Sabres GM Adams makes calling Eichel priority on first day

On the day Kevyn Adams was named general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, the former NHL forward wasted little time in reaching out to captain Jack Eichel.

It was one of his top priorities in the new job, Adams said.

"Had a great call with Jack this morning just to start to talk to him a little bit," he said. "I'm going to start talking to all our players."

Getting Eichel to buy into his vision is a key for Adams, who replaced Jason Botterill on Tuesday after being the Sabres senior vice president of business administration. Eichel publicly aired his frustration three weeks ago when he said he was fed up with losing; the Sabres have had a losing record in all five of the center's NHL seasons.

Buffalo (30-31-8) finished this season 13th in the Eastern Conference (.493 points percentage) and has not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2011, the longest current streak in the NHL. The Sabres would not qualify this season, the ninth in a row, after not being among the 24 teams in the NHL Return to Play Plan following the season pause March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"I'd be lying if I didn't tell you after a few hours on the job that the (to-do) list is long," he said. "You can only tackle one at a time."

Starting with Eichel.

Having grown up near Buffalo in Clarence, New York, Adams said he understands the importance of a franchise player like Eichel to a team, to a city. He recalled the significance center Gilbert Perreault had to the Sabres of the 1970s and used to wear No. 11 during his minor hockey days in western New York in honor of the Hall of Famer.

His passion for the area has never wavered. As a member of the 2006 champion Carolina Hurricanes, he brought the Stanley Cup to his childhood home near the pond where he grew up learning to play hockey while dreaming of being the next Perreault.

"I'm a Buffalo guy," he said. "You'll see me at restaurants. I understand the community and I understand the passion of the fans. That gets me excited."

The promotion of Adams came three weeks after Sabres co-owner and president Kim Pegula said May 26 that Botterill would return next season. She and co-owner Terry Pegula, her husband, said communication issues were at the heart of the move.

It's an area Adams said will be addressed.

"I look at this way," he said. "You have to be open-minded. You have to check any ego at the door. You have to surround yourself with great people. If you don't know the answer to something, I'll say, 'I don't know,' and I'll ask people."

Part of that process will involve reaching out to his peers around the NHL.

"One of the high things on my to-do list is to talk to all the general managers in the League," he said. "A number of them I played for … that's what happens when you get traded a lot."

Another priority: dissecting the makeup of the team with the Pegulas and coach Ralph Krueger.

"I think that's something that Ralph, Terry, Kim and I are going to dive into right away." he said. "Ralph told me we have a roster of players that buy in. ... And as a former player myself, when you have a buy-in with the coach, so many great things can happen. So that's a big piece of the puzzle.

"Now it's us to look at different things. How can we improve? How can we be better on the road? Those types of discussions. What types of pieces to the puzzle do you need?"

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There are nonplayer personnel decisions facing him too. The Sabres announced Tuesday the firings of GM Randy Sexton, coach Chris Taylor and assistants Gord Dineen and Toby Petersen from their American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester.

"We're going to push each other," Adams said. "We're going to be collaborative. We're going to do it together. We're going to be honest. We're going to have great debates about how we get better.

"It's not easy. You're not always going to come out of a room arm in arm. You're going to have to battle through some things. Trust each other and move forward together."

Adams, who played 10 NHL seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Hurricanes, Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks, joined the Sabres in 2009 as player development coach and was an assistant from 2011-13. From there he was a vice president and director of the Academy of Hockey at Harborcenter, a program the Pegulas were assembling for the facility that opened 2014.

"We've known Kevin for nine years and keep jamming him with responsibilities, and he kept rising up the ladder," said Terry Pegula, who said Adams was the only candidate he considered to replace Botterill. "He's a very knowledgeable and passionate person. He's a great communicator.

"This isn't some scattershot decision that we made."