Rumor: Tim Graham “Sources He has are strongly hinting this is the end for Kevyn Adams”

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

How can Jarmo be worse than Adams?

Non-rhetorical 

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Thorny said:

Non-rhetorical 

Yup. What's he gonna do? Trade everyone for nothing and we'll just miss playoffs and be more boring?

[DarthEbriate]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

How can Jarmo be worse than Adams?

Only if he completely strong-arms the  RFAs and mangles their relations, then fails to get a goalie. But if he nurtures the toughness of Doan and Benson and finds a real coaching staff…

 

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Only if he completely strong-arms the  RFAs and mangles their relations, then fails to get a goalie. But if he nurtures the toughness of Doan and Benson and finds a real coaching staff…

 

Isn't that what Adams did?

[JohnC]

54 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Just sayin’

even a ship merely passing in the night might remember conversations of long past 

KA was not good selection as a GM. That doesn’t mean that he should be automatically pre-judged. He didn’t do everything wrong but he definitely do enough right things to make the Sabres a serious team. He was given more time on the job than most other owners would have allowed. His body of work was inadequate. And that’s an easy and fair judgment to make.

[DarthEbriate]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Isn't that what Adams did?

He lost JJP. 

He’d lose Benson and Doan. He’s garbage. 

[PerreaultForever]

48 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Yeah without Jarmo here I think Forton gets the job which would be brutal. 
 

My biggest hope if it is Jarmo is that he gets free reign and is not told by Oegula that everyone else needs to stay and Appert is the next head coach.

That was my feeling before Jarmo got here. Pegula would stay internal and give it to Forten (and then likely Appert as coach) and I'd hate all of that but Jarmo may have been brought in specifically as an option. Pegula needed him around to get to know him before handing it over. I wouldn't be surprised if Adams stays with a different title. He does more of the business stuff and Jarmo handles the GM hockey stuff. 

The "free reign" thing is the issue though. If he doesn't get it and it's still some group decision thing with Pegula in on every call then not much will change if anything. 

9 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

How can Jarmo be worse than Adams?

It's always possible but highly unlikely. The real question (aside from his power and autonomy as we mentioned above) is how can he reconstruct this roster to actually work. Will Tage and Rasmus want to stay if there's any sort of rebuild? Will they actually have a good goalie? What can he do saddled with Norris if he rarely plays? Power and his contract if he doesn't improve? Tuch and RFAs that may ask for the moon to force a way out. Will the philosophy change? The identity? Will they actually have an identity? It's not an easy fix for anyone, and if Pegula meddles, even a little (eg. imagine being a GM, thinking Quinn is a slacker and needs to go, but Pegula says to you "I like Quinn, don't trade him" how do you operate under that?)

I hope they make the change. I hope Jarmo can get it done, but a big part of me thinks they do need to blow it all up and start over or as I said earlier a full radical subtraction phase and a Torts type coach to change the culture and raise the bar. Maybe Jarmo can bring that in too. idk

[LGR4GM]

Just now, DarthEbriate said:

He lost JJP. 

He’d lose Benson and Doan. He’s garbage. 

Exactly, so how could Jarmo Kekalainen be any worse?

[DarthEbriate]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Exactly, so how could Jarmo Kekalainen be any worse?

I don’t think he can. I never argued he could be. I suppose he could take over and jettison Dahlin and draft McKenna only to find he was the fifth best in his class, but I don’t think Jarmo is an idiot. 

[SabresBillsFan]

Never said Jarmo was an idiot, I don’t see his success in Columbus to be that appealing. Yes, they have made the playoffs but they ain’t all the great either.

[PerreaultForever]

7 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I don’t think he can. I never argued he could be. I suppose he could take over and jettison Dahlin and draft McKenna only to find he was the fifth best in his class, but I don’t think Jarmo is an idiot. 

Or he can pass on McKenna thinking he's the fifth best and then McKenna turns out to be the best after all just took an extra year or something. You never know with these things. Look at how much more impactful Schaefer has been to Power. They were not the same but both were consensus first overall picks in their drafts. You rarely know for sure. 

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, SabresBillsFan said:

Never said Jarmo was an idiot, I don’t see his success in Columbus to be that appealing. Yes, they have made the playoffs but they ain’t all the great either.

Make the playoffs, and build from there. Brick by brick. Take your lumps. That’s *always* the way it was supposed to be. Instead they went with the utterly hubristic “Simply making the playoffs is for mere mortals, are we are building a cup team not a playoff team” nonsense 

Nothing wrong with Jarmo being merely the guy that gets the team back on a real, honest to goodness nhl team track

[SabresBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Make the playoffs, and build from there. Brick by brick. Take your lumps. That’s *always* the way it was supposed to be. Instead they went with the utterly hubristic “Simply making the playoffs is for mere mortals, are we are building a cup team not a playoff team” nonsense 

Nothing wrong with Jarmo being merely the guy that gets the team back on a real, honest to goodness nhl team track

Valid points, but the scouting staff really needs to be looked at as well along with the entire coaching staff.

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, SabresBillsFan said:

Valid points, but the scouting staff really needs to be looked at as well along with the entire coaching staff.

I agree - I’m just saying: take one step forward. 

[Archie Lee]

4 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I disagree with the above bolded.

We have seen many 'behind the scene' videos and We have heard and read from reporters around the team.  What is it we can get from that? That Adams is not the 'dictator' making every decision.  The people who work form him have input, a LOT of input as to the direction of the team, roster composition, etc. 

Now, what percentage of that is Adams, vs Pegula himself, vs the scouting dept, vs the coach, vs other members of the front office, I don't know. But what I do think is true is that this team is what it is not because of Adams alone, but the people around him have lots of input into trades/draft/roster.

You could be right. But what pro team produces a video for fan consumption that shows the head of scouting or assistant GM disagreeing with the final decision? 

[mjd1001]

16 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

You could be right. But what pro team produces a video for fan consumption that shows the head of scouting or assistant GM disagreeing with the final decision? 

If they did, they probably wouldn't show anything of that part of the decision making...but instead they showed quite a bit of everone sitting around a table having input.

I just think it is likely they do have a lot of people with input.  If Adams actually had 90% of the influence with no one else with much of a voice, it would be some next level kinda deception that wasn't needed to put that stuff out.

Edited 13 hours ago by mjd1001

[Doohickie]

9 hours ago, JohnC said:

Even if Jarmo becomes the GM, I don’t see a coaching change being made this season. 

If Adams > Special Vice President for Beanbags

Lindy > POHO

Jarmo > GM, 

then yes Appert > HC or Interim HC

[JohnC]

33 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

If Adams > Special Vice President for Beanbags

Lindy > POHO

Jarmo > GM, 

then yes Appert > HC or Interim HC

None of us know how the staff is going to be reshuffled, assuming there will a change at the GM position. I do believe that Ruff could be elevated to the POHO position, but in mind it is more likely to happen after the season.
 

We’ll just have to see how things shake out. Your guess is as good as any other other.

[Pimlach]

7 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I'm starting to get a little queasy about all this. I never wanted KA and won't miss him. But Terry has to be delighted by all the scorn directed at his GM.

Seriously, all we're going to do is send KA over the Falls with Thurman's helmet and expect both curses to lift?

It has to go much deeper than that.

I'm almost ready to root for a win tonight to officially save KA's job.

Another thing: let's say KA does get shitcanned. The team comes alive and makes the playoffs. How much credit does KA deserve?

Shrooms.

A win tonight should not save KA’s GM job.   I am pulling for a win without fear of that.  

Once KA is moved out, and assuming the team ever gets good,  I do think that Adams will get credit for players he drafted and developed, or that he traded for.    KA’s chances of having any semblance of a good legacy requires that he gets moved out and the next guys with bunch of Adams guys.  

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, SabresBillsFan said:

And it will continue, tell me again what did Jarmo accomplish in Columbus?

 

5 hours ago, Thorny said:

He made the playoffs as many years as Adams has been fully employed (5). He won as many playoff rounds (2) as we’ve won in the last 19 years. He made the playoffs 50% of his 10 years, Adams made the playoffs 0% of his 6 years 

 

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Most of their current team is because of him. Signed Gudreau.

In his job before Columbus Jarmo was the Director of Scouting in St Louis,  he is credited with responsibility for their draft and he brought in a bunch of good players while drafting in the middle or end of the rounds.  

His experience and his results are more tangible and better than Murray, Boterill, and Adams combined. 

[Flashsabre]

Adams on his laptop on the flight home working on a final power point presentation for Pegula called “3 Game Road Winning Streak”

[apuszczalowski]

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

A win tonight should not save KA’s GM job.   I am pulling for a win without fear of that.  

Once KA is moved out, and assuming the team ever gets good,  I do think that Adams will get credit for players he drafted and developed, or that he traded for.    KA’s chances of having any semblance of a good legacy requires that he gets moved out and the next guys with bunch of Adams guys.  

How bad is it going to look for the Sabres to the rest of the league that they fire KA from the job right after tehy win 3 in a row on the road?

I don't see a firing happening, more then likely they move KA to a 'president' role and Jarmo gets the GM role. Terry keeps his buddy around in KA and moves him out of the GM position to please the fans. He also doesn't lose any money with this move having to pay someone no longer here Again.

End of the season Lindy 'retires' from coaching and is possibly given some kind of office role as a thank you for his recent work where he works more as a 'consultant' to the franchise but doesn't have to much if he doesn't want to.

How many times have you heard a week+ before hand that a team plans to fire a GM or coach AND then follows through when they go on a winning streak? It would be a very 'Buffalo' thing to do though.....

[PASabreFan]

[Pimlach]

6 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

How bad is it going to look for the Sabres to the rest of the league that they fire KA from the job right after tehy win 3 in a row on the road?

I don't see a firing happening, more then likely they move KA to a 'president' role and Jarmo gets the GM role. Terry keeps his buddy around in KA and moves him out of the GM position to please the fans. He also doesn't lose any money with this move having to pay someone no longer here Again.

End of the season Lindy 'retires' from coaching and is possibly given some kind of office role as a thank you for his recent work where he works more as a 'consultant' to the franchise but doesn't have to much if he doesn't want to.

How many times have you heard a week+ before hand that a team plans to fire a GM or coach AND then follows through when they go on a winning streak? It would be a very 'Buffalo' thing to do though.....

How bad will firing Adams look to the league?   Not an issue.  Adam’s was never on any team’s radar for a front office hockey operations job, let alone a GM position.   It would be looked at as something that had to happen at some point.   

Move him to POHO - this would be a bad move. 
Move him to POHO puppet - this is even worse. 
Move him outside of hockey ops - I don’t understand that but it’s a strange organization so who knows.  

Lindy’s coaching career will end after the season.  He could end up an Advisor to Pegula (first) and also to the GM. 

[Eleven]

14 hours ago, JohnC said:

Even if Jarmo becomes the GM, I don’t see a coaching change being made this season. 

It's been 17 years since this nonsense about coaching started, and still I have to tell people that the coach is not the problem. 

 

Geez.

Edited 8 hours ago by Eleven