Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres practiced on Wednesday for the first time since Jarmo Kekalainen took over as general manager. It was also the first time we had a chance to speak with head coach Lindy Ruff and the leadership group in the locker room on the firing of Kevyn Adams on Monday.
Ruff hired Kevyn Adams as a skills coach and as an assistant coach the first time he coached the team, so needless to say, he’s saddened that it has all come to this, but he knows it’s a part of this business,
“I felt sad, I felt like I let my GM down, that I didn’t get the job done.
“I can just tell you right now, that Kevyn and I had a great relationship, we spent a lot of time together talking about our players and where we were at and where we needed to go.”
Ruff didn’t know Kekalainen until he became a senior advisor with the Sabres. He said,
“He was another voice of reason and a guy Kevyn and I discussed a lot of things with and you had this set of eyes from the outside that didn’t have a history with a lot of the players, but with what he saw inside the game.
“He spent almost every day with us in the coach’s office and I feel we got to know him really well.”
Ruff knows his job is to win hockey games and his new boss told him to “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
Terry Pegula was at practice with his daughter Laura. Ruff said Pegula never discussed the move with him before it was done. Ruff said there was no talk about his job status.
Ruff of course doesn’t make the trades, but he always had input about players being considered both with Adams and Darcy Regier. Ruff said that won’t change,
“I think that nobody has the market cornered on hockey IQ. Kevyn and I and Jarmo and the staff had conversations on a lot of different players.
The captain of course is Rasmus Dahlin and he’s looking forward to moving things forward,
“I’m excited, turning a new page and looking forward to the future. I’m excited that he’s raising the standards because we’ve lost games we should’ve won and we’ve beaten the best teams in the league and we know we can be a really good team and it’s about the standards every single day and him coming in a raising that is huge for us.”
Dahlin said it’s all about winning and he said Kekalainen told the team that this team has nothing to do with what’s happened in the past. Dahlin said he told them they have a lot of potential and a lot of good things can happen in there and he believes in them.
Dahlin places the blame for this season on the players in the locker-room. The captain said,
“Our job is to get better every day and find a way to win hockey games. A general manager can only do so much, but it’s up to the guys in this room to win hockey games and we haven’t done that so we have to be better.”
Alex Tuch said it's been a tough couple of days. He said,
“It’s something we don’t take lightly and it’s on us, we’re a big reason why a man lost his jon and we weren’t getting the results that needed to happen and we feel terrible about that, we need to be better in this locker-room.”
Tuch said he had a good relationship with Adams,
“Kevyn was an awesome person, I owe him a lot, he brought me into this organization and I’ll always be grateful to him.”
Tuch is happy that Kekalainen is driving home the point that it’s character first in that dressing room.
As we all know, contract talks between the team and Tuch’s agents had been put on hold. Now that there’s a new GM he said,
“It’s just who my agents are talking to I guess and if I’m not mistaken I think Jarmo was in on some of the negotiations, so he’s familiar with what was going on, but I’m just going to let my agent handle it and I just stay out of it and worry about playing hockey.”
Tuch said it means a lot that Kekallainen mentioned to the media that he wants to re-sign with winger.
Looking back, Tage Thompson feels he owes Adams a lot. He was the one that inked him to a seven-year, $50 million contract and he said,
“I think I owe a lot to Kevyn. I think everyone in here would say he’s a tremendous human being and cares about everyone in this room and gave me a nice contract and was a big believer in my game when it wasn’t at a place where I am now.
“He gave me an opportunity to prove myself and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Speaking of contracts, Thompson still wold love the see Tuch back with a new deal,
“He’s a big piece to our team and I think getting him locked down would be big for the locker-room and big for the guys just knowing that he’s sticking around.”
Kekalainen has been a GM in the NHL for 11 years and Thompson loves the fact that he brings that kind of experience to the team,
“He’s got a great track record, a lot of experience and he’s had success, so I think that should instill a lot of belief that he can get the job done here too.”
Michael Kesselring was back at practice for the first time and he told Ruff that he’ll be good to go on Thursday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
Both Josh Norris and Alex Tuch missed time on the road trip due to illness and Peyton Krebs missed practice on Wednesday with it too. Ruff said,
“I got two calls yesterday on different players that were sick and we’ve got this sickness that’s been running through us, so we’re just hoping that he can get through this. We had a couple that were in practice today that are starting to feel it, but wanted to practice.”
Jason Zucker has been out with two injuries. Ruff said,
I had a conversation with him and he’s looking at post Christmas as a return."
Colten Ellis is still in concussion protocol and will be evaluated again on Friday.
Justin Danforth has missed most of the season and Ruff revealed that he broke his kneecap.
WEDNESDAY LINES:
Forwards:
Ostlund - Norris - Tuch
Benson - McLeod - Quinn
Greenway - Dunne - Malenstyn
Kozak - Thompson - Doan
Defense:
Byram - Timmins
Dahlin - Samuelsson
Power - Kesselring
Bryson - Metsa
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