5 mistakes the Buffalo Sabres and Kevyn Adams must avoid this offseason
The Buffalo Sabres are out of excuses, and general manager Kevyn Adams knows it. Yet, there are a plethora of traps he can fall into.
This is the offseason that will catapult the Buffalo Sabres into the 2025 playoffs or else it might be, and perhaps should be, over for general manager Kevyn Adams. Adams has been in this role since 2020, yet the Blue and Gold’s playoff drought continues, and the talent is there for this team to at least make an appearance.
Should that occur in 2025, Adams will return for 2025-26 and beyond. But to put himself in the best position to make it work, he must realize a couple of important things. For one, outstanding prospect pools don’t win championships when there is dwindling space on the big club, but they will help you win if you move a few of them and bring in talent from the outside.
It’s just one of five things we will discuss in the following slides, as a big trade involving some of those prospects and draft picks would pay dividends this season. No, making such trades wasn’t on the radar in previous summers, nor should they have been. Adams needed to perfect the prospects pool and build his core, but now that there’s an excess overload here, it’s time to make that big trade.
Kevyn Adams, Buffalo Sabres, can’t afford any mistakes this summer
Kevyn Adams’ upcoming head coaching hire is perhaps the most important topic in the foreseeable future, but even a good coach can only take you so far if the wrong personnel is in place. This means Adams must be selective about who he brings back to the organization and the types of players he still needs to add.
Anything short of perfection can spell disaster for Adams and the Sabres, and that even includes rather minute details like signing adequate talent for the fourth line and even a 13th and 14th forward. Adams has to get it right after the Sabres fell way too short of a playoff berth this season, so let’s discuss in greater depth all the mistakes he must avoid if the Blue and Gold plan on snapping that postseason drought that would otherwise turn 14.
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Botching the head coaching hire
This is the most important item on the list, and if Kevyn Adams messes this up, his days in the Sabres front office are and should be numbered. We already talked about three established coaches ready-for-hire, including the most popular name on a contingent of fans’ list, Lindy Ruff.
But Ruff and the other two coaches mentioned in that piece aren’t and shouldn’t be the only ones Adams needs to target. In fact, he must act as though he knows his job’s on the line here and take his time with this one, or else he’s increasing the odds of calling the wrong name.
We already know he’s looking for someone with hordes of experience coaching in the NHL, so that’s at least a step in the direction he needs to be heading. He must also narrow down his list of coaches to include someone who can A, relate to a young team like Don Granato, but B, someone who can also bring out an edgier side to this group, something Granato never did consistently.
Granato never did a good job holding players accountable, and while that’s acceptable to a degree, it also seemed like nobody cared about learning from their mistakes. The next coach needs to be more of a hard-liner, and if they can get the best out of this team, the Sabres will be playoff-worthy.
Update: The Sabres won't botch the coaching hire, as Lindy Ruff has returned to the City of Good Neighbors.
Failing to bring in an established high-end talent
When you look at all the teams in the NHL Playoffs, they all have something in common: There is a star player, sometimes multiple star players, among them. One reason the Sabres continue to miss the playoffs is that they have zero elite players in the lineup, and that needs to change this summer.
Yes, there are some noteworthy names wearing a blue and gold jersey like Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and Jeff Skinner. And there are players with the potential to join their ranks, like Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, and Owen Power, but there isn’t a game-changer in the lineup.
Many of those mentioned above aren’t even top-two players on many of these playoff teams, and none of them are worth building around. But they are talented nonetheless, and every single one of them will benefit from just one more high-end talent in Buffalo. No, it won’t be an elite talent, but another player with high-end potential will help immensely.
This summer, Adams must leverage his prospects pool, part with an early draft pick or two, and trade for a young, high-potential, yet established player. Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks is the first player who comes to mind.
Zegras, despite registering 15 points and six goals in 31 contests, is an established 20-plus goal scorer in recent years who finished second for the Calder two years ago, and there is a chance the 23-year-old climbs a rung or two on the ladder if he has an adequate team surrounding him. At this point, there is no other team better equipped with prospects and picks to make such a trade to the rebuilding Ducks.
Re-signing all unrestricted free agents not named Zemgus Girgensons
There are a few restricted free agents who should return to Buffalo with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen leading the pack and more on him later. But Adams needs to admit his mistakes and let most of those pending unrestricted free agents walk.
Victor Olofsson and Eric Comrie are a pair of obvious names that shouldn’t return to the Queen City, while Eric Robinson and Tyson Jost are fringe NHLers who also no longer need to be in the system. This time last season, you could argue even someone like Zemgus Girgensons didn’t need to be there despite meshing well with Peyton Krebs and then-Sabre Kyle Okposo.
But the hard-hitting Girgensons needs to stick around at least until Adams finds a better replacement. He may have logged a career-low in average total ice time, but the high-energy Girgensons gave Buffalo an edge that they will need going into 2024-25.
No, providing a hard-hitting presence isn’t the only thing Girgensons is good at since he’s at least somewhat reliable in winning faceoffs, and is more than dependable in a defensive-forward role. Unless Adams signs a couple similar players or a few, there is no reason Girgensons shouldn’t return on yet another one-year deal unless he expresses little interest in coming back.
Failing to address the bottom-six
The Sabres need to improve this area of the lineup, and while a complete overhaul isn’t in order, Buffalo must acquire more talent here if they want to win more games and ultimately make the playoffs. This isn’t to say they didn’t have some useful players, as we already talked about Zemgus Girgensons and the value he brought. Peyton Krebs is another one who should return, and it’s a foregone conclusion Zach Benson and Jordan Greenway will be back.
Krebs, at the absolute worst, is a fair 13th or 14th forward, but his defense is just outstanding, evidenced by the fact he was on the ice for just 30 goals allowed and a 92.4 on-ice save percentage at even strength despite a 36.6 xGA. Greenway was on the ice for 50 goals at even strength, and, of course, Benson’s defensive play and his scoring surge late in the year make him a shoo-in to return instead of going back to the WHL.
But the Sabres need to find at least two more quality players for the bottom-six, ideally, a defensive-minded center who would double as a solid depth scorer. They could fill this void with someone from Rochester, but at this point, Adams would be much better off bringing in more established talent.
The Blue and Gold still aren’t physical enough, so a hard-hitting winger would add more of an edge to a lineup that averaged just 21.79 hits per game.
Making the wrong decision at goaltender
We’re not talking about Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s upcoming extension, as it’s a foregone conclusion that the 25-year-old is staying in town. Luukkonen’s 0.910 save percentage and 2.57 GAA are easily the best numbers from a Sabres goaltender in quite some time. And when you take into account his five shutouts, 34 quality starts, and breaking even with xGA at even strength, there is no way Adams won’t re-sign Luukkonen.
But we don’t need another three-goaltender rotation heading into 2024-25, so he must make the right decision on whether Luukkonen and Devon Levi will be in a timeshare or if the latter is going back to Rochester. If Adams feels Levi is ready for a full-time role in Buffalo, it’s time to keep him there and sign an AHL-caliber goaltender to use as an insurance policy.
If not, then sign the NHL-caliber backup or 1B and keep Levi in the Flower City all season. We don’t need more goaltender controversies or Levi mishandlings. It was something we saw far too often until they did the right thing and put Levi in Rochester, but not before they continually flip-flopped on which goaltender should be in the crease. Adams can, and should, make this job easy for himself over the summer.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)