Reliving the evolution of the Buffalo Sabres under Kevyn Adams

Adams respected his predecessors

So many times in sports, you will see a new general manager take a job and just change everything, and that could include slowly replacing prospects and players from previous regimes with either homegrown talent, or talent acquired from other teams. Adams, however, realized his predecessors left him with some young talent that included the following select young players and prospects:

• Dylan Cozens
• Ryan Johnson
• Filip Cederqvist
• Lukas Rousek
• Mattias Samuelsson
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Cozens and Samuelsson have since signed long-term deals to be with the Buffalo Sabres for at least the next seven seasons. Ryan Johnson signed this year and will be in Rochester, joining Filip Cederqvist, and perhaps Lukas Rousek. But Rousek may be on his way to snagging a spot on the main roster, even as Adams brought back leaders like Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons.

He also could have written off Tage, Dahlin, and Mittelstadt as lost causes, and most executives probably would have done so, and sent them elsewhere for either prospects or mid-to-late round draft picks to teams willing to take a chance on them. But he didn’t, and as mentioned, they’re all pivotal pieces to the Sabres roster.