Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams spoke on Friday morning at the request of media (specifically, at the request of Mike Harrington from The Buffalo News).
Adams’ roughly 20-minute long availability comes at a time when the NHL team has lost five straight, four of which were on home ice. Following Tuesday’s abysmal loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Sabres played better – but still lost in overtime – on Thursday against a tough Winnipeg Jets team. The Sabres are now 11-12-3 on the season.
Here are some of Adams’ quotes:
KA: “We talk a lot about accountability in our organization, and it starts with me. You guys [media] asked me to be here and answer questions, so that’s what I’ll do. If you’re looking for me to panicking or overreacting because of the last few games, that’s not my style, but happy to answer questions.”
Q: You’ve got 11 wins in 26 games. You’re 12th in the East, you’re 23rd in the league. You’re coming off, you’re three days removed from one of the most disgraceful losses in the history of the franchise. Why is your team so mentally fragile and what are you going to do about changing the composition of this mix?
KA: The Colorado game, that’s tough. That’s one of those games that, wins and losses, at the end of the day, all count the same, but those ones hurt. There’s a lot of reasons, I think as you watch the video and you back, we unraveled. We need to learn from that and be better. I think if I’m looking to the positives of it, you bring in Lindy, new system, we’re 26 games into the year.
Some of the stuff that I look at and try to judge our team on, there’s some positives there and reasons to believe that we’re going to take some steps which we need to. We’re not happy with where we are, we need to get better. But you look at, even-strength expected goals for, goals against, we’re right where you want to be, to be a playoff team… When you try to step back and zoom out and take some of the emotion out, there are positive signs. Whether it’s the Islanders loss or the Colorado loss… some of these games, where the see the lapses, the extended lapses, your most experienced forwards are typically not the ones that are sort of unraveling in these moments. It’s your younger guys who are kind of repeating the same mistakes, turning the puck over in the neutral zone and really just not following the game plan that Lindy presents to them on and a night in and night out basis.
On possibly having to change up the core group…
KA: Well, you’re always evaluating. You’re always looking at every possible scenario to improve your team. I think I’ve been pretty consistent with how I’ve said… nothing should be off the table. We should be in every conversation, which we are. Evaluating, are there ways to help your team improve, and if there are, then we’ll attack it.
You have to draft and you have to develop well. We’re in that process, and development sometimes means some rough times… I truly believe if you draft well, you develop well. You work through some of the growing pains, and you can get a team in a good spot with the people that you’ve kind of brought up through your system. It gives you an advantage, and then you round it out. You look with trades, you look to see if there’s ways to help supplement your roster.
We’re not a destination city right now, where you’re going to be able to go out and get UFAs that are the key guys. I just don’t think that’s the way to build a sustainable winner. You evaluate your core, you look for trades that you can have players that can grow with you and add to your team. If there’s UFAs that you can add that make sense, that work, of course you’re going to be open in doing that. That’s what we’re in the process of. To circle back, you always look at everything, and if there’s ways to improve, we’ll do it.
On being a young team…
KA: When you’re going to make a decision to build a franchise, sustainable success over year after year, you’re going to have to go young. You’re going to have to give players the opportunity to battle through some of the ups and downs. I believe our roster is talented. We should be a team that is competing and in the playoffs. In saying that, when you have a young roster, you’re going to have mistakes. We have a new coach that’s putting in certain types of different intricacies into the system. You’re 26 games in. That’s why I said in the beginning, I’m not happy with where we’re at, but we’re not going to panic. We’re not going to overreact. We’re not going to make a knee-jerk decision or reactionary trade that sets you back. We have to look at things that we think are going to improve our team and we’ll act on.
Q: What do you say to a fanbase that’s sick of hearing about learning and development and growing, and they want to make playoffs now? What do you say to those fans?
KA: I’d say I understand, but I also say you don’t make the playoffs on December 6. You need 82 games. I’m going to be honest with you guys; that was a tough loss, and that loss hurt. I promise you that it bothers me and the coaches and the players more than anyone, but it’s one game. You have to go back over the video, you have to talk about it, you have to own it and you have to move on to the next one.
Q: When it comes to players who are UFA or players who maybe you’re pursuing in a trade that may have Buffalo on a list that they don’t want to go to, how do you break through them or their agents to say, listen, this is where success can happen for you?
KA: For me, it’s really simple. You become a perennial playoff team. You make the playoffs. You have a chance to win the Stanley Cup, year after year. You’re on less teams no-trade list. We don’t have palm trees, we have taxes in New York. Those are real, and those are things you deal with. But trust me, I’m in conversations every day. There’s a lot of players in this league that we’re on their list, so we need to earn the respect. It starts with getting over the hump, getting in the playoffs, competing.
On if he feels a greater sense of urgency about spending his available cap space:
KA: The answer is yes, except it’s not a vacuum, though. You have to look past this year when you’re putting your roster together. The cap, I think I’ve clearly explained before, has never been something that I’m as focused on as all of you or the fans. We’re trying to build our roster out that we’re able, year after year, to compete. If you add an $8 million player that’s got five years left on his contract, what does that do for the next round of guys? That’s what my job is – to make sure we’re positioning ourselves not only today, but into the future.
Q: You cannot go 14 years out of the playoffs. Teams make it just out of dumb luck. I understand you’re probably doing consistent trade talks with teams, and I know the [Jacob] Trouba rumors are out there right now… Why isn’t there another Jason Zucker-type, one-year veteran kind of acquisition being made?
KA: I’d have to go into specifics, which is tricky in these situations, but if you go back to the summer… There were a short list of UFA guys that we had targeted, and fortunately, we were able to get Zucker. He’s really stepped in and been a stabilizing player and been a good leader and mentor, and played well on the ice. There were other guys pursued who chose other places. That’s what happens in the UFA market.
In terms of trades, there was a trade in my mind… a trade that we worked really hard at this summer, that we went all in on. You guys probably would’ve roasted me, said we were going to overpay to get the player, and they ended up not trading him and he’s still on that team. So it’s not from lack of want, but we’re not going to and just make a trade so you guys can say we’ve spent to the cap. If we don’t think it makes sense for now and into the future, you just can’t operate like that.
Q: So is it true – did you have Martin Necas and he refused to sign an extension?
KA: I can’t talk about players on other teams.
On if he still feels like he’s putting the team in the best position to end the drought…
KA: I say, the time is now, because I believe in the people in this room and I believe in the coaching staff. Are we where we want to be right now? No. We’re 26 games in. We’ll continue to look at every possible scenario if there’s a way to add to our team, but I’m going to go to war with these guys and I will not change. I will not back down from that. I believe in the people in our room, and I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t know the opportunity we have. I know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup in this league. It’s not easy, and you have to be really diligent with the decisions you make. You have to put your team in the best position, which we’re going to continue to talk about and debate and work at things. Certain things, unfortunately, don’t end up working out, and certain other opportunities and doors do and they will open. I believe in this team, and I believe we’re going to be a team that takes a step here.
On the perception that ownership doesn’t give Adams the resources needed to win:
KA: Terry has done everything he can to provide us every possible resource to win hockey games. That’s all I can ask for in my position. How many pro scouts we have, development staff we have, versus what other teams have, isn’t really something I overly get concerned about. What we evaluate at the end of every season is, where do we need to add? Do we have more that we need to put resources… in a certain area? Maybe it’s analytics, so you turn the analytics staff into a little heavier. Maybe it’s pro scotuing, where we added one this past summer. Player development – I think those guys are doing a phenomenal job. They’re flying all over the world. We’re getting coverage. I don’t think I’ve had one agent, since we rebuilt the staff, ever call me and say that one of our prospects wasn’t getting attention or wasn’t getting feedback. They’ve done an incredible job representing the organization.
Terry’s all in. I talk to him every day. He wants this as bad as any of us. Trust me. He wants to be part of the solution with me, to talk about where do we need to find success, or what do we need to do to help this team? At the end of the day, that’s all I can really say.
In case you missed Friday’s media availability with the Sabres’ GM, here is the full video: