Ruff and Adams end-of-season press conference: Saturday, April 19, 4:30pm

[HumanSlinky39]

Adams is a dope. That's what I got from that. If he's not launched into outer space, God help us.

[GoPuckYourself]

5 years we've heard this GM say he wasn't good enough, how many more years does he have to tell Terry he's not good enough before he finally fires him? Seriously Adams is a genius, to be this bad at your job for 5 years straight and you may actually get promoted, that's some next level ***** right there. The players are just as bad as Adams though, 1st it was inexperience, then they thought it was going to be much easier, now it's not doing enough in the offseason and again like the GM, these guys keep failing and he keeps handing out contracts like candy (Although I liked the Greenway/Zucker deals). So we already know Adams will make Levi the annointed #1 goalie in the offseason he all but said it in the press conference. So instead of making this kid earn it we're just going to hand it to him. This team will never go anywhere with Adams as GM. 

[dudacek]

Lysowski:

Changes are expected to the coaching and support staffs, as well as the hockey operations department, two sources familiar with the situation who spoke to The News on the condition as to protect their standing in the organization.

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Lol autocorrect changed Kevyn to Mervyn lol perfect 

Lmfao. When they traded for Byram, they didn't know where he would fit... Adams literally admitting he has no plan. 

I wanna come back to this. There's nothing inherently wrong about deciding to move Mitts and thinking Byram is gonna be better, so you'll figure it out later... but he never figured it out. Adams has no idea what to do with Byram but he's gonna sign him anyways. There's no plan, just 3 lhd on long term deals with a 4th in Byram in bound.

[Night Train]

28 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I wanna come back to this. There's nothing inherently wrong about deciding to move Mitts and thinking Byram is gonna be better, so you'll figure it out later... but he never figured it out. Adams has no idea what to do with Byram but he's gonna sign him anyways. There's no plan, just 3 lhd on long term deals with a 4th in Byram in bound.

 Agreed but that trade and the Cozens deal were not the big trades many locals made it out to be. Byram was up and down but Mitts was traded again after being extended and was a -29 on the year.

Cozens was addition by subtraction with his bad D and horrid contract and Sabres received a injury prone forward with an even fatter contract in return. 

Now Quinn and massively overpaid Muel look like obvious trade candidates who may not return much. Maybe Power, who still looks like a rep guy over actual level of talent. What to do ?  Watch and hope. 

Edited Sunday at 12:47 AM by Night Train

[Wyldnwoody44]

Good on them for having this crap show of a press conference the day of the playoffs. We can forget all the nonsense they said and focus on actual hockey. 

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Lysowski:

Changes are expected to the coaching and support staffs, as well as the hockey operations department, two sources familiar with the situation who spoke to The News on the condition as to protect their standing in the organization.

Unless Adams is removed from the GM role, I really think any changes are just scapegoating. If Adams had successfully positioned us as a playoff team over the last two seasons, I could look at changes to assistant coaches or assistant GMs and conclude that Adams isn’t complacent; he’s not satisfied and he wants to be better. With 5 non-playoff years and after regressing this season, despite it following Adams’s most aggressive off-season, any such changes just ring hollow to me. I’m not defending Marty Wilford or Matt Ellis, but my view is they have done at least as well at their jobs as Adams has at his. 

[Archie Lee]

Adams continues to present as a man without a plan. His answer on the partner for Owen Power was jaw-dropping. He acknowledges that he has not supported Power well enough, but then states that he recently spoke to Power and Power says he’s good with anyone but prefers playing with a puck mover, and then Adams finishes by saying it’s hard to get a right handed all-star D. Adams comes across like he is making decisions based on the last person he talks to. Power says he’s good, so I guess he’s good.

Ruff was a bit better, but in my jaded perspective seemed like a veteran coach who can diagnose the problem, but no longer has the solutions.  My view is that our roster could make the playoffs with a better coach and Ruff could make the playoffs with a better roster. If we are being serious here though, both need to be improved. 

 

[thewookie1]

2 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Adams continues to present as a man without a plan. His answer on the partner for Owen Power was jaw-dropping. He acknowledges that he has not supported Power well enough, but then states that he recently spoke to Power and Power says he’s good with anyone but prefers playing with a puck mover, and then Adams finishes by saying it’s hard to get a right handed all-star D. Adams comes across like he is making decisions based on the last person he talks to. Power says he’s good, so I guess he’s good.

Ruff was a bit better, but in my jaded perspective seemed like a veteran coach who can diagnose the problem, but no longer has the solutions.  My view is that our roster could make the playoffs with a better coach and Ruff could make the playoffs with a better roster. If we are being serious here though, both need to be improved. 

 

Why would you even listen to a Dman that young; he needs to learn to play defense and stop pretending he's a sugar plum fairy when not in the offensive zone.

[sabremike]

The media people were way too nice with Adams. The situation called for Brooksie and Torts and only Fairburn brought any heat.

[French Collection]

25 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Why would you even listen to a Dman that young; he needs to learn to play defense and stop pretending he's a sugar plum fairy when not in the offensive zone.

Cut him some slack, he is only 6’6’ 226.

I knew he wasn’t the second coming of Pronger, even though the size was there. I did hope he would get a bit grittier as he gained strength and experience. If he had any type of edge he would get more room to maneuver and have opponents think twice about going into the same corner.

It’s a bad look when he doesn’t even engage in a scrum after teammates are crushed.

[JoeSchmoe]

12 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Cut him some slack, he is only 6’6’ 226.

I knew he wasn’t the second coming of Pronger, even though the size was there. I did hope he would get a bit grittier as he gained strength and experience. If he had any type of edge he would get more room to maneuver and have opponents think twice about going into the same corner.

It’s a bad look when he doesn’t even engage in a scrum after teammates are crushed.

Now that he's injured and can't train, maybe he can be convinced into taking a little conversion therapy Stanley Kubrick style. Maybe that'll put the edge on.

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, sabremike said:

The media people were way too nice with Adams. The situation called for Brooksie and Torts and only Fairburn brought any heat.

Fairburn is on the Baker Fairburn Show right now.

He is continuing bringing the heat. Called out Adams banking on hope. Also questioned how Adams talking about culture when at year five it’s his culture. 
Called Adams talking about how they are taking their time with Levi BS as he was the starter for the Sabres last season with zero AHL starts 

Edited Sunday at 03:35 AM by Brawndo

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Unless Adams is removed from the GM role, I really think any changes are just scapegoating.

Yep!

[DarthEbriate]

The only prudent move is to can Sheevyn. (Somehow, Sheevyn returned!)

But if they do bring in a new GM, please let the GM hire their own coach and staff. None of this Ruff gets to be coach but has to have Appert and keep the rest of the assistants. Get a real GM and then let them pick their people. Get out of the way. 

[DarthEbriate]

41 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Fairburn is on the Baker Fairburn Show right now.

He is continuing bringing the heat. Called out Adams banking on hope. Also questioned how Adams talking about culture when at year five it’s his culture. 
Called Adams talking about how they are taking their time with Levi BS as he was the starter for the Sabres last season with zero AHL starts 

Fairburn berating the hope. Rebellions are built on hope, but your hundreds of millions spent on your hockey team should not be based on hope.

[Berg]

On 4/16/2025 at 4:50 PM, Archie Lee said:

My prediction:  This year's narrative will be that the players were not in shape, that many of them were not mature enough to have good off-seasons when it came to training, and it will be up to the players to take things more seriously in order for the team to get to the next level. 

We have 14 years "next level" streak without playoffs...

[Stoner]

These guys put me to sleep last night. Now that I'm awake way too early I think I'll watch again.

Edited Sunday at 10:04 AM by Stoner

[steveoath]

6 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Fairburn is on the Baker Fairburn Show right now.

He is continuing bringing the heat. Called out Adams banking on hope. Also questioned how Adams talking about culture when at year five it’s his culture. 
Called Adams talking about how they are taking their time with Levi BS as he was the starter for the Sabres last season with zero AHL starts 

It’s a good listen. 
 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/baker-fairburn-hockey-show/id1711527247?i=1000704168551

[Pimlach]

13 hours ago, Mr. Allen said:

I wonder what would’ve happened to TM had his plan of getting Mcdavid worked.  We were one bouncing ball away from finding out. 

Same thing as what happed with Eichel.  Murray was lousy.   The worst the three Pegula GMs.  

[LGR4GM]

8 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Fairburn berating the hope. Rebellions are built on hope, but your hundreds of millions spent on your hockey team should not be based on hope.

They didn't infiltrate Scarif because of hope. The had a plan. 

9 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Fairburn is on the Baker Fairburn Show right now.

He is continuing bringing the heat. Called out Adams banking on hope. Also questioned how Adams talking about culture when at year five it’s his culture. 
Called Adams talking about how they are taking their time with Levi BS as he was the starter for the Sabres last season with zero AHL starts 

Adams answer to Byram being traded for with no plan. Power and his lack of a partner with no plan. And the stupid "Culture is earned" nonsense.  We need a new gm.

[Flashsabre]

9 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

They didn't infiltrate Scarif because of hope. The had a plan. 

Adams answer to Byram being traded for with no plan. Power and his lack of a partner with no plan. And the stupid "Culture is earned" nonsense.  We need a new gm.

He was unqualified and incompetent when he was hired and has not improved at all. He is the ultimate Yes Man.

[pastajoe]

28 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Same thing as what happed with Eichel.  Murray was lousy.   The worst the three Pegula GMs.  

Wrong, Murray was willing to take big swings to try to improve the team. It’s mind boggling that a team with Eichel, Reinhart, O’Reilly, Kane, and Dahlin couldn’t make the playoffs. Unfortunately nobody knew about Lehner’s issues, and we got the worst couple of years of his career.

I’d much rather have a GM like Murray than someone like Adams who clutches his draft picks like they’re his own kids.

[Archie Lee]

28 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

Wrong, Murray was willing to take big swings to try to improve the team. It’s mind boggling that a team with Eichel, Reinhart, O’Reilly, Kane, and Dahlin couldn’t make the playoffs. Unfortunately nobody knew about Lehner’s issues, and we got the worst couple of years of his career.

I’d much rather have a GM like Murray than someone like Adams who clutches his draft picks like they’re his own kids.

I don’t think it’s that mind boggling. Eichel and Reinhart were kids. Kane is a good player and brings a certain element, but he brought as many issues as solutions. Dahlin didn’t arrive until Botterill’s 2nd draft. All three of our post-Regier GMs had issues with roster building. 

Edited Sunday at 01:35 PM by Archie Lee

[mjd1001]

I think there is an above average chance there is 'below average' movement in the franchise...the front office..the roster...everything...over the time until next season starts.

If that happens, without much 'new' to talk about, and with most of us posters with our own beliefs well established, this may become a pretty quiet place over the next few months.