Kevyn Adams, press conference 4/16/2024

[#freejame]

19 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Has anyone seen this? Is there been any pushback on it? I know they are getting out of running the Blue Cross Arena.  There was a rumor a month a go that Terry was considering selling the Sabres to the Wegman’s family. Weird times.

Do it, Terry. No balls. 

[Flashsabre]

4 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Do it, Terry. No balls. 

I have no idea who this guy is or who his multiple sources are. You would think there would be way more smoke around this if it were potentially happening though. 
 

Hiring that guy recently to oversee both the Bills and Sabres on the business side flies in the face of this though.

Edited April 18 by Flashsabre

[#freejame]

Just now, Flashsabre said:

I have no idea who this guy is or who his multiple sources are. You would think there would be way more smoke around this if it were potentially happening though.

I don’t believe the rumor whatsoever but I would 100% roll the dice over a relocation that is almost certainly never going to happen to get a new owner. 

[Buffalonill]

31 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Has anyone seen this? Is there been any pushback on it? I know they are getting out of running the Blue Cross Arena.  There was a rumor a month a go that Terry was considering selling the Sabres to the Wegman’s family. Weird times.

How anybody would believe this garbage after years and years and years of speculation " sources" 

I ain't believing s***

And really ? The dude looks like he's in high-school 

 

Edited April 18 by Buffalonill

[dudacek]

58 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

Insane buffness aside - OMG! Sidney Crosby on a beach! He must not be committed to hockey!!!!!

It's like everyone expects every player to be doing off-ice stick handling drills every second they are not ON the ice or in whatever magical weight room everyone assumes will make them "grittier". Joseph Smith ... they are people - they get to take vacations. 

**not directing this specifically at our friendly neighborhood Liger - I was just too lazy to keep scrolling to find the egregious indignation being hurled at Dylan and Tage for taking a beat to rest.

The perfect world scenario is that Kyle Dubas decides it’s time to reset the Pens and fires Mike Sullivan.

As our own @Brawndo hinted, the Ventura/Karmanos connection already knows this is coming and has already tapped Sullivan as our new “experienced, structured and accountable” coach.

The Dubas rebuild offends the PIttsburgh locker room, leading to the UFA in the above photo to take his tone-setting, faceoff-winning, line-driving, ultra-accountable, Pegula-dog-namesake 1C talents to join the new Ventura/Karmanos/Sullivan axis of evil on the Niagara frontier.

It is the off-season, and long-suffering Sabrefans are allowed to dream.

Edited April 18 by dudacek

[ska-T Palmtown]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The perfect world scenario is that Kyle Dubas decides it’s time to reset the Pens and fires Mike Sullivan.

As our own @Brawndo hinted, the Ventura/Karmanos connection already knows this is coming and has already tapped Sullivan as our new “experienced, structured and accountable” coach.

The Dubas rebuild offends the PIttsburgh locker room, leading to the UFA in the above photo to take his tone-setting, faceoff-winning, line-driving, ultra-accountable, Pegula-dog-namesake 1C talents to join the new Ventura/Karmanos/Sullivan axis of evil on the Niagara frontier.

It is the off-season, and long-suffering Sabrefans are allowed to dream.

But he is on a beach ... he can't possibly be committed to winning any more.

[That Aud Smell]

23 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

You gotta add to that mix: The kids are all on a team where the GM sees fit to pass out multi-year multi-million dollar contracts based on a limited sample size.

I wish I could find that picture I saw on social media during last offseason. It was a picture of Thompson and Cozens (I believe) in the Caribbean -- they were by a pool, in the shade, drinking rum punch out of clear plastic cups, and toasting each other's success.  

It gave me a very bad feeling about the season to come.

23 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

There it is

1 hour ago, ska-T Chitown said:

Insane buffness aside - OMG! Sidney Crosby on a beach! He must not be committed to hockey!!!!!

It's like everyone expects every player to be doing off-ice stick handling drills every second they are not ON the ice or in whatever magical weight room everyone assumes will make them "grittier". Joseph Smith ... they are people - they get to take vacations. 

**not directing this specifically at our friendly neighborhood Liger - I was just too lazy to keep scrolling to find the egregious indignation being hurled at Dylan and Tage for taking a beat to rest.

I was the originator of what you term "egregious indignation." 

You wanted a different noun there. You may have felt indignation because I was taking shots at our top 2 centres. But that's not what I was hurling. Invective maybe.

In any event, the distinction here is low-hanging fruit. Maybe @Mango or @Big Guava. Something tropical, given the photos above. Nobody (including @nobody) would have an issue with their home team's top players being pictured on a Caribbean beach toasting each other's health (and new-found wealth) if those top players proceeded to kick much ass in the season that followed, or, as in the case of Crosby, if that player was a top-10 player of all-time, first ballot HOFer, multiple Cup winner.

Context matters.

I dug up that photo because it was of a piece with something that had seemed to plague the team from last offseason through this season. That "something" was confirmed by the GM in his post season press conference: A sense of having arrived. Having made it. Arrogance, as one reporter put it (and the GM didn't knock it down). Maybe even a sense of entitlement. [Edit: Bear in mind, it was the team's official Instagram that published the picture to its main account page. It appears many mistakes were made.]

So, invective is being hurled. I hope the targets don't duck from its path.

56 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

I read on the internet that Connor McDavid once sat in a comfy chair and did not think about hockey for FIVE WHOLE MINUTES ... what an uncommitted a-hole!

To borrow a phrase from @nfreeman: This is obnoxious.

Edited April 18 by That Aud Smell

[That Aud Smell]

45 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

How anybody would believe this garbage after years and years and years of speculation " sources" 

I ain't believing s***

And really ? The dude looks like he's in high-school 

That is a sad sack of a wannabe sports blogger.

[ska-T Palmtown]

3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I was the originator of what you term "egregious indignation." 

You wanted a different noun there. You may have felt indignation because I was taking shots at our top 2 centres. But that's not what I was hurling. Invective maybe.

In any event, the distinction here is low-hanging fruit. Maybe @Mango or @Big Guava. Something tropical, given the photos above. Nobody (including @nobody) would have an issue with their home team's top players being pictured on a Caribbean beach toasting each other's health (and new-found wealth) if those top players proceeded to kick much ass in the season that followed, or, as in the case of Crosby, if that player was a top-10 player of all-time, first ballot HOFer, multiple Cup winner.

Context matters.

I dug up that photo because it was of a piece with something that had seemed to plague the team from last offseason through this season. That "something" was confirmed by the GM in his post season press conference: A sense of having arrived. Having made it. Arrogance, as one reporter put it (and the GM didn't knock it down). Maybe even a sense of entitlement.

So, invective is being hurled. I hope the targets don't duck from its path.

To borrow a phrase from @nfreeman: This is obnoxious.

I forgot to use my sarcasm font 🙂 All the bits about "egregious indignation" were meant to be mostly in jest. 

I still stand by my point that what the players do in their free time is their business and judging them for how they do it is perplexing at best. It does not make sense to me how a person gets to put a qualifier on who may enjoy their vacation. It wasn't even just you, at all. This is similar to The Great Fortnight Uproar, or other similar criticisms on how a player (still a person) chooses to spend their free time, trying to recharge.

By the logic above, would the 4th line center, or 13th forward of a team not be entitled to their beach time? Or mountain hikes, if that trips their trigger? 

Yes, my comment about McDavid was intended to be obnoxious, but when taken in context, it is not that much worse than calling players out for taking a moment to recognize their good fortune. Nothing in that picture says "We have our contract, time to stop working!!" 

It his me (yes, my opinion) the same as someone buying a new car and a co-worker, or boss, or neighbor remarking something like "I guess they pay you too much" instead of just being happy for them.

I will say - if it came off as a specific attack on you, it was not intended - I guess I am not good at calling out general things I disagree with without accidentally pointing a finger at a specific post/poster.

[nfreeman]

21 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The perfect world scenario is that Kyle Dubas decides it’s time to reset the Pens and fires Mike Sullivan.

As our own @Brawndo hinted, the Ventura/Karmanos connection already knows this is coming and has already tapped Sullivan as our new “experienced, structured and accountable” coach.

The Dubas rebuild offends the PIttsburgh locker room, leading to the UFA in the above photo to take his tone-setting, faceoff-winning, line-driving, ultra-accountable, Pegula-dog-namesake 1C talents to join the new Ventura/Karmanos/Sullivan axis of evil on the Niagara frontier.

It is the off-season, and long-suffering Sabrefans are allowed to dream.

Holy mackerel.  Sid is a UFA?  (Actually, spotrac says he's not a UFA until 2025.)

Still, it's reasonably likely that Dubas fires Sullivan and embarks on a rebuild, and it's at least somewhat possible that Sid isn't interested in spending his last couple of seasons on a rebuild and generally finds Dubas too clever by half.

Kulich and a #1 -- i.e. 2 high-quality and low-cost assets -- for Sid, with an extension and Sullivan as part of the package?

As you said, we can dream.

 

[ska-T Palmtown]

16 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

You wanted a different noun there. You may have felt indignation because I was taking shots at our top 2 centres. But that's not what I was hurling. Invective maybe.

Come to think of it, I do recall huffing and puffing a little ... 😉 

[That Aud Smell]

11 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

By the logic above, would the 4th line center, or 13th forward of a team not be entitled to their beach time? Or mountain hikes, if that trips their trigger? 

You're talking in generalities. I'm talking about something very specific. I've outlined its contours above.

When the team captured a screenshot of Tage's "7 more years" IG story pic and put it on their account, my immediate reaction was essentially "7 more years? Dude hasn't played but 200 games and has one good NHL season to his name."

Together with a host of other factors, the picture seemed to be a bad omen. Sad to say that it was. 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

You're talking in generalities. I'm talking about something very specific. I've outlined its contours above.

When the team captured a screenshot of Tage's "7 more years" IG story pic and put it on their account, my immediate reaction was essentially "7 more years? Dude hasn't played but 200 games and has one good NHL season to his name."

Together with a host of other factors, the picture seemed to be a bad omen. Sad to say that it was. 

Tage scored 94 pts the season after that photo was taken. 

[That Aud Smell]

17 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

It his me (yes, my opinion) the same as someone buying a new car and a co-worker, or boss, or neighbor remarking something like "I guess they pay you too much" instead of just being happy for them.

What if you had information about or an experience with your co-worker or neighbour - let's call him Rashee - that prompted you to think "ehh, I'm not so sure that a new sports car is a good idea for him."

[That Aud Smell]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Tage scored 94 pts the season after that photo was taken. 

Not quite. I'd actually thought the photo was taken during this past offseason. Turns out, it was taken at some point after Cozens signed the extension in early February 2023. Was there a midwinter break or something?

[Indabuff]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

How anybody would believe this garbage after years and years and years of speculation " sources" 

I ain't believing s***

And really ? The dude looks like he's in high-school 

 

Looks like he could be Bubbles' brother

[Mr Peabody]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

How anybody would believe this garbage after years and years and years of speculation " sources" 

I ain't believing s***

And really ? The dude looks like he's in high-school 

 

I’d say we wait to round 3 before we draft him. 

[ska-T Palmtown]

33 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

What if you had information about or an experience with your co-worker or neighbour - let's call him Rashee - that prompted you to think "ehh, I'm not so sure that a new sports car is a good idea for him."

I appreciate your humorous response (I am actually still giggling). I love this forum for all the good discussion (on hockey and other things) and very knowledgeable people, so I don't like it when I feel like I step on toes that don't need to be stepped on.

I think my trigger with the whole topic is that it sounds like some stuffy shirt corporate America "you should be oh so grateful to have any time off" line of thinking. It is the gen-Xer in me, I guess. (I am a cusper, so the millennial part of me wants my participation emoji reaction trophy for posting!)

I'd counter some of the "spoiled kids" talk with what many of these young men have actually gone through; I believe many of them have to chose between essentially moving out from home at age 14 (or so) to stay with a host family so they can participate in the higher level leagues, camps, etc. Most of them earned their way to the top two levels (NHL and AHL) of professional hockey with enormous amounts of hard work and dedication. Those that made it through Juniors on talent alone tend to flame out very quickly (either in brief stints in the NHL/AHL or in college). I think some slack could be cut if a 22 year old (with a very limited world view) who has dedicated 10 or maybe more years of their life to excelling at this sport for thinking they "earned" a contract of whatever value. 

I think a player thinking they earned their contract and a player thinking they have "arrived" and are no longer subject to working their butts off (this is what I thought GMHD was talking about regarding an arrogant locker room) are two very different things.

[That Aud Smell]

8 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

I think my trigger with the whole topic is that it sounds like some stuffy shirt corporate America "you should be oh so grateful to have any time off" line of thinking. It is the gen-Xer in me, I guess. (I am a cusper, so the millennial part of me wants my participation emoji reaction trophy for posting!)

I'd counter some of the "spoiled kids" talk with what many of these young men have actually gone through ...

Yeah - that's definitely not what I'm riffing on. I'm also not suggesting any of that either.

I frequently hear that "elite athletes have all worked their ***** off" theme (which I clipped from your reply). Implicit in that concept, I think, is that all of the elite athletes will continue to work as hard as they did before they arrived in the best league in the world, that they will be self-aware and smart enough to know how to continue to improve themselves after they've established themselves as NHLers, and that they will all continue to grow and improve. 

And that's just not the case. The NHL is a cohort comprised of the world's best hockey players. And that cohort sorts out in a way not dissimilar to how other cohorts sort themselves. Not everyone of them is working as hard and as smart as they should. Some, without even intending to do so, may have lapsed into thinking they'd arrived. 

Idk. Hope for the best.

[ska-T Palmtown]

4 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Yeah - that's definitely not what I'm riffing on. I'm also not suggesting any of that either.

I frequently hear that "elite athletes have all worked their ***** off" theme (which I clipped from your reply). Implicit in that concept, I think, is that all of the elite athletes will continue to work as hard as they did before they arrived in the best league in the world, that they will be self-aware and smart enough to know how to continue to improve themselves after they've established themselves as NHLers, and that they will all continue to grow and improve. 

And that's just not the case. The NHL is a cohort comprised of the world's best hockey players. And that cohort sorts out in a way not dissimilar to how other cohorts sort themselves. Not everyone of them is working as hard and as smart as they should. Some, without even intending to do so, may have lapsed into thinking they'd arrived. 

Idk. Hope for the best.

Yeah - totally not intending to lay that stuff squarely at your feet, most just replying to your replies to my replies to keep the convo going - I enjoy your perspectives and thoughts.

You are definitely correct - each pro sport has countless high profile examples of athletes flaming out for what are likely work ethic issues. I tried to cover that with my previous statements, but there are probably some of those types that end up sticking around at the higher levels. I would *guess* that those cases continue to become more rare as the athletic abilities of these players keeps increasing year after year. But, that could be my idealization.

I might also be still processing my grief from such a scheisse-storm of a season and have not accepted that maybe there are some of these deep-rooted issues?

[dudacek]

Thinking about this in the context of what @inkman was saying about how seriously we should take these things.

If I put my PR hat on, I think Adams gave the fans what they wanted: he switched from aw shucks mode to I'm pissed mode, called the players out for lack of accountability, took some personal responsibility and took dramatic, concrete action by sacrificing the most obvious lamb.

I don't know that he really could have done much more in terms of getting people to lower their pitchforks.

It was a little surprising and very interesting and it set a proper tone for next season.

It remains meaningless until they start playing games for real again.

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Thinking about this in the context of what @inkman was saying about how seriously we should take these things.

If I put my PR hat on, I think Adams gave the fans what they wanted: he switched from aw shucks mode to I'm pissed mode, called the players out for lack of accountability, took some personal responsibility and took dramatic, concrete action by sacrificing the most obvious lamb.

I don't know that he really could have done much more in terms of getting people to lower their pitchforks.

It was a little surprising and very interesting and it set a proper tone for next season.

It remains meaningless until they start playing games for real again.

It’s not surprising at all. I’ve been preaching for maybe 4 years now that they’ve excelled in messaging 

Someone they’ve hired is incredibly skilled in this area and it could even be Adams and I’ve been trying to draw people’s attention to it for years. Maybe it doesn’t matter but it’s super interesting because they are extremely skilled 

[Pimlach]

On 4/17/2024 at 3:15 PM, Buffalonill said:

 

[LGR4GM]

56 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Thinking about this in the context of what @inkman was saying about how seriously we should take these things.

If I put my PR hat on, I think Adams gave the fans what they wanted: he switched from aw shucks mode to I'm pissed mode, called the players out for lack of accountability, took some personal responsibility and took dramatic, concrete action by sacrificing the most obvious lamb.

I don't know that he really could have done much more in terms of getting people to lower their pitchforks.

It was a little surprising and very interesting and it set a proper tone for next season.

It remains meaningless until they start playing games for real again.

I want the playoffs. So far has given me nothing. Tiktok mofo. Another lazy offseason of adding Josts and Lyubushkins and not only will this press conference be forgotten, he will too.