Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams met with the media on Friday, because the media asked to speak with him, not because there was any news.
Adams admitted right off the bat the Sabres need to be better than 22nd in the NHL with a points percentage of .481.
It’s been two years, plus 24 games that this group of core young players have been together. Adams has committed huge money and long-term contracts to many of them and, at this point, it’s not looking good for some of them, as there’s been a severe regression within the group.
I’ve been wondering if Adams is thinking about changing his mind on how he does business with younger players, and whether he could be looking to move some of them and changing the core.
"There’s ups and downs, and you have to understand when you’re building your team, you’re going to go through that when you have young players in the lineup," said Adams on Friday. "I’m a firm believer that there’s no better way to learn than go through it and experience things. So you have to go through it, you have to get better. We’re 26 games in, you have ups and downs, and you look at where we're at, things are tight and all these teams are going through similar things that we are. Our job is to clean up some of these things and get more consistent."
This team is young age-wise, but it’s no longer a crutch that can be used. Here are the NHL games of the core:
- Rasmus Dahlin: 461 games
- Tage Thompson: 393 games
- Henri Jokiharju: 367 games
- Dylan Cozens: 306 games
- Peyton Krebs: 240 games
- Bo Byram: 190 games (He has also won the Stanley Cup in Colorado)
- Owen Power: 189 games
- JJ Peterka: 185 games
- Mattias Samuelsson: 163 games
- Jack Quinn: 128 games
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: 118 games
- Zach Benson: 91 games
- Jiri Kulich: 18 games
As far as willing to trade some of them, Adams says nothing should be off the table.
"You’re always evaluating, you’re always looking at every possible scenario to improve your team. We should be in on every conversation, which we are," the Sabres general manager said.
"Honestly, we’re not a destination city right now where you’re going to be able to go out and get UFAs [unrestricted free agents] that are the key guys. I don’t think that’s the way to build a sustainable winner, so you evaluate your core, you look for trades. If there’s UFAs that you can add that make sense and work, of course. So yes, you always look at everything.
"We don’t have palm trees, we have taxes in New York. Those are real, and those are things you deal with. I’m in conversations every day, and there’s a lot of players in this league that we’re on their [no-movement] lists. So we need to earn the respect, and that starts with getting over the hump, getting in the playoffs and competing."
Adams pointed to the NFL's Buffalo Bills, and tied their past struggles to the same struggles his team faces right now.
"I would assume this wasn’t a destination or sign up to play for when they were in a 17-year playoff drought, and they’ve done a phenomenal job over there," Adams said. "You get Josh Allen, and people are lining up, because they have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year. That’s what we’re working to build here."
When asked about trying to make the playoffs with a roster that’s average age is under 26-years-old and how he squares that with trying to win now, Adams got very defensive.
"Yes, we should’ve signed Craig Anderson. He’s 40, and then it would’ve added a year and you wouldn’t have asked me the question," Adams responded sarcastically.
"It’s exactly like I told you: When you’re going to build a franchise for sustainable success, year-after-year, you’re going to have to go young, and you’re going to have to give the players the opportunity to battle through some of the ups and downs."
Buffalo is six points behind the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division, a position the Sabres were in just two weeks ago. They’re also two points behind the New York Rangers for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot.
"You don’t make the playoffs on Dec. 6. You need 82 games," Adams said. "That was a tough loss [to Colorado on Tuesday], and that loss hurt. And I promise you, it bothers me and the coaches and the players more than anyone, but it’s one game. You have to go over the video, you have to talk about it, you have to own it and you have to move on."
Adams was also asked Friday about the inconsistent play of defenseman Owen Power.
"Do you see some of the good things too?" Adams snapped back.
He then went on to say it's about looking at the whole body of work with Power.
"He’s a work in progress," Adams said of the 22-year-old. "I would tell you that I think Owen played just under 30 minutes [Thursday] night, and I think he competed hard and did a lot of good things. You could see him looking to engage physically.
"When we drafted Owen Power, we knew he’s not bringing Scott Stevens, because that’s not his style. But do we want him to become more physically imposing and harder to play against, and there’s been daily work that’s going in right now with the coaches and Owen to do that. He wants to do that, and I want players that show up every day and want to get better."
The Sabres have approximately $6.2 million in salary cap space this season, and Adams was asked about it again, as far as using it in trades.
"There was, in my mind, a trade that we worked really hard at this summer that we went all in on, [the media] probably would’ve roasted me, saying we were going to overpay to get the player. And they ended up not trading him, and he’s still on that team," Adams said. "So it’s not from a lack of want, but we’re not going to go and just make a trade so you guys can say we’ve spent to the cap."
The Sabres are riding a season-long five-game losing streak into Saturday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 12 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Adams, Lindy Ruff and Tyson Kozak.