poltapov (he’s not coming over folks) and Leinonen

3 - recent prospects - Wahlberg, Strbak, Kleber

 

Edited 5 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It’s worth an NHL player about 25% of the time 4 years from the date the player was drafted.

Here are KAs 2nd rd picks

1 - star - JJP who he promptly traded away 

3 - busts - Kisakov, Poltapov (he’s not coming over folks) and Leinonen

3 - recent prospects - Wahlberg, Strbak, Kleber

 

Let's summarize the transactions and the aftermath. The Sabres are better on the blueline, and that is before knowing how the Byram issue turns out. In general, I would say that the Sabres are grittier than last year's version of a team. The issue that hangs over these player maneuvers and renders them helpful or not is the state of our goaltending. Is the addition of the new goalie going to be helpful? Will UPL become an adequate to solid #1 goalie? Will Levi eventually force his way onto the Sabres and relegate UPL as expendable? If the Sabres get consistent and solid goaltending, then at least we can hope for a credible playoff race. If not, then we continue to be stuck in the abyss. For me, it's not an issue of being confident or not about the position. I just don't know. So entering the season I find myself as being queasy about this team's prospects.  

[SabresVet]

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.  

[LGR4GM]

23 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It’s worth an NHL player about 25% of the time 4 years from the date the player was drafted.

Here are KAs 2nd rd picks

1 - star - JJP who he promptly traded away for a former 6th pick to play top 4 defenses and a former 2nd rd pick who has yet to establish himself as a full time NHL forward.  

3 - busts - Kisakov, Poltapov (he’s not coming over folks) and Leinonen

3 - recent prospects - Wahlberg, Strbak, Kleber

 

Adams has no clue what a 2nd round pick is worth. I stand by that statement.