[The Hockey PDOCast] When I talked to Kevin Adams, it was like maybe two or three weeks into the season, he implied to me that balls in Tuch’s court right now, he knows where we’re stand, we’re ready for him to come to us. -Emily Kaplan

14 comments

  1. Conversation starts around 14:22 (text was automatically generated)

    >“Everyone is, yes, they’re focused on their team, but it’s tunnel vision towards the Olympics. And then after that, we’ll focus on the playoffs. And there’s so many players that just will not get moved ahead of the Olympic break.

    >That all can come maybe in the days after. So I’m expecting things to get done. Like I was at the GM meetings in early November in Toronto, and there were so many general managers that told me they were trying to make moves.

    >And it’s the guys that you haven’t really heard of even. **Like Kevin Adams, Buffalo told me, I’m trying to add a forward here.** Bill Guerin of The Wild said, I’m not opposed to doing something drastic.

    >Now that was when his team was spiraling a little bit. They seem to have studied thanks to some good goaltending and good defense. But I think that there are conversations being had behind the scenes.

    >It’s just hard to find the player and the match, given the salary cap and all of those other factors that I outlined.”

    >“Yeah, I’d argue that aside from Colorado up top, and they’re kind of in the league of their own right now, and then Nashville and Calgary at the bottom, who clearly don’t have the juice this season. You’ve pretty much got 29 other teams that are hanging around and don’t really know what to do at this point. I’d also think what’s further adding to this and compounding it is the paradigm shift we saw last summer, where teams are clearly more comfortable keeping their own players now, because all of a sudden, they aren’t in a cap crunch with everyone just having more available room, right?

    >We saw, you know, previously teams would be very willing to dump contracts and even attach sweeteners to get off of that money to clear room to add. And then that wasn’t the case. And in fact, teams were getting assets back whenever they would trade a player with money owed to them.

    >And so it’s just making things a lot more complicated, I think, right now, for teams trying to add, because everyone is capable and willing to retain their own players.

    Starts around the 31:18 mark:

    >“You mentioned the Sabres and Kevin Adams earlier. I want to talk to you about Alex Tuch because I listed all those names of UFAs who have taken themselves out of consideration, and then now all of a sudden, he’s looking around and he’s essentially the last guy left in terms of a legitimate top line talent that could come in and make a meaningful difference for an organization.

    >And he’s at a fascinating spot as well because he’s got 21 points in 22 games. We obviously know about the size speed combo that I think a lot of teams would be highly coveting, yet he’s going to be 30 in May. He’s also, I imagine, going to be looking for a massive payday because he’s on this kind of, he’s been playing on like an old relic of a contract where he’s essentially been making 4.75 million flat every year with no bonuses, no anything, no added perks that he signed with Vegas back in 2019.

    >And so for the Sabres, they obviously had that miserable start. They bounced back a little bit, then had the long losing streak. They’re four and one now since that losing streak.”

    >“Zach Benson came back. They had a couple of nice wins here over the past week. They’re only as a byproduct of those condensed standings, only four or five points behind essentially everyone in the Atlantic.

    >There’s so much historical baggage in terms of constantly being sellers or losing guys and then watching them go to other places and look awesome. And I imagine a guy like Alex Tuch, if he went to a good team, would have a lot of success and look awesome. So how do you see that playing out and this idea that he all of a sudden now has a ton of leverage just because of the state of the market and the lack of options available elsewhere other than him?

    >Yeah, I’ve been trying to get a read on this one. I mean, my background and I guess my bias is, I’m always somebody who roots and who wants to believe in the Sabres because I just think the league is better if that market is engaged. And I look at the start of their season and it was just on relenting bad luck.

    >“I mean, it’s like Zach Benson getting hit with a puck in the face at practice and spending two nights in the hospital before the home opener. It’s like Kesselring and you get so excited. This is who you get back as the prize in the JJ Peterka deal.

    >And you’ve barely seen him play. He’s now injured twice. So like, it goes, it goes, it goes.

    >This is the way it goes in Buffalo. But sometimes you need to see progress. And we really haven’t gotten there yet, where they’re taking that jump in that group that they were in, like the Ottawa, Montreal, Detroit group.

    >Like it feels like they’ve kind of lagged behind. As it pertains to talk, like I’ve just tried to get a read on where we stood. Sounds like they had some pretty good talks over the summer, going into the season, nothing got done.

    >Then they took a bit of a pause. It was funny. When I talked to Kevin Adams, it was like maybe two or three weeks into the season, he implied to me that balls in Alex’s court right now, he knows where we’re stand, we’re ready for him to come to us”.

    >“**My read is, Tuch is like, okay, well, the contract that you guys are willing to offer me is not really consummate to what I think I can be worth out there. To your point, he’s been underpaid for all these years. He knows what his value is out there, so he’s probably more inclined to let it see it play out a little bit.**

    >I think that they’re in the same boat as Minnesota, where if you have a guy that wants to stay, you’re not necessarily the market that can say like, hey, yeah, all good, we’ll replenish. They’ve drafted very well. They’ve got really great young skilled players.

    >But when you have someone like Alex Tuch, and he’s from the area, and he believes in what you guys are doing, my inclination is you’ve got to overpay a little bit to keep him. So we’ll see who budges there. He’s a name that I’m watching.”

  2. I’m not sure if Adams has ever improved (or even maintained) his negotiating position by speaking to the press. He seems incapable of keeping his cards close to the vest, which I ascribe to him not really having autonomy when it comes to making decisions. Plus, he continues to show a complete incompetence when evaluating his leverage vs that of his counterpart.

    Outside of a championship for any of the teams that I’m a fan of, I don’t think anything will be more rewarding for me than seeing this organization hire a POHO or GM with even a little bit of acumen for their job. I’m not holding my breath though.

  5. Hey kev, ive seen your offer, I just wanted to let you know that i think you’d be best served kicking rocks. Hmu if you wanna get serious or need recs for a podiatrist. Thanks!
    -Alex

  8. Kevyn is getting laughed at by every other gm in the league. Guy has no leverage….
    Can’t believe Terry is letting him make decisions still

  13. If he wants to play hardball with money then trade him. I know many people didn’t like how Colorado dealt with the Rantanen situation but I respected the fact that they wouldn’t let a player hold them over a barrel. The earlier they trade Tuch, the more teams will be involved.

  14. Spell the guy’s name right ffs, the Kevin Adams of the world do not deserve to be catching Kevyn’s strays

Leave a Reply