Kevyn Adams Speaks

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I don't believe Jack ever wanted to be in Buffalo. But he did want to get paid. Once that happened, he was gonzo.

As for not wanting to stick around for another rebuild, he was one of the reasons we needed a rebuild. 

Not impressed by Krebs or Östlund, huh? I'll take them over Jack anytime.

You are reaching.   As I said, I see a Krebs as a bottom 6+, and Östlund has played well in his first 71 games.  

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I don't believe Jack ever wanted to be in Buffalo. But he did want to get paid. Once that happened, he was gonzo.

As for not wanting to stick around for another rebuild, he was one of the reasons we needed a rebuild. 

Not impressed by Krebs or Östlund, huh? I'll take them over Jack anytime.

There is no sober or non heroin addicted GM who would take Krebs and Östlund over Jack!  Most often, when a trade is made you don’t know for sure how it will turn out. This deal was made five years ago, so we have a basis to make a judgment. The results are overwhelming that Vegas decisively got the better end of the deal. 
 

It’s not usual in all sports that a trade is driven more by circumstances than by value of the return. That’s what happened in the Jack saga. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

Cmon guys... Regardless of all the politics behind the scenes.. 

Jack on this team would make us truly elite (if we're not there already) our PP would instantly have more credibility. 

Just look at last night, down 1-0 in the 3rd and guess who stepped up, frickin Eichel. Meanwhile we are in OT of game 7 and I'm not sure Alex Tuch was even on the ice. 

Pegula was a crap owner, plain and simple, Murray, Botteril, KA... All while cutting costs, I'd leave too. 

No sight of Pegula since we've been better, not a coincidence at all. 

[Pimlach]

58 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Cmon guys... Regardless of all the politics behind the scenes.. 

Jack on this team would make us truly elite (if we're not there already) our PP would instantly have more credibility. 

Just look at last night, down 1-0 in the 3rd and guess who stepped up, frickin Eichel. Meanwhile we are in OT of game 7 and I'm not sure Alex Tuch was even on the ice. 

Pegula was a crap owner, plain and simple, Murray, Botteril, KA... All while cutting costs, I'd leave too. 

No sight of Pegula since we've been better, not a coincidence at all. 

I just hope he stays out of the Bills football operations.  The presser he gave after firing McDermott made me nervous about the future of the a Bills. 

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Cmon guys... Regardless of all the politics behind the scenes.. 

Jack on this team would make us truly elite (if we're not there already) our PP would instantly have more credibility. 

Just look at last night, down 1-0 in the 3rd and guess who stepped up, frickin Eichel. Meanwhile we are in OT of game 7 and I'm not sure Alex Tuch was even on the ice. 

Pegula was a crap owner, plain and simple, Murray, Botteril, KA... All while cutting costs, I'd leave too. 

No sight of Pegula since we've been better, not a coincidence at all. 

There are probably only 2-3 teams in the NHL (maybe none, actually) that would not be better if they inserted Jack Eichel for their 2nd best forward. 

[nfreeman]

On 5/21/2026 at 12:17 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

Adams didn't address the goaltending situation? Does the name Alex Lyon ring a bell? Sabres were 10th in fewest goals allowed. All three goalies were .903, .907 and .910.

On 5/21/2026 at 12:18 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

Because these things take on a life of their own. They get repeated over and over and taken as gospel. And you end up with a bizarre alt reality.

Their goaltending stunk for pretty much KA's first 5 years, and then he brought in yet another journeyman in Lyon, who had a career year after KA got fired -- and you claim this means that KA did a good job addressing goaltending?

Speaking of bizarre alt realities...

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Their goaltending stunk for pretty much KA's first 5 years, and then he brought in yet another journeyman in Lyon, who had a career year after KA got fired -- and you claim this means that KA did a good job addressing goaltending?

Speaking of bizarre alt realities...

Sabres had the best team sv% from Dec. 9 on. How did that fail your expectations?

[nfreeman]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Sabres had the best team sv% from Dec. 9 on. How did that fail your expectations?

Well, I don't know why I have to repeat this, but the point is that KA was GM for 5 years plus 32 games, and he did a terrible job securing goaltending -- the most important position -- for pretty much all of the first 5 years.  If you think that means he did a good job with goaltending, I don't know what else to say other than this just can't be taken seriously.

[PromoTheRobot]

22 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well, I don't know why I have to repeat this, but the point is that KA was GM for 5 years plus 32 games, and he did a terrible job securing goaltending -- the most important position -- for pretty much all of the first 5 years.  If you think that means he did a good job with goaltending, I don't know what else to say other than this just can't be taken seriously.

This season is proof he did a good job. He stuck with UPL when everyone here wanted him waived. And if getting a franchise goaltender was that easy, why doesn't every team do it? And while you're at it, grab a franchise center too. 😂

I know it's hard to imagine, but the goaltending improved greatly because of the way the Sabres played defense. Goaltending would have been a lot better earlier if the Sabres bought into that concept.

Edited May 23 by PromoTheRobot

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

This season is proof he did a good job. He stuck with UPL when everyone here wanted him waived. And if getting a franchise goaltender was that easy, why doesn't every team do it? And while you're at it, grab a franchise center too. 😂

Wherever could Kevyn Adams have found a franchise center?  

(Perhaps on the roster he started with?)  😉 

[PromoTheRobot]

Just now, Taro T said:

Wherever could Kevyn Adams have found a franchise center?  

(Perhaps on the roster he started with?)  😉 

He drafted a bunch of potential 1Cs. 

[Nacho Libre]

18 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

This season is proof he did a good job. He stuck with UPL when everyone here wanted him waived. And if getting a franchise goaltender was that easy, why doesn't every team do it? And while you're at it, grab a franchise center too. 😂

I know it's hard to imagine, but the goaltending improved greatly because of the way the Sabres played defense. Goaltending would have been a lot better earlier if the Sabres bought into that concept.

Like in 2021 under Kevyn Adams and the leadership of captain Jack Eichel when Ullmark posted a .917 sv%, outstripping both UPL and Lyon from this season 

so….adams made the goaltending really bad for 6 seasons so that it could get back to a fair bit worse than where it was when he took over 

stellar job 

[DarthEbriate]

6 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He drafted a bunch of potential 1Cs. 

 

Yes, I see the word potential, but I really want to break this down a bit because I'm thinking about the 1C and the bunch.

 

First, we could define 1C as anyone who was listed on the roster's 1st line. By this definition Greenway was a 1W this season (11/1/2025). But that's nonsensical.

Here's how I'll define a 1C: One of the 32 best centers in the league, or alternately (because EDM has 2 of them, PIT/TOR are still borderline as Malkin/Tavares age, etc.) a player who would be the unquestioned 1st line center/PP1 on at least 10 teams in the league. The player has love from around the league, and we need a minimum because you'll inevitably run into a team in full-on tank mode whose current top centers are Zemgus Girgensons and Torrey Mitchell.

Currently, the Sabres have Thompson as a 1C and even that is a bit questionable as he's been shifted to wing. Norris is a 2C -- really solid player -- but nearly every team has one guy they'd play above him in the lineup. Even when healthy, for much of the season, he was behind Thompson here.  

A 1C is someone the other team matches their shutdown line against and say, "He'll get his." and "We just need to limit the damage he does." Well, against Montreal: except for one game (3 assists, ENG) and one fluke stanchion goal, Thompson wasn't even a 1C. And Norris put up just 2 assists all series. They didn't get theirs.

 

Let's look at the Adams picks:

The Nope Category: Konecny, Costantini, Kozak, Von Lofberg, Sjodin, Karlsson

The Too Soon Category (could one of them be Brayden Point in 6 years? sure, but for now, they've shown nothing): Rucinski, Schultz, Kucharcik

The Already a Winger Category: Savoie, Wahlberg (still listed as a C, but has played almost exclusively as a wing for 2 seasons in Rochester)

Who is left?

Marjala - draft listed as a LW, but AHL Bakersfield has him rostered as a C and he had a great 1st season)

Kulich, Östlund, Helenius -- I like them all, but the likelihood that more than one of them reaches across-the-league 1C status is very, very low. 

 

Now, does Adams potentially have three (or even five if a Too Soon Category guy hits) 2Cs to his GM credit? Absolutely. Can Ruff work with that? Absolutely -- until you run into teams with shutdown defensive centers like Danault, Cirelli, etc., who aren't even the best centers on their team.

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

Adams did a very good job overall. That was his team one shot away from from the conference finals. Jarmo is walking into an ideal situation. He needs to finish the job. His first trade is not impressive at this point but it's still early on that one.

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

On 5/22/2026 at 12:23 PM, Pimlach said:

You go to great lengths to defend Adams.   The fact is that writers will spread manure from both sides.  Adams and Terry looked bad, and wrong, on the Eichel situation.   There is no other take.  

Why was the team so bad for 5+ years under Adams?  What is your opinion on why?  

When your drafting 18 year olds and are developing them properly It's usually 2-4 years before they get to the NHL and then another 1-3 years before they are really productive. The math on the 5 years is pretty easy. 

[Pimlach]

16 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

When your drafting 18 year olds and are developing them properly It's usually 2-4 years before they get to the NHL and then another 1-3 years before they are really productive. The math on the 5 years is pretty easy. 

No.  It was his poor roster construction around the young core.  

Edited May 25 by Pimlach

[Nacho Libre]

2 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

When your drafting 18 year olds and are developing them properly It's usually 2-4 years before they get to the NHL and then another 1-3 years before they are really productive. The math on the 5 years is pretty easy. 

The sabres demonstrably didn’t need to take 6 years to make it under Adams b/c they missed the playoffs by one solitary point after crummy deadline from Adams in 2023. They were ready to be a playoff team in 2023. Waiting three years more after is absurdly bad and that’s why Adams rightfully lost his job. The improved morale afterwords the inevitable outcome of such an obviously deserved firing 

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

10 hours ago, Pimlach said:

No.  It was his poor roaster construction around the young core.  

Tell me you know absolutely nothing about hockey. Oh wait. You just did.

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

9 hours ago, Nacho Libre said:

The sabres demonstrably didn’t need to take 6 years to make it under Adams b/c they missed the playoffs by one solitary point after crummy deadline from Adams in 2023. They were ready to be a playoff team in 2023. Waiting three years more after is absurdly bad and that’s why Adams rightfully lost his job. The improved morale afterwords the inevitable outcome of such an obviously deserved firing 

Another clueless wonder. There are alot of them here.

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

Tell me you know absolutely nothing about hockey. Oh wait. You just did.

Look in the mirror - 88 Posts and all of them on how good Kevyn Adams was.  

[K-9]

4 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

Another clueless wonder. There are alot of them here.

C’mon, Mrs. Adams. Be nice. 

[Nacho Libre]

6 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

Another clueless wonder. There are alot of them here.

I may be clueless and a wonder, but I’m certainly not…wait what was the third thing you said? 

[WatchedrookieGilP]

 

Kris Baker, who liked ex-GMKA, said on the latest Baker-Fairburn podcast, that Jerry Forton should get most of the credit for the successful draft picks.

Edited May 25 by WatchedrookieGilP

[Nacho Libre]

30 minutes ago, WatchedrookieGilP said:

 

Kris Baker, who liked ex-GMKA, said on the latest Baker-Fairburn podcast, that Jerry Forton should get most of the credit for the successful draft picks.

Haha BAKER saying that is a total tar-and-feather from anyone else 

[JohnC]

48 minutes ago, Nacho Libre said:

Haha BAKER saying that is a total tar-and-feather from anyone else 

Why is a GM relying on the input of his staff to make draft picks something to be critical of?  That's how it's normally done. I'm not making an argument that he should have been retained as the GM but pointing out that personnel decisions are made with the input of staff.