Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Many general managers aren’t really fond of talking to the media. Darcy Regier and Jason Botterill seemed to hate it, but on Friday, Kevyn Adams was more than happy to talk about signing Owen Power.
“I’m certainly excited to get on this call and share this with you guys," Adams said shortly after the official signing of the first overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft.
“It’s a proud day for our organization. We certainly believe in Owen and his abilities both on and off the ice. We’re just excited to have him join this group. To come in and be himself, and he can just come in and play. He doesn’t have to feel like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. We want to isolate him in the locker room, we want to set him up for success, and we just want to let him go play and have fun.”
There wasn’t much suspense if Power was going to sign. He said even before Michigan’s season started that he would likely go to Buffalo after this year. But, of course, many felt he was lying and would never come here. Those people never stopped to think that very few college players play out their eligibility and become unrestricted free agents.
Power was happy he was taken by the Sabres in last year's draft.
Adams says Power will join the team in Tampa Bay, and will likely pull on the No. 25 sweater on Tuesday to make his debut in his hometown of Toronto.
The Sabres came to terms with Power less than 24 hours after Michigan was eliminated from the Frozen Four in the semifinals.
“I was in Boston at the game, and you feel really badly for the way it ended with Michigan," Adams said. "I certainly wanted to be respectful to them and the emotion of all that. A couple hours after the game, I reached out to Pat [Brisson] and made sure that we had a good conversation and we’re on the same page. I also connected with Owen and Erik [Portillo] as well, and then we picked it back up this morning.”
Adams was happy with Power’s development this season. He said Michigan really prepared him for the transition to the NHL.
“He played huge minutes on a top team in the country, got the chance to go to World Juniors, he got a chance to go to the Olympics. I think when you add it all up, it was a great development year for him," Adams said.
The next order of business for Adams is to try and get Portillo and defenseman Ryan Johnson signed to contracts. Johnson - Buffalo's first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft - also lost in the semifinals at the Frozen Four with Minnesota. Adams didn’t want to go too far in-depth with that.
“In the game last night, I thought Erik Portillo was tremendous," he said. "Really, at times, when Denver was taking it to Michigan, he was calm and holding them in the game on a big stage, which was great to see. Johnson as well, I thought his game was strong.
“We have been in conversations with both of them, and we’ve had a number of conversations both yesterday and today to make sure that they knew where we are and we’ll continue to do that. We’ll see how it shakes out over the next few days. They both know how we feel about them in a positive way.”
Portillo just finished his sophomore season at Michigan, while Johnson was a junior with the Golden Gophers.
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***Photo: Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres)
