Sabres GM is Kevyn Adams is under pressure after 5 seasons and no playoff appearances

BUFFALO, N.Y. — At Saturday’s end of the season press conference, Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams wouldn’t say if he’s received assurances from Terry Pegula that he will be back as the Sabres GM.

Adams said he still needs to get down to South Florida to meet with the owner. Adams has had more than enough time in the five seasons he’s been general manager to make this team better, but in each of the last three seasons, they’ve gotten worse. 

Winning is not the most important thing to Pegula, it’s being heard, which is why the hockey department is full of people that never did their jobs before and aren’t qualified to do them. 

Adams leads the way with that as Kim Pegula started grooming Adams for the job by giving him different jobs with the organization to get him ready to be the Sabres general manager. The plan has been a failure.

Adams has had to learn on the job by making mistakes. He identified the wrong core group, paid them big money with contracts that in some cases are regretted. 

He did a really poor job of developing some of the good young talent he has. Jiri Kulich was developed the right way. Kulich has played 140 games with the Rochester Americans and he’s down there now to join their playoff run. 

Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens, and Zach Benson spent no time in the AHL. In Benson’s case he couldn’t because of his age. I think young players need to be in Rochester to learn how to play the right way, but Adams didn’t have the experience to know what’s good for young players so Mattias Samuelsson only got 45 games in the minors, Henri Jokiharju had 30 AHL games, JJ Peterka got 80 games, Jack Quinn 70, Peyton Krebs 35, and Jacob Bryson 76.

It’s good to see that Isak Rosen has spent over 200 games in Rochester. Tyson Kozak has 145 games with the Amerks. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had 23 games in the ECHL and 69 games in the Amerks' net. 

Adams made a huge mistake handing Devon Levi the Sabres goaltending job not once but twice, without the proper development. Levi floundered, and Adams finally realized last season that it would be better for him to play in Rochester. 

Including playoffs, Levi played 31 games in 2023-24 with the Amerks, and this season he got into 42 games for Rochester with playoffs coming up. Even though Luukkonen won the job with his play, he had to start the season this year alternating games with Levi because that’s the goalie Adams wants to be the Sabres No. 1. He didn’t earn those early season games, they were handed to him. When he showed he wasn’t up for it, he finally went to Rochester. In those early season games Levi was 1-2-0 with a 3.79 goals against and .874 save percentage. 

It hasn’t been all bad. Adams did a nice job bringing in Jason Zucker and James Reimer, both were valuable on and off the ice. 

Buffalo needed a two-way center that could win faceoffs and had speed. Ryan McLeod fit that bill and McLeod exceeded expectations scoring 20 goals along with being that good two-way player. 

Bo Byram was a good trade for Casey Mittelstadt. Getting Alex Tuch and a No. 1 pick in the Jack Eichel trade that became Noah Ostlund was a good deal. They also got Krebs who Vegas took 17th overall in 2019. He had a good second half of the season, and Ruff loves him as a player.

Pegula knows he has to make changes somewhere. The fans are already all over him and Adams, and the status quo won’t go over well. 

Expect changes in the coaching staff, I wouldn’t be shocked if there are changes in the Sports Performance department. Pro scouting needs to have someone with experience in there. 

We always talk about players earning what they get. There is no way that Kevyn Adams has earned a sixth year as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, but it all depends on Terry Pegula.

Does he want to win? Or does he want to be heard?