The islanders aren’t going to give up a pick to trade Matt Martin for Ilya Lyubushkin imo. It just doesn’t make sense from a salary standpoint or a value standpoint to me.

Listening to Adams' presser, no way they make this many player changes.

12 years outside of the playoffs and this guy is talking about how they definitely need okposo back. such an unserious org lol

Hawks decline. After the season he had this year, they value Dickinson way more than to trade him for a G they don't even need.

Ever since Dumba leveled Pavelski the other night suddenly he is everyone's UFA target for a RHD.

Why do you put any stock in what a GM says at a press conference?

AKA "I have no intention of trading Jack Eichel"

He literally never once said that after Eichel's locker room clean out

He said that in the summer.

Do you honestly expect him to say what moves he's gonna make lol? I have no idea why people make a big deal what GMs say at these things. Same with Beane.

Lol no he didnt, he said that oct 5 2020

Eichel was dealt Nov. 2021 (after the locker room interview O'reilly style)

Its not anything specific he said, its reading between the lines. And if you listen to media availabilities for GMs that actually do s***, they all take responsibility and offer concrete answers on what they will address. Thats not the same as actively saying " I want this guy" or "this guy sucks" but its a far cry from "I think this sub 870 goalie is our future (UPL) and Okposo will be here till death do us part" .

Adams has mentioned it multiple times during that summer. Not just on one date. I don't think he was ever clear with his intentions until after the season started. Downplayed it the entire time. Everything came from Eichel's camp.

It's not reading between the lines. It's freaking out over nothing. It reminds me of Bills fans freaking out when Beane said he wasn't planning anything big in the off season. The same off season we signed Von Miller.

"And if you listen to media availabilities for GMs that actually do s***, they all take responsibility and offer concrete answers on what they will address." Adams & Granato plan has been crystal clear this whole time. This is the best season in 10 years fielding a bunch of kids. A stocked pool of prospects & promising young players. You are getting mad because a GM said he liked our young goalie and was interested in our CAPTAIN coming back. Jeez.

He mentioned it several times in SUMMER OF 2020, this is a whole other season. After the Eichel comments, Adams said nothing of the sort. He said he wouldnt give him away, that much is true.

I dont care about the bills so that example is totally over my head

Your last paragraph there is absent so much relevant context. First, the bar for "best team in 10 years" is stupid low. We were perpetually tanking for like 6 years lmao. Why is there so much pride in drafting 13th overall?

Next, he didnt say he liked his young goalie, he said hes comfortable with him being the other NHL goalie next year. Thats terrible any way you slice it. And saying captain in that tone suggests he was instrumental to our run to 9th place. He was on the 4th line and often times way too slow and consistently taking offensive zone penalties. We NEED this guy back?

That's what makes them unserious. You need to make the tough decisions to make that jump from pretender to contender, and nothing says I have no intention of doing so like making your end of season presser highlights about a goalie who couldnt stop a beach ball, a 70 year old (in hockey years) with cement skates, and unprompted complementing of *checks notes* mike bales? The guy who has been here for the duration of the Sabres worst goaltending in....ever?

Don't be so obtuse. This is in May of 2021. He downplayed trading Eichel that whole summer.

"I dont care about the bills so that example is totally over my head" You don't need to be a Bills fan to understand what I said.

"First, the bar for "best team in 10 years" is stupid low. We were perpetually tanking for like 6 years lmao. Why is there so much pride in drafting 13th overall? " I just can't take fans like you seriously. Like if you can't see the insane progress in such a short amount of time idk what to tell you.

And we weren't perpetually tanking. Constantly trading high picks for players & going after big FAs is not tanking. The teams just had bad GMs & bad coaches.

"Next, he didnt say he liked his young goalie, he said hes comfortable with him being the other NHL goalie next year. Thats terrible any way you slice it. And saying captain in that tone suggests he was instrumental to our run to 9th place. He was on the 4th line and often times way too slow and consistently taking offensive zone penalties. We NEED this guy back?"

Were you under a rock these last few weeks? They played him once during a playoff push. They played a 21 year old kid back to back over him. They're clearly not that high on him right now. Also makes no sense to **** on your young goalie. If you were going to move on why would you say that publicly? Why would you say you don't have faith in your young guy to be a backup? Do you want to kill his value even more?

Okposo is literally a fine 4th liner. Any contending team would love him on the roster. His only issue has been his contract. He won't be making 6M anymore.


"That's what makes them unserious. You need to make the tough decisions to make that jump from pretender to contender, and nothing says I have no intention of doing so like making your end of season presser highlights about a goalie who couldnt stop a beach ball, a 70 year old (in hockey years) with cement skates, and unprompted complementing of *checks notes* mike bales? The guy who has been here for the duration of the Sabres worst goaltending in....ever?

He's going to make these decisions in the summer not at a press conference lmao. My god. What do you expect to him to **** on all of his underperforming players and say exactly what moves he's gonna make? Talk about killing your leverage & showing all other GMs your hand.

If you cant take me seriously, why respond? At any rate, the progress in a short period of time is largely the removal of krueger. Most of what the Sabres gained this year came from Dahlin, who was being held back by Ralph. If you wanna credit the jump to anyone it has to be granato, not Adams. if Tage and Dahlin were playing like Krueger was still head coach, this is a lottery team.

The Sabres didnt trade a single high pick. Not a single top 15 pick. I do not know where you are pulling this from. Tim Murray blew his load one summer, that was not a high pick. It just seems that way because he got such poor value.

LMAO you are saying not to read into his presser but you are also saying hes carefully choosing his words to protect his value? What on earth could he possibly say that would swing it either way.

He's not a fine 4th liner. I dont know what to tell you there, any results that line generated were courtesy of krebs and girgensons. Okposo was the golden oldie constantly off side.

I expect him to acknowledge that the roster is his responsibility. Some crappy teams made the playoffs over the Sabres cause he whiffed last summer and waited too long this season. I expect any sort of clear direction for the future. And miss me with the "its been crystal clear this whole time" nonsense. Hoarding draft picks isnt a plan, its what happens when a GM has absolutely no savvy.

Any actual value add from management these last few years has come from Karmanos and the analytics team, who are leaving this summer, book it. Tired of fans being okay with mediocrity, should be demanding better. Deserve better.

7 players in, & 6 players out, seems EXTREMELY unlikely to me
It’s not a video game dude

He didn't say "we definitely need okposo back". Where did you hear that? I heard him say they want Z and Ox back. He said, "it has to make sense for both sides" and "at the right time we'll talk and see where we go"

Go back and listen. It's around the 17:00 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkRq6O4uzBo&t=511s

Never once did he utter anything close to what you quoted him as saying. Check your head.

Ox doesn't even know what he is going to do, but I'm guessing he will re-sign, which is a good thing. This is a young team. They need veteran leadership. Okposo knows this team. He knows how to help guys out. Look how Krebs' game transformed playing with him. I'm 100% OK with Okie coming back for another year. Did you listen to all the players' exit interviews. Everyonone spoke very, very highly of Ox. They didn't need to do that. Ox has earned a ton of respect. EARNED IT.

An unserious org.? No idea what you mean by that.

We've gone from 15 wins to 32 wins to 42 wins over the past 3 seasons. Those are huge leaps. Next year, BUF will be in the playoffs.

Adams literally said they are setting this org up for long-term success and that they are looking to get better. And if you can't see that that is exactly what they are doing, I don't know what to tell you.

LOL. He's the GM. You don't think he knows the roster is his responsibility. He literally said they are building this team to be in the playoffs year after year after year and win a Stanley Cup.

Adams already has his fingerprints all over this roster.

Drafted: Quinn, JJP, Power
Acquired: Jost
Signed: Hino, Anderson, Boosh, Comrie
Traded for: Tuch, Krebs, Levi, Greenway, Stillman

The Tuch trade alone should have given you 100% clarity on the direction of this team. He said over and over and over how he wants players that want to play in BUF. Can't be much more clear about your intentions than that. And then he showed what he meant. Eichel, Reino, Risto, McCabe, Ullmark out.

Trading Joker for a 2nd seems to be trendy here on CF. Why in the world would BUF trade a 23-year-old RHD for a 2nd when we need D-men, especially RHDs? Makes no sense to me.

You need 8-10 D-men. Joker is a good, young D-man.

And I'm not saying, definitely don't trade him, but for a late 2nd? No way. Top-4 RHDs go for way more than that.

I'd include him in a trade for a clear upgrade.

"If you cant take me seriously, why respond? At any rate, the progress in a short period of time is largely the removal of krueger. Most of what the Sabres gained this year came from Dahlin, who was being held back by Ralph. If you wanna credit the jump to anyone it has to be granato, not Adams."

Dude who got Alex Tuch & Krebs in a return for Eichel? Who got Levi & Kulich in a return for Reinhart? Who got Rosen for Risto? Who has drafted Quinn & Peterka? Both of them deserve credit. For taking over a really bad situation and turning it around in a short amount of time.

"The Sabres didnt trade a single high pick. Not a single top 15 pick." When did I ever mention a top 15 specifically? I said high pick meaning 1st rounders. We traded 1sts for Lehner, E.Kane + Bogo, Montour.

I don't know how you can't separate "Don't read into his pressers" & "publicly saying you don't have faith in a player could hurt his value" Like it's not that hard to understand.

"He's not a fine 4th liner. I dont know what to tell you there, any results that line generated were courtesy of krebs and girgensons. Okposo was the golden oldie constantly off side. " He is. He's still solid defensively. I'm gonna laugh when he gets signed by a contender and they win a cup with him on their 4th line.

"I expect him to acknowledge that the roster is his responsibility. Some crappy teams made the playoffs over the Sabres cause he whiffed last summer and waited too long this season. I expect any sort of clear direction for the future. And miss me with the "its been crystal clear this whole time" nonsense. Hoarding draft picks isnt a plan, its what happens when a GM has absolutely no savvy. "

It seems like you have some weird hate boner for him. He gets credit for nothing in your eyes. Every trade / draft / signing has nothing to do with him and everything to do with Granato. He obviously has a vision. You can look how he's assembled the roster & prospect pool with fast skilled forwards. We completely gutted the roster 2 years ago. Now we are very close to making the playoffs with a bunch of kids. That's not whiff. Smart fans can see progress. It seems like you want another Tim Murray at GM.

Actual value is having a GM that listens to his analytics team. That was NOT something past GMs did. He assembled the analytics crew and takes their input seriously.

Here's the thing. I dont even disagree with these points. Nobody can criticize their drafting to this point. My issue isnt even with Adams, it's with fans who are mistaking average to below average GM work with greatness simply because the two GMs before him were so bad.

I have no issue with Adams' track record as a seller. But lets not kid ourselves, these deals arent home runs. Everyone has a huge boner for the Eichel trade but everyone fails to remember that he was basically the best player available in some time. U-25 elite centre under contract with strong draft pedigree? If he didnt get this level of value back he should be sent to the moon. Everyone's just overly impressed because they are so used to murray and botterill goofing like the door knobs they were.

Take a look at what is actually driving the Sabres wins. Thompson, Dahlin and Cozens were already part of the org when Adams showed up. The contract work was A+, but he didnt trade for these guys, they wer already here.

Thats what my main point is about. They are an unserious organization because they arent willing to do what it takes to make the big jump. Everyone is obsessed with how they went from 68 pts or whatever it was to 90, but thats the easy part. It only seems crazy impressive because the previous two GMs botched it so badly. All he's done is not repeated their mistakes. The league is filled with tons of teams who bottomed out and then made the jump to 90 pts. What was NJ last year before they nearly won the division?

He's more interested in cutting costs and stringing fans along than making the tough moves. you can bookmark this page if youd like and come back and tell me how wrong I was in september and I will accept it with grace. But when the big move this summer is connor murphy for a bunch of picks and both levi and UPL struggle next year, please skip the copium and dont give this franchise a dime. Dont accept their mediocirty because its such a step up from the disasterclass of a few years ago.

You are being negative just to be negative.

It's easy to go from 68 points to 90? In what world? Have you ever played in any NHL game before? It's not easy to improve that much in one season. You said "tons" of teams, but then listed one outlier. Under Adams, BUF has gone from 15 wins to 42 wins. Impressive stuff.

This team is on the verge of being great, all under Kevin Adam's watch. Your discrediting of him makes you look immature, or foolish, or naive, but probably many more things.

Cutting costs? Who is cutting costs? Anyone with any knowledge knows that UFAs are grossly overpaid relative to their value.

Making tough moves? Trading Eichel, Reino and Risto weren't tough moves? Again, you're kidding yourself.

I'll come back here next April and tell you how wrong you were. The Sabres are on a clear trajectory up. Crazy how you don't see that.

And to add...it's not just about signings, draft picks, trades, KA has clearly installed a culture. BUF is a fun, exciting team. All th players love playing in BUF and want to fill the seats and win a SC. That's something we have not seen in BUF for a long, long time. ANd most of it is because of KA's vision.

1- no, im bearish on this team because they havent demonstrated any ability to suggest theyll be able to contend with the best teams

2- Yes it is easy lmao. Any idiot can slap together a team that makes a run to 9th. Darcy Regier is retiring off of this. Also, you are completely misrepresenting the facts. Saying he went from 15 to 42 wins make it seem more impressive. Prorated for the shortened season, its 22 wins without their only useful player at the time.

if you are looking for more examples. The leafs went from 69 pts to 95 pts in 2017. The avalanche went from 48 pts to 95 in 2018. Carolina went from 83 to 100. The kraken had 60 pts last year and this year had 100. Stop being overly impressed by Adams being better than two of the worst GMs of the modern era.

Everyone knows the jump from 90 to 100 is infinitely more difficult than the jump from 75 to 90. I was actually giving adams too much credit saying its was 68 pts to 90 it was actually a 15 pt jump.

3- Idk what the ufa bit you are talking about is regarding. The pegula's have imposed an internal cap, this is common knowledge to most fans except the ones on here for some reason.

4- How is trading the best player available a tough move? He got decent value for the biggest prize available via trade in like a half decade. The reinhart and risto trades were solid. Again, i have no issues with his abilities as a seller. Same deal as Regier. He got excellent value as a seller, but didnt know what to do once it was time to make the big moves. its always easier being the seller.

5- you are more than welcome to and I will take it. Thats how confident I am. All I ask is that if I am right you stop with the copium and start criticizing management and ownership deservedly.

6- Everyone is obsessed with KA's vision and they dont realize that its not a vision to say "lets draft better than we used to" thats the bare minimum to being a competent team. They were terrible at drafting before, and the analytics department rescued them. Which is bad news, because Karmanos is probably going back to PIT and taking Ventura with him.

Can't wait to see fans gush over the latest kevin devine screw up. Seriously stop settling for this perpetual climb to purgatory.

What? We're climbing up not down.

1. We're one of the highest scoring teams in the league. That should give you a clue.
2. Again, you're cherry picking a few teams, over 5 years now.
3. The Pegulas don't have a cap. They spend wlly-nilly. Adams is finally stopping them.
4. Trading Eichel was tough. He was injured and disgruntled. And he somehow managed to get a better player in Tuch, plus Krebs, plus a 1st, plus a 2nd. Great move.
5. Yep.
6. That's not his vision. You like making tings up. I told you his vision. He has told you it. Keep ur fingers in ur ears.

It's not cherry picking, i refuse to do your research for you. Do it some time and youll see it happens way more often than you realize. Keep deflecting all you want. They're going to do absolutely nothing this summer.

Haha. Because you can't find anymore. It doesn't happen often. That's why.

Good I hope they don't do anything. I'm happy with the current squad.

Yeah nice try I can actually find plenty but I’m still not doing work for you for free lmao.

Wasted energy, you’re the epitome of appeal to authority for the Sabres. They can clearly do no wrong in your eyes. Enjoy

Haha. I'm very critical. Tey are actually doing it right for once.