Sabres former GM surfaces as candidate for West Coast club

A former Buffalo Sabres general manager has emerged as a potential candidate for the front-office vacancy with the Vancouver Canucks.

Yes, that candidate is none other than Kevyn Adams. As implausible as it may seem, Adams has drawn plenty of interest from clubs looking to fill front-office openings this offseason. Adams’ name first surfaced as part of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM search.

The Leafs are reportedly moving in a different direction. But now, a report by Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic stated that the Canucks requested permission to speak with Adams. The Sabres granted the request since Adams is still technically under contract.

Adams was fired earlier this season, with Jarmo Kekalainen taking over the full-time GM duties. Given Adams’ experience in a GM role, it’s not surprising that he has emerged as a candidate for other clubs.

What seems somewhat perplexing is the fact that the Canucks are believed to be looking at their next GM hire as part of their succession plan. That plan involves the current President of Hockey Operations (POHO), Jim Rutherford, retiring at some point. As such, the Canucks would like to have an internal candidate get promoted to the POHO role.

Likely, that promotion would come from the GM role up to the POHO position. That’s the assertion that insider Elliotte Friedman made in Monday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast. The Canucks felt that former GM Patrik Allvin was not the ideal person to take over from Rutherford.

With that in mind, would Adams be the person Vancouver ownership would like to be the heir apparent?

Well, as Fairburn noted in his piece, there’s a link between Rutherford and Adams. That link goes way back to when Rutherford was President and GM of the Carolina Hurricanes. At that time, Adams was a player for the team.

Whether that link may be enough to land Adams another kick at the GM can, remains to be seen.

Canucks reportedly looking at another Sabres executive

Fairburn’s report also discussed another unconfirmed rumor that the Canucks have requested permission to speak with Marc Bergevin.

Bergevin is currently an associate GM under Kekalainen with the Sabres. The former Montreal Canadiens GM joined Kekalainen’s staff this season when Kekalainen formally took over. Bergevin had been a special advisor with the LA Kings, but left that position to join the Sabres.

As Fairburn noted, the rumor regarding a request to speak with Bergevin has not been confirmed.

It’s worth pointing out that it wouldn’t be surprising to see Vancouver interested in Bergevin. He’s been in the mix for several GM roles over the last couple of years. Most recently, he was one of the names believed to be in the mix for the New York Islanders’ job last season. Bergevin also briefly popped up in discussion for this year’s Leafs vacancy.

Even if the request to speak with Bergevin were true, there’s no telling if the Sabres would grant it. While it doesn’t seem like the organization would block Bergevin from interviewing for another job, it doesn’t seem likely the Sabres would want to lose him.

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