Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – On Saturday the latest chapter of the Buffalo Sabres was put to rest and it is again a complete failure. This is an organization run by Terry Pegula that has people doing jobs that they’ve never done before and they’re not remotely qualified to do. This is an organization that has had a general manager who had been here for five seasons and seen his team get worse in each of the last three seasons. Very few people in the hockey department had the qualifications to get the jobs that they have and that includes Kevyn Adams, who has had to learn on the job while making mistakes. Lindy Ruff of course would be the exception to that rule.
On Saturday, Adams didn’t put blame for this team’s failures on anyone but himself. He has yet to have his end of the season meetings with Pegula and that will be happening soon down in South Florida. Adams said,
“We’ll have meetings with Terry coming in the very near future where we will review everything, talk about the roster and everything in the organization in hockey operations, where we can improve, what we need to focus on and we’ll make any decision that we need to make that we think will help us get better.
“I believe we should be a playoff team right now and we failed, so it’s owning that, it’s my responsibility for that and then moving past that and saying this is how I see us improving and what we can do to fix it, so being very honest in the conversations with Terry to say where I think I’ve made mistakes, but I believe we’re close than farther, but the words are the words, we have to win hockey games and I understand that.”
When Adams was asked if he’s been assured that he will remain the GM he just said he hasn’t had the meetings with Pegula yet.
From talking with players and listening to Adams it seems like this team had some in the dressing room that wanted to blame others for the shortcomings of the team. All season long certain players would bring up that if they’re going to get better, you have to figure out what you can do better. Adams said that aspect of the team has to improve,
“Culture’s earned in terms of your daily habits and what I believe we need to probably reflect on and do a better job of is more of our players starting with looking in the mirror first and if we all do that with what can I do better and how can I the best version of myself in my job as general manager, and the coaches and players do the same thing, it starts to build a culture of accountability, so if we do a better job of that, and then you get more positive results a better culture is built.”
Ruff also took responsibility for his part. He said,
“I still remain very confident and I’m angry with myself for not getting the job done.”
Two years ago Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen looked like a No. 1 NHL goalie and he got a long-term contract. This season he regressed quite a bit and now the position is a huge question mark again. Adams said he still has “A ton of faith in him.” Adams said young goaltenders have a lot of ups and downs. He also said,
“We’ll look at everything. If we think there’s an opportunity to upgrade and make our team better at any position, we’re going to be open to that, so I’m certainly not scared of going into the season with ‘UPL’ and Devon because I believe in both of them.”
Both Adams and Ruff said the team let Luukkonen down and needs to play better in front of him. Ruff said,
“I believe in ‘UPL.’ Until I get the team to clean up some of the poor puck play, it’s going to be hard on any goalie.”
Owen Power has needed a veteran to have his back and play alongside of him since he entered the NHL. Adams knows he’s failed in that sense,
“I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job of helping Owen in terms of a guy that’s out there on the ice with him every game for his first few years. I haven’t been able to get that right person.
“It would be great to get an All-Star right shot defenseman that could just be next to him for the next bunch of years, but it doesn’t always work like that, so we’ll look at it, but just figuring out what that mix is is something that we have to look at and do a better job this summer.”
It was 53 minutes of dialog on Saturday, but Adams knows it boils down to one thing,
“We have to win, we know that, I know that, the players know that, that’s the only thing that’s really going to matter at the end of the day.”
The Sabres can sign Alex Tuch to a contract extension after July 1. Adams said that will be a priority.
When I asked about signing Bo Byram to a long-term contract Adams said it’s a hard question to answer, but he’d be open to anything.