“We Want to be Harder to Play Against” | Kevyn Adams Following the 2024 NHL Draft | Buffalo Sabres

“We Want to be Harder to Play Against” | Kevyn Adams Following the 2024 NHL Draft | Buffalo Sabres

hello everyone good yeah that’s certainly something we’ve talked a lot about this offseason uh identifying players that uh check some boxes in terms of physicality um hard to play against I mean he’s a big 6′ three LED their team in hits um penalty killer as well character guy but um when he hits he hits hard and we’ve been uh we’ve been looking at ways to just you know obviously physicality is one part but just be harder to play against um and he’s certainly someone that brings that every night and um that was a big need that we came to this off season and looking for and we were excited to get him back well I can tell you that um Seth ater as this discussion was going on over the last um few days said that uh you know in the American Hockey League he had teams were scared to play against him you know he he was clearly someone when he stepped on the ice um had a lot of respect and a lot of room and and I think just the way he performed last year and was able to bring that element into the National Hockey leading a team and hits you know um says something just about the consistency of it especially you got Tom Wilson on the team and you know I just think it’s it’s an area that he understands his role and plays it well why do you think that just the price tag second round for guys restricted agent what I guess that to be theost well I think you know anytime you’re you’re acquiring a player um that is well-liked on the other team there’s going to be a price to pay um for us you know it goes it comes down to um when we made the the trade back with 11 to pick up the extra asset which was um you know 42 now we had 42 and 43 in my mind we were going to you know shop it as hard as we could to find you know what we were looking for in some way and that that’s what we were able to do so um you know you certainly make one trade with another trade in mind potentially um but in saying all that if a trade doesn’t go through you know you have a pretty good asset but um it was it was an area of need and and that was the price that we were definitely worth paying is Z still considering you yeah we’re I mean we’re down to the the last uh hours here so he’s someone that uh I’ll be you know connecting with here in the next 24 hours and you know you get to this close understand where he is in his career but we’ve we’ve kept the Communication open and we’ll see where it goes yeah I think so you know especially when you’re looking at the bottom six of your forward group for me personally I like that there’s elements that they bring and then if you have someone that can be more than just a five on five guy I think it really helps you know so now you have the physicality of someone that’s going to get in and have a presence but also if you can have a penalty killer um be part of that I just think it adds um so yeah that’s part of that’s part of why we’re willing to give up a good asset to get him just thinks and we like his age and we like the ability for him to um hopefully be with us for a while this isn’t a player that could just be you know in and out of Buffalo if if it’s a if it’s a good fit both ways he we can have him for a while and I just think the character part matters too which um certainly the due diligence checked those boesens from an analytic standpoint might not look pretty so how do you guys really dive into hisame to make that he’s a it’s a great question l i mean part of our process we go through you have you have the scouting side and then you have the analytics side and as you said they don’t always match um our from The Scouting perspective the pro Scouts pounding the table for the guy this guy is an a player that’s direct hard finishes checks and not just finishes checks but finishes checks hard and there was a real um need for that in my opinion as I’ve said a few times now and so then you flip to the analytics side and and maybe you go into the discussion thinking that it wouldn’t be as good but actually our our guys um were were pretty excited about this player so which which then just gives you more information and more Comfort um especially giving up a good asset you spoken to him I have we had a great talk uh spoke to him minutes after the trade was official and you know and I I’ve been there trust me as a player sometimes you’re a little shocked and he couldn’t have been more excited and uh more on board and knows some players on our team likes our team and was ready to go uh which part you mean for our roster just the overall draft Yeah I think um we came into this draft with a couple goals in mind um and I when I say draft you know let’s say draft week um just the whole as you lead into the next couple days as well we wanted to make sure that we got our list right and we added Talent into the organization and der Jerry’s done a phenomenal job with the with the amateur staff of just making sure that we’re we’re putting ourselves in the best spot especially with some of the value picks that I think we we were able to do and make some trades today and move up down and all that um so yeah we I think we did a good job in terms of really um even adding to our already you know good depth in the prospect pool um adding a player that we felt that really fit what we were looking for um was also something that we were hoping to do or player or players um you know we were aggressive last night in different ways that if if it made sense which we were trying to do to help a roster that was out there as well but teams weren’t you know comfortable making the moves that we were hoping that we could do so now you you will continue conversations tonight and into tomorrow on some different things that we have that are still out there a little bit and also you turn your attention quickly to okay now you leave the draft we had things that we were working on um now you go to the if there’s free agents that we’re looking at um that we think can help us in the ways that we’re need then we’re going to go after those guys um and that’ll be the conversation that we’ve already had but now leading into the next 24 hours as a staff like okay where are the guys at the top of the list um for what we need um and so it’s the the off season still incomplete you know there’s still time to to do different things and that’s what we’ll go to work on in the next few days here how much well you can still make trades right so it’s not like it it’s a it’s not like a trade deadline where things just are over so um there’s still things we’re working on on that front that we’ll continue to pursue um that that were kind of independent from the draft um but yeah it’s there there’s free agents that and never when I say free agents they’re guys you think we’ll be there on July 1st they could still sign before um with their teams before uh July 1st so we’ve tiered it we’ve done the work um internally um we’ve we’ve prioritized exactly what we’re looking for the needs um right from forwards through the organization um D and goal endings so um now we’ll just we’ll go after it and it’s always a little um unsure you know because has to be a match we have to we have to um put our best foot forward in terms of free agents and they have to want to be in Buffalo and um we got to make it work but that’s what we’ll do um in the areas that we think we need to add I mean it’s part of the CBA I’m I’m certainly open to it um never never in my mind is it something you should rule out I think they’re tricky because uh typically they’re going to get matched and you know so what are you really accomplishing but if we thought it was um a move we could do that would help us uh make our team better we’ll do it no it’s uh we initiated the process um today so it’s a stepbystep process so um that’s that’s yep uh started that that process was started uh early this morning and um you know that’ll Mark Jackowski even be better in terms of specifics on and just the timeline of it but um that was started and that’s our intention to move forward all right thanks guys

Buffalo Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams spoke to the media following the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. Adams discusses the team’s mindset going into the draft and what they were targeting. He talks about the trade for Beck Malenstyn and gives and update on Jeff Skinner’s contract situation.

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