After the Sabres blew a four-goal lead and lost in regulation against the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Tuesday, Dec. 3, the team decided to trot out GM Kevyn Adams for a press conference. Expectations were no doubt high among the media and fanbase for the Friday morning event. Rumors swirled around a possible trade, with New York Rangers’ GM Chris Drury open to trading several players.
However, when Adams stepped up to the podium to face the press, he had no announcements to make. No changes at the top, no new trades, no positive news of any kind to share. Instead, he spent more than 20 minutes sparring with reporters and sports writers, making excuses and behaving in a dismissive and combative manner.
Adams blamed younger players for committing rookie mistakes, creating turnovers and not following the game plan head coach Lindy Ruff prepares. If that’s why the Sabres keep losing, why don’t Adams and Ruff send some of these guys to Rochester and bring up more veterans who know how to control the puck? The GM had no plans to do that.
Adams said the staff is always evaluating and that if they draft and develop well, then they can get the team into a good spot. The problem is the Sabres draft and develop well and then trade away their talent to other franchises. Casey Mittelstadt, a first-round Buffalo draft pick in 2017, was traded to Colorado. Jack Eichel, as much as everyone in Western New York now loathes him, went to Vegas and won a Stanley Cup. Sam Reinhart, drafted the year before Eichel, won a Cup with the Florida Panthers.
The Blue and Gold have become a farm team for the Cats the past few years. Not just Reinhart, but Kyle Okposo, Evan Rodrigues, Brandon Montour and Eric Staal all played in Buffalo before heading south. Not to mention Okposo, Rodrigues and Montour got to lift the Cup with Florida, too.
Adams pointed out Buffalo’s lack of winning for not landing UFAs, saying “we’re not a destination city right now.” He went further and blamed Western New York’s four-season climate and New York State taxes for not making the region attractive enough, with this cheap shot: ‘We don’t have palm trees, we have taxes in New York.” Funny how the New York Rangers and Islanders suffer those same liabilities and still find a way to sign talent.
Adams said in the past he wanted players who wanted to be here. After watching this unproductive presser, it’s clear the GM doesn’t want to be here, or if he does, he won’t fundamentally do anything to change the franchise’s downward trajectory.
He also said of the Sabres that “we’re not going to overreact.” Yes, people can overreact, but they can also underreact, something Buffalo’s too-complacent GM seems guilty of.
Contrast Adams’ attitude with that of Drury, who traded defenseman Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick. Drury wasn’t overreacting, yet he realized that when a team is on a losing streak, sometimes management must shake things up. Adams fails to understand that and as long as he remains at the helm, Sabres’ fans will have to continue deciding which other teams they’ll root for in the playoffs.