Should Buffalo Sabres fans be on watch for Kevyn Adams to be fired?

Should Buffalo Sabres fans be on watch for Kevyn Adams to be fired?

Yep. Eight losses in their last nine games. I want to talk some big picture. I got some crazy stats. Kevin Adams, should we be on the GM getting fired watch? Coming up here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. [Music] Your Locked On Sabers, your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What is up everybody and welcome in to this Friday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast. Hope everybody is ready to get their weekend started. You can check us out here on wherever you are listening to your podcast, we are available. You want to watch the show, you could do that as well. You head over to YouTube. You could hit the like and subscribe button. Watch us on your phone. Watch us on your TV if you want. Um, you can make my nice bills pullover that I got a little bit little bit bigger if you want uh on your screen. We are free and available of course wherever you get your podcast. You can check us out on our text club. If you want to reach out, ask a question or make a comment or you just want news updates. You can do that heading over to joinsubttext.com/lockdowns. The place to sign up for that here on the Lockdowns podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network, Sneaky Jody Bioassi on today’s show. Lot to get to, talk some big picture stuff. The GM, should we be on him getting fired? Watch. Uh, Adam’s watch. We will talk about that. I also do want to get to why I actually was looking at some betting odds for the Sabres to make the playoffs. And I I’m gonna lay out for you because I don’t want to be all negative, all mad, and down in the dumps, although I think this team has given everybody every right to be that way. Um, I’m going to leave just a little bit of room at the end today for just a tiny tiny bit of optimism. And part of that is attached to the odds for the Sabres to make the playoffs, which by the way, I will tell you, they are better than the Bills odds to win the Super Bowl. Might not mean anything to anybody. You might not feel great about the Bills Super Bowl chances right now. It’s kind of where I’m at, the way they’ve looked as of late, but Sabres are actually like a decent amount better chance to make the playoffs than uh the Bills are to win the Super Bowl. So, there’s that. I guess that’s a start for some optimism here on a Friday. After the loss to the Colorado Avalanche and some other results from around the league yesterday, the Sabres are now six points back of a playoff spot. dead last at 14 points in the Eastern Conference. And that is as far back as the Sabres have been to making the playoffs on November 14th than any season going back to 2018. So in the last seven years, this is as far back as they’ve ever been. They were back one point in each of the last two seasons before this year. They were three points back the year they almost made it. Three points back the year before that, one point back the year before that. And they were actually in a spot in 20189. They have not been further away than six points since the tank year. So there’s there’s another way to put it. Six points back on November 14th. They have not been further away than that to making the playoffs on this day than any season in over a decade. The tankier is the last one that you have to go back for that. And in this game, it was not one that I had any expectation of the Sabres doing anything. In fact, it was almost impressive to me that they, by the way, start Alex Lion last night, which was a surprise to me and a surprise to many. They go with Alex Lion to start the game and it did not last long. Two goals by Colorado early on on the first, I believe it was four shots of the game. Lindy makes the quick change. He pulls Lion. He puts Lucin in. And all right, we get the goalie change, but you’re still thinking, man, you’re already down two to nothing to Colorado. You were a you Colorado was minus 400 coming into this game. Everybody was expecting them to dominate you. They were the number one team in the NHL going in. They still are. The Sabres were one of the worst teams in the NHL going in. Still are. So, two nothing. It’s This is going to get ugly quick. Maybe it gets to 7 nothing or something like that. And to the Sabres credit, they did fought. They fought back. They clawed back into it. They showed a little bit of fight, a little bit of life. And listen, they are not in a position where I think we should be awarding many moral victories to the Sabres. Um, the only reason I’m willing to even do it a little bit here is because of all the injuries that they have sustained. So, I’ll do it just a little bit. them fighting back to tie the game at three. I mean, with 24 minutes to go in the game, you’re tied 33 on the road after playing the night before against the best team in the National Hockey League with all the guys out that they have out. Like, that’s a great job. That’s a really great job by the Sabres. And they weren’t necessarily the better team while they were clawing their way back, but there were some nice plays along the way. Bo Byum charging to the net and putting home a rebound. Taage able to kind of get it loose for him so that he could punch it in to get their first goal. Owen Power made an incredible play on Jordan Greenway’s goal because the pass from Josh Don was actually Go back and watch this goal. It’s all power. It’s the pass by Don is so far behind Owen Power that he blindly actually catches the pass with his backhand. It’s supposed to go in front of him without looking. He throws a stick behind him and he catches it without looking and then in one motion is able to flip the puck down low with a beautiful saucer pass to Jordan Greenway who was able to just swing at it wildly and it found its way into the net. So Power with a really great play there. Um Tage with a great one-time nice cross ice saucer pass by Isach Rosanne. Like on the goals they scored they made some really nice plays and then they just ran they just couldn’t they couldn’t keep it together. They couldn’t hold through and that was understandable. That was predictable. Uh Martin Niches, Nathan McKinnon’s allowed too much time behind the net. He finds an open guy and he’s a great goal scorer. Uh it’s your five to3 goal. It was basically over at that point. So you lost the game. We were expecting you to lose the game. But now we do have to deal with the consequences of that which is that they are not picking up any points and they are losing ground fast in the Eastern Conference. And if they are going to stop the bleeding, it’s got to happen real soon. So that is kind of where we get to what’s coming up next. And also whether it’s deserved that they should make any move right now and whether even if they did, whether that’s the GM, whether that’s the coach, I don’t think it’s a trade, but something like that would even spark this team. If there’s enough talent on the roster right now, the game-to-ame lineup without Zucker, without Dene, obviously, without Koulique, without Benson, if there’s enough bodies out there that anybody could do more with it. Um, that’s a question of course about whether or not you should act right now. Coming up next, it’s Detroit. And the Red Wings are a beatable team. And even though you’re on the road, that’s a beatable beatable team that I think the Sabres, like I’m going to probably pick them to win tomorrow night. Um and then you get four games at home, two of which well really Chicago is actually having a better season than uh many anticipated. They’ve taken that step forward this year. Um they are actually in a playoff spot at the moment. They do the Sabres do play the only team in the league though that is worse than them right now and that is Calgary. Calgary is a bad hockey team, last in the NHL. They get them at home, you get Chicago at home, Edmonton and Carolina will be tough, but those are both at home. Like you have some opportunity coming up. Um, but it’s just whether or not they have the players to really take advantage of it. But if they’re going to have a season here, got to get some points. Foot keep tread tread water is the way I’ve been putting it for a little while here. And every game they play, they are sinking a little further and further. We really, we should come up with some sort of uh some sort of game or gimmick that with the Sabers, the the the Saber ship. The Saber ship and how much it’s sinking. um how far below the water they are. They’re not all the way submerged right now, but they are uh they’re getting there. So, last night a six-3 final against the Colorado Avalanche. Don’t love that. Don’t love that. Um also, bet of the night didn’t cash. No Victor Olison point. It’s what we were looking for, which is kind of amazing because his line got the empty net goal at the end and I was really hoping that was going to be the back door cover there. You get six goals from Colorado. Olison doesn’t record a point. He’s got a point per game almost so far this year, but them’s the brakes. We’re down to plus 7.4 units on the year, which is still very good by the way. Um, not as good as it was a couple weeks ago, but still doing well. When we come back, should we be on Adam’s watch? I’ll tell you why. Maybe we should that when we return here on the Locked On Sabers podcast. Today’s episode of the Locked On Sabers podcast is presented by Monarch. 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That’s monarch.com code locked on NHL for half off your first year. Stinky Jody Bassi back here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Six to three final. Avalanche over the Sabres. 58 and4 the Buffalo Sabres record. Colorado by the way 121 and5 60 and2 at home. It’s a dominant dominant great team. Um they’re going to be my Stanley Cup pick almost every year going into it and so far this year they’ve given me no reason to believe they shouldn’t still be my pick. All right, let’s get to the general manager. And we’re going to start more him than the coach because we have not really talked much about his job security so far this year. Not since the season began. We we obviously did a lot of that in the off season. And you probably know my stance on it. It’s very similar to what most people’s stance on it is. It’s unbelievable he’s still the general manager and that he was given a sixth season to figure this thing out. I did some research today about how historic this is, a GM being employed this long without ever making the playoffs. Well, here’s a couple of facts for you on that. At the moment, the only GM that has ever made it through six full seasons without making the playoffs in one stop is Doug Mlan. Former Sports Net analyst, by the way, might be how you know him, but former general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was Columbus’s first general manager, so keep that in mind. He took over an expansion team in Columbus, but he never made the postseason. Never made the postseason. You look at what’s going on in Detroit. That’s the one other example. Six seasons completed in Detroit. He’s the one other. Steve Eisermanman has never made the playoffs as the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. So those two, six full seasons have never done it. the most games as a GM in one place without making the postseason in NHL history. Mlan is number one, 492 games as the Columbus GM without making the postseason. Steve Eisermanman is number two and that streak is active. He is at 472. So, within a couple of weeks, Eerman, amazingly, because he was so good in Tampa and he’s such a legend of the sport, Eiserman in a couple of weeks, is going to set the record for the most games as a GM in one place without making the playoffs. He might make it this year and reset that and get off that list, but at the moment, he has not done it. Number three all time is Max McNab, who was the GM of the Washington Capitals. He took over in the middle of their expansion year. So he took over an expansion team mid-season and then he went 6 years after that, 5 years after that. He was the GM for 457 games um and never made the postseason with Washington. He by the way went on to play or to be the GM for New Jersey in the 80s and never made the playoffs there. He actually has the record most games in general as a GM without ever making the postseason like over,00 which is kind of nuts. And then Kevin Adams number four. So pretty rare company. Adams has been the GM of the Buffalo Sabres for 41 games. He is one of only four GMs in NHL history that have been the GM for 400 plus games and not made the postseason with that team. Again, keep in mind though, Mlan, McNab, these guys took over expansion teams and Eerman did do it with a previous team. So, it all goes into the umbrella of it’s unbelievable that this is still going. So, while it in another situation or circumstance, if we were talking about a GM on the hot seat that was in his third year or even in his fourth year and began a year the way this season has began, which is, well, we didn’t really get a look at your plan. Your plan was, all right, let’s bring in Michael Kessler. We’ll get rid of some scoring, but we’re going to be tougher to play against. We’re going to be better defensively. we really threw some more darts at our goalie position. If you were only in your third year as a GM and that was happening and all the guys left, Dalene leaves the lineup and Zucker and all of them, then that guy in that hypothetical would I think be will be getting the benefit of the doubt because well, we should we should really wait to get a look at this. But with Adams, when you are in your sixth year, you just don’t get the benefit of the doubt. can be no assuming that it was going to work. There can be no, well guys, if all they all were all healthy, this would be happening. This would they would be in a spot. You can’t assume that because we have way too much sample size that says no, this guy’s teams usually aren’t going to be going to be doing that. And especially when this GM’s best team was built the polar opposite direction to the way this team is currently built. team is built by defense and toughness and his best team was offense and skill and speed. So, should we be on Adam’s watch? Because really none of this matters. All that matters at the end of the day is what does Terry Pagula think? And we know the story. Adams and him are tight. They grew a relationship when Adams was first working in the organization more than a decade ago. And Pagoula has been very committed to Adams. Now, the the reasons why I want to be a little bit open to the idea that there could be a move. I’m not in I got to remember off the top of my head how the Defcon system works. I always forget off the top of my head. Um, Defcon 1. That’s the uh that’s the the worst. You know, that’s that’s nuclear war is imminent. Um, I’m not at Defcon 1 right now for GM Firewatch. Adam’s watch, but I might be at Defcon three. I think it could happen. I I’ll even go to two. Defcon two. We are We are nearing it. Here are some of the signals that that you can pick up on to tell you, well, okay, maybe there is a chance. One, I’ll take you back to the end of last season when it was widely reported that it’s unknown Adam’s job was not 100% safe. that there was a possibility that he was going to be were going to be fired. Now, Adams then went to his press conference and gave more of that indication because he was asked about his job security and basically his answer is well, I haven’t met with Terry yet. And what that implies is in that moment when he was asked that question end of the season, Adams didn’t know that whether he was going to be back or not. He was he laid out his plan to Terry Pagula. He sold Terry on it and he was given another chance. Now, some of the whispers around the team in the last couple of months were that if this thing is off the rails early, changes are coming. So again, when that was kind of out there, that was not said. Well, if everybody’s gone like Dene and all the other players, well then maybe that isn’t so true. We don’t know. We don’t know if there was a caveat to if it’s off the rails, changes are coming unless you’re missing all these pieces and then we probably won’t do anything. I don’t know. We don’t know whether or not that’s the case. So that’s signal number two though is that there were whispers that if there was a horrible start to the year here come the changes. The third one and this is probably the least valuable of the smoke the smoke signals right now but I saw it yesterday. I just wanted to point it out here on the show. Matthew Barnaby who you know he’s not really um he’s not a Buffalo insider. He played for the team and he’s connected to some former players um like Andrew Peters, Craig River, like some of these former players. They they talked and they they know people. Barnaby tweeted yesterday something that was very strange. He tweeted, “Sabers are in negotiations. Go get our guy.” Exclamation point. And then he sent the gift of Ted Lasso who was pointing up at the belief sign. Sabres are in negotiations. What could that mean? because I don’t think they’re making a trade right now. And I mean, there were some Tae Thompson like rumors, like really rumors, like nothing concrete. Um, that’s not what that means. Um, is he talking about Brendan Shanahan? That was a thought I had because there have been more reports about how Shanahan wants to work in the league and how he would work here. He would be willing to take over the organization and take on the president of hockey ops job in the summer. It sounded like Terra Piggula didn’t want to do that. But has that changed? Is he Or is Shanahan more open to a GM job? Um, is it something to do with him? I don’t really know. I don’t know what it means, but it’s just a kind of an odd tweet for this time of year. And it was the first thing I saw when uh when I thought of it. So, all right. There’s three things right there that should make you think it’s worth watching. Not at Defcon 1, but maybe we’re at Defcon 2 that Terry would be willing to make a change right now. Um, even though they’re missing pieces. Very tough to tell, though. All right. When we come back here, I’ll I’ll try to sell you on why it’s not the worst bet in the world Sabres to make the playoffs right now given the odds you could get it at. That when we return here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Today’s episode of the Locked On Savers podcast is presented by Drip Drop. When you’re hydrated, everything just works better. Your focus, your energy, your mood, even your skin. That’s why you got to use Drip Drop. It’s doctor developed hydration that keeps you running at full power, no matter what your day looks like. 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And there are nowhere are they going to be more cheap than at game time where you can find a bunch of great deals. Zone deals is a way to do that. You pick the section and game time will find the best price for you. And with hockey season officially here, um, no waiting in cues, surprise fees. You’re going to know what you’re paying right at the start. Prices that’ll jump right before checkout are the worst. It’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is go watch your team. Game time, NHL tickets, fast, easy, and stressfree. Um, again, the no hidden fees at checkout. I love when you’re scrolling through the app and you can get an exact look at what your seat is going to look like and what the angle is going to be. I actually used it for tickets in Miami to Buffalo Miami last week. And the other thing I liked about it is when you’re looking at that picture of what you’re going to be seeing, it showed you whether or not you’ll be in the shade. Another another nice feature. Obviously, that’s not a hockey thing, but if you’re maybe traveling around going to some football games, um that’s a good feature as well. So, check out Game Time and take the guesswork out of buying tickets. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. It’s code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Back here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Zinky Joe Debiosi. Detroit tomorrow night. Is there any hope? Here is the best defense I’ll make for why Sabres plus 650 to make the playoffs is maybe not the worst bet in the world. I would like it a more if it was a little bit higher. And I might want to wait until they jump up a little bit, but it’s tough because you don’t know when they might actually get a couple of wins in here. Six points. Listen, six points. It’s early enough where you could get that back to two in just a week’s time and then you could have a season here. The the thing that would hold you back is the roster at the moment. But here’s what I would want to lay out. Adams does get fired. And if that were to happen, I would like the Sabres playoff odds given where they’re at. So, it kind of comes down to whether you actually believe they’ll make a change at GM. And the reason that I would like their odds if that were to happen is if it was Shanahan or it was Yarmmo Keolin, who I think is more likely because he’s already in the organization. I think that the change made early in the season, this is kind of how other teams usually operate. I know, tough assuming the Sabres will do that. But how other teams usually operate is if they get off to a really slow start when they fire a guy, what they do is they they change and they bring in the type of coach or the type of mentality that is it’s early enough. We got to do whatever it takes to get this season in the right direction. And sometimes that can be trades. Sometimes that can mean a coach. And I’m not telling you that a guy they bring in would be better than Lindy Ruff if Yarma wanted his own guy. John Tordella is a name that you think of right away because Yarmmo’s done that before. Yarmo when he was in Columbus fired a coach very early on in the season and hired John Tortoella and the ship got writed and they did figure it out because with a guy like Torts there is a timeline. There is a early part of the relationship where you do get results. Eventually it fizzles and it burns out and it ends maybe fiery explosively but early you do get positive results. The other thing is we will see Saber players return. I don’t know about Dalene and that is the toughest part like really I guess the the bet is only good if you think Dalene is going to come back at some point and you just don’t know that. But Benson is very important to this team. I think you’ve really seen this team miss him when he’s out the power play especially for that and on the top line I think Tage has looked lost at times without Benson Benson is to come back and while Zucker and Koulie go a longer timeline they will be back eventually so it’s more a conversation though about the number about the odds plus 650 just to get in you know it’s not so far gone yet that I wouldn’t want to consider that I’m not telling you that’s amazing in a lock and you got to go get it. I’m just saying monitor it because the odds are pretty long for this early on in the season. It’s hard to get a price that good on any team and I would almost consider that on any team. Teams can turn it around. It happens all the time. St. Louis did it on January 1st, seven years ago. And I’m not saying the Sabres win the cup, but that my reason for hope is that basically they could make changes and that could give you a season. I’ll tell you this though, if I knew for sure today that Kevin Adams was definitely going to be employed by this team the rest of the season, uh then I wouldn’t take the bet. That’s where I’m at. All right, Sabres and Red Wings tomorrow. We will talk to you on uh this weekend. We will talk to you during this weekend because I want to get a couple of thoughts in on the Red Wings game after it happens because I think when the season is this close to being lost um you know I want to get as much in as we can uh before we could be back to meaningless games by thanks post Thanksgiving. We’ll talk to you tomorrow. You want more hockey talk? Be sure to check out Locked on NHL game night. That is available wherever you get your podcast. You can watch that show along on YouTube as well. and we’ll talk to you this weekend here on the Lockdown Sabers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.

The Buffalo Sabres lost again, this time to the Colorado Avalanche, and they’re now six points out of a playoff spot. With the season going off the rails fast, should we be on the lookout for Terry Pegula to fire Kevyn Adams? There are a couple of signals that point to the answer could be yes. Should we expect a new GM or coach to do any more with this team right now than the current regime is?

Plus, what went wrong against the Avs, and why Joe actually is interested in a bet on the Sabres to make the playoffs.

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