Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Scott Laughlin and Mike Futa on the Buffalo Sabres and if GM Kevyn Adams will be the guy to steer that ship beyond this season.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Futa: “I guess my biggest issue with it is if you don’t, if you’re not sure that he’s going to be the general manager at the end of the year, and this is kind of we’ve gone through this at length, I guess, as Toronto Blue Jay fans, do you want him making those decisions on such critical pieces?
Because we’ve seen, Elliotte, was just the list of players that they’ve moved on from that are staring in other places. You got to be real careful about which piece you move on from.
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Laughlin: “Yeah, you’re absolutely right about that, Mike, and that’s the fear as a general manager, too, right? I mean, you’ve been in that position before, at a couple of different levels, and you get to call the shots.
And when you’re talking about potential, potential of players and guys that have been drafted in whatever draft, and you’re thinking, You know what, what if Jack Quinn gets moved out and all of a sudden he becomes that 40 goal marksman? We don’t get enough back in return for him, and we certainly don’t get the turnaround in the present, in the short term that we’re looking for and hoping to see. Then, of course, you’ve got egg on your face, and you know, maybe you’re long since out the door anyway, and that’s the problem the external manager to kind of go and figure out,
Like, what if Dylan Cozens becomes a 30, 35 goal scorer and can supply a little bit of grit and those sorts of things as well? We’ve seen many teams get burned by moving young players out, who just all of a sudden they were the right time in the right place, with a new team and a new situation, with a new system and a head coach that gives them an opportunity, and it backfires on the team that move them out. And all of a sudden you’ve got some explaining to do.
So I think it’s a real interesting time for Kevyn. And you’re right, look, if he’s going to be the general manager beyond this season, then you give him the keys to the kingdom, and you just keep on doing what you’re doing.
If you’re thinking about making a change, maybe it is sooner rather than later, in the case of Terry Pegula that this actually does happen. But we’ll wait and see. It’s a real, real tough situation for Kevyn to be and I’m guessing, just because of the fact that you want to, you want to turn things around, and you feel like you’re, what, six points into a playoff spot right now. So you’re, you’re really not out of it, not yet anyway.
So go get something done to put yourself back, more seriously, into the mix and push up the standings a little bit. While at the same time again, you run the risk of moving at a young player and, and having it come back to haunt you down the road.
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So, again, weighing the short-term pain for the long-term gain feels like we’ve been talking about, Buffalo sabers from that standpoint for about the last decade or so.
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