Kevyn Adams

Over Thought: A Quiet Deadline Ahead?

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So far, the reporting on Buffalo’s trade deadline outlook has painted the picture of a team that won’t do much by Friday. The league’s biggest insiders are all saying the same thing – the Sabres aren’t looking for futures and they aren’t getting offers that meet their asking price on any of the players they’ve made available. 

If it’s true that the Sabres won’t be especially active on Friday, it will be hard for anyone associated with the team to sell the idea that they’re serious about breaking their playoff drought. The deadline isn’t an ideal venue for the sort of deals the Sabres would need to make in order to bring about any sort of meaningful change, but the indications that Kevyn Adams will stand pat (after a season of inaction) will certainly set off additional frustration within the fanbase. At least however many fans are left to pay attention to such things. I wouldn’t blame anyone for that added frustration. Just follow some Buffalo Sabres live scores and you’ll see just how incomplete this group is. 

I would argue that this doesn’t need to be a week to completely overhaul the roster, or even have a really active deadline. The Sabres only have a few pending UFAs and I think they’d like to keep at least one of them. Any potential for a hockey trade has had cold water thrown on it, but those things can change quickly. Either way, I think you’re talking about one move of that magnitude by the end of the week. And if that happened, I think that would exceed most expectations too. 

Adams’ real work needs to come in the summer. He could and should have done more when the season was younger, but he failed at that task. The summer will be the time when he needs to push the right buttons and jettison passengers. Whether or not he’s capable of it, or has the financial flexibility from ownership remains to be seen. 

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How Will the Increasing Cap Affect the Sabres?

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The salary cap is going up. Way up. 

The NHL has confirmed salary cap figures for the next three seasons, including a caveat that the numbers could be adjusted further (up or down) if necessary. But as it stands, the salary cap figures for the next three seasons will be as follows:

2025-26

Upper Limit: $95.5m

Lower Limit: $70.6m

2026-27

Upper: $104m

Lower: $76.9m

2027-28

Upper: $113.5m

Lower: $83.9m

That’s about $7 million in growth this summer and about $9 million in the following two years. Notably, the cap floor in 2027-28 will be just $5 million lower than this year’s cap. It’s also $2 million more than the Sabres have committed to the cap this season. 

The rapid cap growth will have implications throughout the league, especially for teams that typically operate on an internal budget. The possibility of a widening gulf between big and small spenders and what it could mean for the league’s competitive balance shouldn’t be overlooked. Whether or not Terry Pegula finds another oil well to drill, the increase to the cap creates new opportunities and flexibility for the Sabres. 

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Five Things to Watch in the Stretch Run

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By the end of this weekend, the Sabres will only have 30 games left to play meaning by the time they wrap up with the Devils on Sunday, they’ll be firmly in the stretch run. 

The season went up in flames weeks ago, ending any realistic hope of ending Buffalo’s playoff drought. While an Andrew Hammond-esque miracle run could put the Sabres back into the playoff race, the reality is that these final 30 games will be little more than a formality as the club prepares for the offseason and the 2025-25 season. 

While the outcome of the games won’t matter much, there are still a few storylines worth tracking in the coming weeks and months as the Sabres inch closer to game 82. 

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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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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.

You can find The Instigator Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts:

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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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The Question of Cap Space Remains After Kevyn Adams’ Presser

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Don’t get distracted by the palm trees. That’s not why you should be frustrated with Kevyn Adams’ press conference. 

He’s right, after all. 

Buffalo is not a destination city in the NHL. It hasn’t been for a while. All you need to do is check on the NHLPA player polls over the last 10-plus years to know how NHL players feel about Buffalo. The tax issue has been a favored topic for the league’s talking heads for well over 18 months and it doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. It’s become such a hot button issue that there were discussions at the GM meetings about adjusting the cap to account for different tax situations. It should be no surprise that Buffalo is not a favored destination for much of the NHL and therefore, is placed on most, if not all, no trade clauses. 

Adams’ larger point about drawing players was correct as well. Buffalo will once again become an attractive landing spot if the Sabres become a perennial contender. He was even right to reference the Bills in that regard. Players won’t care where the team plays if it’s good. Perhaps Kevyn and Terry need to take a long hard look in the mirror in that regard. 

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Sabres Recent Cap Spending Doesn’t Paint a Pretty Picture

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The Buffalo Sabres are inching closer to their season opening games with nearly $7 million in open cap space to work with. The remaining cap space has been a point of contention within the fan base, as the Sabres are poised to open their fourth-straight season with a significant gulf in cap expenditure against the NHL’s cap ceiling. 

Buffalo opened their prior three seasons with $8,826,430 (2023-24), $18,648,333 (2022-23) and $16,435,864 (2021-22) in cap space. Barring an 11th hour acquisition, the 2024-25 season will follow suit. (Figures compiled from CapFriendly.)

Some context is required when evaluating Buffalo’s recent cap expenditures. The Sabres had jumped headfirst into a rebuild in the summer of 2021, shedding core players with large cap hits and they weren’t a year removed from trading Jack Eichel and his $10 million cap hit when they hit the ice with over $18 million in space in 2022. Still, over the past 10 seasons, the Sabres have only spent within $3 million of the cap on four occasions. Certainly a reflection of the on-ice results and direction of the front office, but also well out of line with Terry Pegula’s infamous oil well line from his introductory press conference. 

The team’s current cap situation has been well documented. Jeff Skinner’s buyout is largely responsible for the available space and Adams has been on record noting his desire to maintain flexibility for future extensions by not taking on long term commitments via free agency or trade. That does run counter to some of the team’s rumored activity in the summer when they were linked to the likes of Martin Necas, but taking it at face value, it’s fair enough to say that much of the future savings from Skinner’s buyout will be eaten up by extensions to the likes of JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn and others. But don’t forget that the greatest cap benefit to buying out Skinner, comes this season. The decision to buy him out is understandable, logical even given how Lindy Ruff has said he hopes the team will play. To not fully capitalize on those savings is questionable, if not downright reckless in a season as pivotal as this one.

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Sabres Fill Key Need with Ryan McLeod

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Statements like ‘the time is now” didn’t exactly jive with Kevyn Adams’ early work in the offseason. The Sabres were quiet at the draft, trading back in the first round and shipping a second round pick to acquire Beck Malenstyn. 

Free agency was busy but unspectacular – a fine result on a day so many questionable contracts are given out – ratcheting up the angst in the fanbase as Adams early bluster in the offseason had given way to different messaging. Adams finally took a more substantial swing on Friday, bringing in Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio from Edmonton. 

One of Buffalo’s prized prospects had to go the other way, catching some off guard given the acquisition cost for a player who will likely slot in as Buffalo’s third center. It seemed inevitable that at least one of Buffalo’s first round prospects would have a new home before the summer was over and Matthew Savoie checks that box as the sole piece the Sabres sent to Edmonton in this trade.

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