Adams on recent performance: 'It's unacceptable'

Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams expressed anger over the team's "unacceptable" performance during a press conference on Friday.
The Sabres are winless in their past five games and are 2-8-1 since returning from a 15-day, COVID-induced pause on Feb. 15. The team ranks last in the East Division with 15 points.
"It's just flat-out not good enough," Adams said. "I'm angry, and I would hope that all of you are. I would hope that all our fans are because that means you care, and that's a good place to start. But what's going on is unacceptable.
"I'm sure we'll have multiple conversations on this and philosophy in how we get there, but let's just start with we need to be better. I've been empowered by Terry and Kim Pegula to fix this, and that's what I'm going to do."

Adams said he is weighing solutions daily, from the coaching staff to the roster.
"Everything is being evaluated," he said. "[Head coach] Ralph [Krueger] and I talk every day, multiple times a day. We're very honest with each other. He understands the situation we're in is unacceptable and the players do, everybody does. It's just flat-out not good enough."

The Sabres retooled during the offseason, Adams' first as general manager, in hopes of challenging for the playoffs in what figured to be a competitive division. Taylor Hall, the 2018 Hart Trophy winner, was brought in on a one-year deal while veteran center Eric Staal was acquired via trade. Depth pieces to improve defensive play and the penalty kill included Cody Eakin and Tobias Rieder, among others.
The team has been faced with a confluence of factors during the shortened season, including the COVID-19 outbreak that came on the heels of a five-game point streak and further condensed an already tight schedule along with injuries to defenseman Jake McCabe and goaltender Linus Ullmark, among others. Top offensive talents Hall, Jeff Skinner, and captain Jack Eichel have combined for three goals at even strength, leaving the team last in in the league in 5-on-5 goals.
"[I] will not ever tolerate excuses," Adams said. "I won't tolerate the fact that we've had injuries, COVID, adversity. So have other teams. You've got to battle through it, you've got to find a way. And that's it."
Adams, who was an alternate captain on the Carolina Hurricanes team that won the Stanley Cup in 2006, echoed recent comments from Krueger and players that the culture inside the locker room is positive and solutions oriented but added that having a team of high-character individuals is for naught if it does not translate to on-ice success.
"I don't think we've been competitive enough in all areas of the ice," Adams said. "I think we've shown pockets of it, we've shown glimpses at different times but not a consistent hunger and battle and competitiveness through the games.
"To be honest with you, I think the data would back this up, we give up too many Grade A scoring chances, which means we're not hard enough in our defensive zone and we're not creating enough Grade A scoring chances in the offensive zone, which means we're not hungry enough to get to the net and we're not competing enough. That's battle and will, right? So, we have to be better in those areas."
Adams is exploring all potential avenues to upgrade the roster, including at goaltender in the wake of Ullmark's injury. He said general managers have been particularly active despite the fact that the trade deadline is more than a month away due to the potential needs for quarantine periods when acquiring a player.
"It hasn't been good enough," he said. "It hasn't worked. And it needs to."