Kevyn Adams, press conference 4/16/2024

[...]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

He has a roll for them. Sounded like on the coaching staff. 

[Doohicksie]

So I just cued up Kevyn's presser and his first word was

So I don't want to hear ANYBODY complain about this meme again.  It comes straight from the top!

[Malazan]

4 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

As long as it isn’t his back. 😬 

..or his neck.. 😁

[pi2000]

Sounds like Kevyn's GM balls dropped today.    Good to see, but now he has to walk the walk.    Will he?   Or will he continue to bury his head in the sand when things go sideways?

[Brawndo]

7 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Sounds like Kevyn's GM balls dropped today.    Good to see, but now he has to walk the walk.    Will he?   Or will he continue to bury his head in the sand when things go sideways?

I would also love to see the internal cap disappear, no more of this bottom five in league spending year after year

[thewookie1]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It's simple. His wait for Levi/UPL strategy sank this season as well.  Our goaltending was poor to start the season because we utilized a 3 headed goalie monster.  By the time UPL established himself as a true No. 1, the team was already out of contention and remained so.  Who created the 3 headed goalie monster? Adams and it's a reflection of his poor decisions making on development, free agency and roster construction.  Just because UPL bailed out his poor decisions for the last 50 games or so, doesn’t give Adams a pass for the failure to give this roster proper goaltending for years.

Well how exactly is he supposed to find out who’d be ready for the NHL without them playing NHL games. Levi was promised games, UPL wasn’t waivable and Comrie was already under contract and the vet in the group.

A. Do what he did

B. Waive Comrie hoping that Tampa doesn’t poach him and run with two unproven young goalies

C. Go back on your promise and send Levi to Rochester this angering the player and the agent

D. Waive UPL and pray he doesn’t get scooped up leaving you with about 40 NHL starts between your goalies.

E. Sign another vet goalie, as well a combo of B and C. 
 

3 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

I haven’t listened to the whole PC.

Can someone please shed light on what he said about Ellis and Wilford?

Wilford is a an Assistant Coach but his fate will be up to the new coach, Ellis could be retained by the new coach but has already been slated for another job.
 

 

 

As everyone has said, he needs to walk the walk now but I’d rather think positively than just wallow in misery.

[Scottysabres]

15 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Sounds like Kevyn's GM balls dropped today.    Good to see, but now he has to walk the walk.    Will he?   Or will he continue to bury his head in the sand when things go sideways?

That depends..........

No, I mean literally, if he's not wearing depends and his GM balls dropped, things could get really messy.

[thewookie1]

4 hours ago, SwampD said:

Looks like KA agrees with me when I said that Dahlin is not as good as he thinks he is.

Hope he (and others) learn from the failure that their arrogance brought them. You could see it all year.

Your disdain for Dahlin is akin to PAs against Pegula. He’s a gifted player and gifted players do make mistakes of arrogance due to their confidence in their play. Every player worth anything will do that every so often because the opposite is far worse. (Essentially Dahlin under Krueger where he’s playing on broken glass terrified to make any mistake.)

[LTS]

So Kevyn Adams has an offseason to improve the team eh?  Sounds good.

If they don't come out of the gate much improved over this year I don't think he makes it to Thanksgiving.

He can say anything he wants, but he said playoffs were the expectation this year... and it did not happen.

He might have decided early on to let the season play out and to back some of the things Granato and the team were saying rather than cause even more distraction like what occurred in Vancouver with Boudreau... who knows.  Either way... one offseason... that's it.

[phil_soisson]

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

As I listened, I thought about Lindy a few times. His comments took me there.  

The fact that he is not necessarily waiting for the playoffs to end says the exhaustive search will be semi exhaustive. 

 

 

That's not good enough.

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Your disdain for Dahlin is akin to PAs against Pegula. He’s a gifted player and gifted players do make mistakes of arrogance due to their confidence in their play. Every player worth anything will do that every so often because the opposite is far worse. (Essentially Dahlin under Krueger where he’s playing on broken glass terrified to make any mistake.)

Okay, this is weird.

I have zero disdain for Dahlin. Zero.

 

[Archie Lee]

Just finished watching the press conference. I find an incongruence between Adams’s prior consistent approach of patience (we won’t block prospects) and his now sudden urgency. I’m glad that he sees the need to move things forward, but had be showed a bit of this urgency last off-season we might not be here today. I am fine with moving on from Granato (great guy, good coach, moved us forward, well paid, he’ll be fine), but I’m comfortable saying he was not dealt a winning hand by his GM. The good news about last year’s complacent off-season is that nothing happened that will cripple the team this off-season. The decision Adams makes on the next coach, will be the most important decision he makes as the GM. 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

So Kevyn Adams has an offseason to improve the team eh?  Sounds good.

If they don't come out of the gate much improved over this year I don't think he makes it to Thanksgiving.

He can say anything he wants, but he said playoffs were the expectation this year... and it did not happen.

He might have decided early on to let the season play out and to back some of the things Granato and the team were saying rather than cause even more distraction like what occurred in Vancouver with Boudreau... who knows.  Either way... one offseason... that's it.

Or what? 

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

what are the chances any of the coaches that make the playoffs will be fired though ? 

The point is waiting to talk to Brind’Amour is not a thing.  Adam’s seemed to have an urgent need to move fast.  

[dudacek]

10 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Just finished watching the press conference. I find an incongruence between Adams’s prior consistent approach of patience (we won’t block prospects) and his now sudden urgency. I’m glad that he sees the need to move things forward, but had be showed a bit of this urgency last off-season we might not be here today. I am fine with moving on from Granato (great guy, good coach, moved us forward, well paid, he’ll be fine), but I’m comfortable saying he was not dealt a winning hand by his GM. The good news about last year’s complacent off-season is that nothing happened that will cripple the team this off-season. The decision Adams makes on the next coach, will be the most important decision he makes as the GM. 

Just out of curiousity, when was the last time you heard Adams going hard into the 'won't block prospects" thing? Weren't Lukas Rousek, Ryan Johnson, Jiri Kulich and Devon Levi "blocked" by more veteran players this year?

My sense was that blocking was the byword in the fall of 2021 and had all but fallen by the wayside by the fall of 2023.

He didn't want to block his young players  2 1/2 years ago because he wanted them to play and learn by doing, with the idea that they would get experience and get better.

This year was the year that "better" was supposed to turn into good. But, instead, it kinda marked the first year in three they were supposed to be better than they were.

I'm not sure about this being "sudden urgency." Isn't it more of a growing urgency as the plan slipped off the rails?

Edited April 17 by dudacek

[dudacek]

34 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The point is waiting to talk to Brind’Amour is not a thing.  Adam’s seemed to have an urgent need to move fast.  

My take was he clearly has a target, or a short list of targets and he is going to start chasing them immediately.

Sounds like he has a very specific list of qualities in mind and not many people fit those criteria, but one or more that do is available right now.

And they will all be names you've heard of.

[Huckleberry]

41 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The point is waiting to talk to Brind’Amour is not a thing.  Adam’s seemed to have an urgent need to move fast.  

We should get Him out of our minds, he is not leaving carolina for us.

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

We should get Him out of our minds, he is not leaving carolina for us.

True.  He was my top choice in dreamworld.  

[LTS]

8 hours ago, inkman said:

Or what? 

I assume you mean.. what if he doesn't perform this off-season?  If so.. see what I bolded below.

10 hours ago, LTS said:

So Kevyn Adams has an offseason to improve the team eh?  Sounds good.

If they don't come out of the gate much improved over this year I don't think he makes it to Thanksgiving.

He can say anything he wants, but he said playoffs were the expectation this year... and it did not happen.

He might have decided early on to let the season play out and to back some of the things Granato and the team were saying rather than cause even more distraction like what occurred in Vancouver with Boudreau... who knows.  Either way... one offseason... that's it.

If that's not what you meant, can you expand upon your question?

[CallawaySabres]

Adams job 100% relies on his pick. He is going to get someone good, I’m confident.

[K-9]

48 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

True.  He was my top choice in dreamworld.  

Same here. But apparently, dreaming is frowned upon around here.

[Archie Lee]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

Just out of curiousity, when was the last time you heard Adams going hard into the 'won't block prospects" thing? Weren't Lukas Rousek, Ryan Johnson, Jiri Kulich and Devon Levi "blocked" by more veteran players this year?

My sense was that blocking was the byword in the fall of 2021 and had all but fallen by the wayside by the fall of 2023.

He didn't block his young players  2 1/2 years ago because he wanted them to play and learn by doing with the idea that they would get experience and get better.

This year was the year that "better" turned into good. But it kinda marked the first year in three they were supposed to be better than they were.

I'm not sure about this being "sudden urgency." Isn't it more of a growing urgency as th plan slipped off the rails?

For a prospect to be blocked from the NHL, they need to be ready for the role that they are projected to play at the NHL level. Peterka and Quinn, as examples, were not promoted to the NHL until they were ready to perform a middle to top 6 role as NHL wingers. Adams’s position on not blocking prospects never meant that he would promote them before they were ready. I don’t know when the last time I heard Adams reference not blocking prospects, but I know it was a position he was still taking at last year’s season ending presser. 
 

That said:

- Levi was not blocked from the NHL. He is clearly projected by Adams to be a NHL starter and, indeed, was given a shot at the starter’s job. He was only demoted when it became clear that being in the NHL was possibly hindering, not helping, his development. 

- Kulich has not shown that he is ready to be an NHL regular. Kulich, who is in his 2nd season post-draft, has been very good in the AHL but he is not where Quinn and Peterka were at D+3 when they became NHL regulars. Also, he was given an opportunity to win an NHL position in camp. Adams did not plug the hole left by Quinn’s injury. Kulich lost the battle to an 18 yr old Benson. 

- Johnson it can maybe be argued was blocked, but then you need to accept that Adams knew before the season that Johnson would be better than any returning veteran or player they would add. Also, I think they want Johnson to be able to play a role higher than 6th D, so I’m not sure he was blocked if he is benefiting from playing a top 4 role in Rochester 

- Rousek does not belong in this discussion. I hope he carves out an NHL career but he does not project to be more than an NHL/AHL tweener. 

[Archie Lee]

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Just out of curiousity, when was the last time you heard Adams going hard into the 'won't block prospects" thing? Weren't Lukas Rousek, Ryan Johnson, Jiri Kulich and Devon Levi "blocked" by more veteran players this year?

My sense was that blocking was the byword in the fall of 2021 and had all but fallen by the wayside by the fall of 2023.

He didn't want to block his young players  2 1/2 years ago because he wanted them to play and learn by doing, with the idea that they would get experience and get better.

This year was the year that "better" was supposed to turn into good. But, instead, it kinda marked the first year in three they were supposed to be better than they were.

I'm not sure about this being "sudden urgency." Isn't it more of a growing urgency as the plan slipped off the rails?

By sudden urgency I don’t mean that he just figured this all out in the last week. I mean his sudden “expression” of urgency. Prior to yesterday, he had made no public expression of urgency and had actually rejected the notion when publicly asked about it. 

[Believer]

Just listened to Adams’s presser… 44 minutes… First time he’s been humble in his public comments in my memory…

Took his mask off… Admitted his failure as GM… Rightly took the bullet for Granato… without letting the players off the hook…

First time Harrington, Lyskowski, Hamilton et al put hard questions to him publicly … and he answered every one he could with patience and intelligence…

Provided great insight into his thinking, his relationships and his process… Bravo, Adams… Looking forward to his off season decisions. 

[Cascade Youth]

6 minutes ago, Believer said:

Just listened to Adams’s presser… 44 minutes… First time he’s been humble in his public comments in my memory…

Took his mask off… Admitted his failure as GM… Rightly took the bullet for Granato… without letting the players off the hook…

First time Harrington, Lyskowski, Hamilton et al put hard questions to him publicly … and he answered every one he could with patience and intelligence…

Provided great insight into his thinking, his relationships and his process… Bravo, Adams… Looking forward to his off season decisions. 

Agree with all of that.  We didn't hear what, if we're being honest, most of us expected to hear, which was "We were close, it was the injuries and some bad luck, but we were right there and I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish" etc.  No, it was a different message - "We've done nothing and it's not good enough."  Good for him.

And yet...

He still peppered in some suggestions of bad luck and injuries.  And he still didn't really explain why he sat on his hands as the team floundered.  Thinking about it, I'm left wondering how much of that was because he backed Granato's asinine contract extension in August and couldn't find a way to go back to Terry mid-season about making big changes without fitting his own head for the noose.  And maybe I missed it (I missed the first part of the PC yesterday) but no one asked him why they felt the need to give Granato a new contract last summer.

I also noticed, yesterday and in prior PCs, that when Adams is asked about an internal cap he always responds with some version of "We have enough resources to win."  That isn't a denial, it just means to me that he has sold Terry on being able to do more with less.  It's a disingenuous answer in my view.

Anyhow, all things considered, I feel better than I did earlier in the week but it still all sucks.  None of these developments are good ones.  For someone who (yesterday) preaches accountability, I still don't really see what metrics Adams is being held to other than budget.