Buffalo Sabres

Sabres, Adams Inaction in the Face of A Lost Season is Damning

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Tristan Jarry was the latest victim of the NHL waiver wire and the third notable move made by Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas this year. Meanwhile, the team sitting last in the Eastern Conference has yet to make any meaningful change to their roster. 

The Penguins have struggled to keep their head above water this year, sitting five points out of a playoff spot while sporting a conference-worst -36 goal differential. After missing the playoffs last season, the Penguins are entering a transitional period as the glory years led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang wind down. Yet, despite their struggles to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Penguins and Dubas have taken action, bringing in Phillip Tomasino and dealing Lars Eller in November and now waiving Jarry after the netminder’s subpar play continued to haunt the team. 

The same cannot be said of Kevyn Adams and the Sabres, whose most notable accomplishments this season include a disastrous press conference, a 13-game losing streak and a dreadful loss a day after the owner joined the team on the road trip to reinforce the club’s belief in the roster. It’s become quite evident that the answer is, in fact, not in the room, yet Adams has not made a single change to the roster he constructed. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.17 – Ruff Times for the Sabres

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Yet another horrible loss from the Sabres led to damning comments from Lindy Ruff. With the team firmly in the Eastern Conference basement, all the talk of accountability feels like ancient history now. We talk about the shortcomings behind the bench, in the locker room and the front office. We also touch on how other teams that have struggled this year haven’t been shy about improving, while Kevyn Adams sits on his hands. 

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Escape the Sabres with a Hockey Road Trip

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Judging by the yawning sections of seats throughout KeyBank Center these days, it’s no secret that the Sabres aren’t exactly a hot ticket. You can’t blame fans for staying away from 13 (going on 14) years without postseason action, especially when the Sabres have been so inconsistent on home ice. 

If you’re looking to scratch your hockey itch, a road trip may be just what you need. Western New York locals can always partake in Niagara and Canisius University home games without venturing too far from home. Not only are those games affordable, but both teams tend to have one or two good weekend visitors per year that are well worth the price of admission. But the real gems lie slightly further away, though many can be accomplished in a day trip. 

Niagara Ice Dogs

I can’t give a strong enough recommendation for an Ice Dogs title. It’s a quick trip over the border and not only is their arena gorgeous, but it’s located right in the center of St. Catharines, meaning you won’t need to venture far for food or drink before or after the game. It’s an extremely manageable trip and a great junior arena to boot. Scope out their schedule for a good matchup (Porter Martone and the Brampton Steelheads are in town in March) and find your way up for a game. They even have a few weekend matinees on the schedule that would be well worth taking advantage of. 

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Over Thought: Rumor Season is Upon Us

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Overthought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.

One piece of the post mortem on Hockey Canada and the World Junior Championship that I found particularly interesting was the focus on their decision to lean into role players over skill. Canada has some of the deepest skill to draw from for the WJC but opted for a more well rounded roster. Many have pointed out that they would’ve been better off leaning into their skill for a short tournament. I believe something to the effect of “In a short tournament, skill can grit but grit can’t skill” was said with respect to their roster.

It made me think about the final choices made by the Team USA roster for the 4 Nations Face Off. While the players who rounded out the US roster are still proven producers at the NHL level, they do draw some parallels to what happened with the Canadian WJC team. Brock Nelson, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider are more than capable NHLers, but will the Americans regret not having Clayton Keller or Cole Caufield once the tournament is rolling? It’s something I referred to when the rosters came out, but as this is a bit of fan service that will tease interest for next year’s Olympics, there was a perfect opportunity for the various decision makers to be more creative with their choices. It didn’t need to be a Very Serious tournament, yet the rosters were built as such. As we just saw in an event with actual stakes, trying to find a perfect fit for every role vs. finding the best possible players didn’t work out for the Canadians. Hopefully the US. doesn’t fall victim to the same issue.

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Assessing a Pivotal Season at the Halfway Point

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In a year when virtually everything had to go right for the Sabres, it feels like it’s all gone wrong.

As the Sabres prepared to open training camp for the 2024-25 season, the club was banking on a lot of things to go right in order to break their playoff drought. There weren’t too many constants to lean on from the prior campaign while improvement from the young core and better health were among key talking points for a team desperate to break their playoff drought. In a way, it felt like this was a season of “What if?” Or “If ____, then ____.” At the halfway point of a year that has been defined by a 13-game losing streak, it’s hard to say that anything Kevyn Adams and the Sabres had gambled on have paid off. In some respects, it was fair to be optimistic about certain aspects of the club. While other decisions seemed questionable at best. Little has worked for the Sabres this year, including some of the key tent poles from a pivotal summer. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.16 – Is Elias Pettersson a Target for the Sabres?

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Rumors are swirling around Vancouver as the reported animosity between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson won’t go away. As the Canucks are said to be listening on both, many are wondering whether or not the Sabres can, or should make a play for the former 100-point scorer. We break down Pettersson’s credentials, what sort of package the Sabres would need to fork over and where he would fit if the Sabres were to pull the trigger. 

The second half of the show is devoted to a bit of a midseason check in. We hit on a few of the key talking points from the offseason and break down what’s gone right and wrong (mostly wrong) for Kevyn Adams and the Sabres.

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The Instigator Podcast 13.15 – Sabres and Wings Cooking Up A Deal?

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The rumors of the Sabres and Wings scouting each other have sparked rumors that a deal between the two clubs could be coming. We spend some time talking about what the two teams could be working on and which players could be involved. From big ticket trades to lower stakes swaps, we try and work out what could be on the horizon. 

Beforee getting to the trade discussion, we open the show with a chat about the UNLV vs. Denver game and UNLV’s impreessive upset of the defending NCAA champs. Our conversation touches on what the win meant for UNLV and the ACHA along with highlighting some key differences between the two levels that shouldn’t be forgotten when discussing the outcome of the game. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.14 – No Solutions to be Found

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Terry Pegula trekked to Montreal for a meeting with the Sabres on Monday. The takeaway from the meeting was that Pegula believes in the group and the team trusts that the solution to their struggles is in the room. They responded to that meeting with a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. We discuss what the fallout of Monday’s meeting could be, especially given the unbelievably flat and underwhelming response from the team in the wake of the highly publicized event. The answers for what ails the Sabres are thin despite the litany of issues they’re faking. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.13 – Seven-Straight Losses and A Press Conference

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Kevyn Adams set Sabres Nation ablaze with his press conference replies on Friday and while we hoped the space between his press availability and our recording may be long enough to discuss something else about the local hockey club. But the Sabres lost two more games, carrying their skid to seven-straight and putting his comments into sharper focus. Thus, our conversation is centered around Adams performance at the podium on Friday. what his inaction and the team’s performance may mean for his future, and how Terry Pegula’s stewardship of the Sabres is the root cause of the team’s issues. 

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Believe it or Not, There Are Plenty of Trade Targets Without Trade Protection

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It’s no secret that Buffalo isn’t a preferred destination in the NHL, something that has come into sharp focus after Kevyn Adams’ press conference on Friday. 

This wasn’t the first time Adams has bemoaned his inability to complete trades due to no movement protection or a disinterest in signing in Buffalo long term. A far more striking comment from Adams came during a prior press availability when he expressed frustration over players refusing to waive their no trade clause through the frame of wanting players who “want to be here.” It was a laughable assertion to make given that it is Adams’ job to sell players on the project in Buffalo. There was a time that Terry Pegula would have booked a helicopter to fly to convince Robyn Regehr that Buffalo was the best place for him to play. Now I doubt he’d reimburse his GM for the Uber ride from the Winnipeg airport to Nikolaj Ehlers’ house. Still Adams isn’t without ammunition to pitch players on. A pair of first overall picks on the blueline. A number one center with a nuclear warhead at the end of his stick. And – laughable as it may be – a team that has been in the thick of the playoff hunt the last two seasons. At some level, there is room for Adams to sell players that they can be part of something in Buffalo, yet he’s failed to do so for several seasons running. 

One thing Adams could do is explore a trade for players without trade or movement protection. It’s a novel concept, I know, but there the league isn’t lacking in that department. 

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