Snapshots: Montour, Barbashev, Coyotes
The Buffalo Sabres have a new GM and need a new identity for their team, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be throwing away assets this offseason. Speculation has run rampant lately that the team will leave Brandon Montour unqualified after the defenseman’s up-and-down start with the organization, but when GM Kevyn Adams was asked about it today he told reporters including Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News “that’s definitely not something we’ve talked about.”
The 26-year old defenseman will require a $3.525MM qualifying offer in order for the Sabres to retain his rights as a restricted free agent and is eligible to argue for an even bigger raise in arbitration. Montour has 28 points in 74 games since coming to Buffalo in 2019 but hasn’t quite turned into the top-pairing option they were hoping for. Remember that if Montour opts for arbitration, he can force his way to UFA status in 2021 with a one-year contract award.
- The St. Louis Blues lost Vladimir Tarasenko when he left the bubble today, but are getting back one of their important bottom-six names. Ivan Barbashev has cleared the quarantine protocols after returning from the birth of his first child, meaning he can be inserted back into the lineup by head coach Craig Berube. The Blues were able to tie their series against the Vancouver Canucks, but have been noticeably missing the physical presence that Barbashev provided last year when he led all players with 87 hits in the postseason.
- The Arizona Coyotes are holding onto the postseason by a thread after being dismantled by the Colorado Avalanche last night, but could still be missing two of their most important forwards when they start game five. Head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider that Conor Garland didn’t practice today and is “uncertain” for tomorrow’s match. The same can be said about Nick Schmaltz, who is still recovering from the hit he took in the exhibition from Ryan Reaves. Schmaltz, the team’s leading scorer during the regular season, hasn’t played a single game in the postseason.
Reactions To Sabres’ Front Office Changes
If there was any doubt as to why Jason Botterill lost his job as GM of the Buffalo Sabres, Terry and Kim Pegula have more-or-less cleared it up. The Sabres owners felt their voices weren’t being given proper weight by the former administration, thus prompting yesterday’s changes, per The Athletic’s John Vogl. Presumably, the reason the Pegulas decided to stay in-house with their next GM was because they believe that, in Kevyn Adams, they have found someone who will act on their input. What exactly that means, of course, is unclear. With half the scouting department and both assistant GMs jettisoned along with Botterill, it should be much easier for the Pegulas to have their voices heard. By the time they’re done making personnel decisions, they may be the only ones left in the room with Adams. Let’s check in on some other reactions to Botterill’s firing…
- The front office moves made by the Sabres yesterday were clearly made with the goal of having a leaner management team to lead the organization through the pandemic crisis, per Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Neither assistant GM is likely to be replaced, and the Pegulas aren’t interested in hiring a team president either. The Pegulas are moving forward with the gameplan of “Effective, Efficient and Economic.” While the alliteration certainly works for a slogan, there’s a one-track quality to the Pegulas new motto that seems fixated on finances (which, if nothing else, is properly alliterative). That’s reasonable for a business owner, to a point, though it’s also fair to wonder in this circumstance if the kind of penny-pinching that’s in store for the Sabres will be detrimental to their rebuilding efforts. Of course, according to Kim Pegula, the Sabres aren’t rebuilding. Among the other things the Sabres aren’t doing: winning plaudits from the hockey media and winning games on the ice. What exactly they are doing, only the Pegulas seem to know.
- The thinking from many around the NHL is that it takes approximately five years to see whether a GM’s team-building strategy is working, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. By that standard, the Pegulas keep turning off their movie little more than halfway through. Previous GMs Tim Murray and Jason Botterill each got three years at the helm, enough time to make progress, for sure, but perhaps not enough time to see a championship program actualized. New GM Kevyn Adams has been with the organization for nine years, so that should help him get a head start, but the program wasn’t his until yesterday – the clock starts now. How much time he’ll get to build a winner in Buffalo remains to be seen, but if history is to provide us with clues, he better act fast.
Sabres Move Quickly, Stay In-House For Next GM
News broke this morning that Buffalo Sabres ownership had changed course and decided to fire GM Jason Botterill less than a month after confirming him in his role. The Sabres have been relatively trigger happy in the past with leadership roles, evidenced by the fact that Botterill’s predecessor Tim Murray is still on the books until the end of this month, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
At least for the next couple of weeks, the Sabres will be bankrolling three different GMs – but the one that matters most now is the new guy: Kevyn Adams. Botterill’s replacement isn’t actually all that new, as he is the Sabres’ current Senior Vice President of Business Administration. Adams originally came to the organization in 2009 as a player development coach before joining the bench an assistant coach from 2011 to 2013, writes NHL.com’s Jourdon LaBarber. Adams is a former player who lasted 11 seasons in the NHL with Toronto, Chicago, Columbus, Florida, Carolina and Phoenix. He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-2006.
On the promotion of Kevyn Adams to GM, ownership said this: “New General Manager Kevyn Adams and Head Coach Ralph Krueger already have a close working relationship and we are excited to see what they can do together as we reconfigure our hockey operations…We have had the pleasure of watching Kevyn build his post-playing career over the past nine years under multiple roles throughout our organizations. We are confident Kevyn and Ralph will work together to build a consistent contender. As always, we are here to provide the necessary resources…”
It’s a little surprising to see a replacement named so quickly, especially given that the Sabres don’t expect to take the ice again for quite some time. One would think that now would be the perfect time for an exhaustive search for the perfect candidate. If nothing else, the Sabres could have used this opportunity to gain insight into rival organizations through the interview process, as is common practice with this type of hire. Evidently, Sabres’ ownership felt they had the right candidate in-house already.
Adams will presumably be expected to hop-to and show ownership notable improvement. In his favor, the team is already on an upward trajectory, and Adams should have plenty of time to get his house in order prior to the draft and offseason. If the Sabres miss the playoffs next year, they’ll have tied the longest playoff drought in league history.
Sabres Fire GM Jason Botterill
The Buffalo Sabres have relieved General Manager Jason Botterill of his duties after three years in the role, per a team release. Senior Vice President of Business Administration Kevyn Adams will take over as Botterill’s permanent replacement.
The move comes as a bit of a surprise as we’re just three weeks removed from ownership announcing a plan to keep Botterill in his role. Botterill joined the Sabres as a respected hockey mind from the Penguins organization.
Sabres’ owners Terry and Kim Pegula released a statement this morning with the news, reasoning the change thusly: “This morning, we informed Jason Botterill he will no longer be the General Manager of the Sabres. This decision was made after many candid discussions with Jason during a full review of our hockey operation. We recognized we have philosophical differences regarding how best to put ourselves in a position to compete for a Stanley Cup. So, we decided to make this change.”
The statement goes on to thank Botterill for his time with the Sabres. During his three years span, Botterill signed star Jack Eichel to a long-term contract (8-years, $80MM), but the Sabres failed to finish higher than 6th in the Atlantic Division. This season, they finished 25th overall, just one spot out of the 24-team playoff. They haven’t reached the postseason since the 2010-2011 season – the longest active postseason drought in the NHL.
More changes could be afoot for the Sabres, as Botterill’s firing did not happen in a vacuum. Wholesale changes are being made to the Sabres’ hockey operations department. Assistant GM Randy Sexton as also let go by the club, per the Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. Steve Greeley was another casualty, tweets Frank Seravalli of TSN Sports, though Seravalli thinks Greeley and Sexton should have no trouble catching on with another organization.