Mike Harrington: Lindy Ruff is making Kevyn Adams build his roster his way
What were the 1999 Sabres about? Or the 2006 team? Or the 2007 team? It's always been confusing what Kevyn Adams has tried to build, Mike Harrington writes.
The war room in Highmark Stadium was foreign to just about everybody except owner Terry Pegula and Buffalo Bills/Sabres dual COO Pete Guelli. The recently hired duo of Jarmo Kekalainen and Eric Staal were key newcomers to the Sabres group. General manager Kevyn Adams and assistant GM/top scout Jerry Forton were running the show for the NHL draft as usual.
But one thing was clear since Thursday, both from the moves that were made and even some of the 18-year-olds that were drafted: Lindy Ruff’s voice might have been the biggest in the room.
The Sabres have plenty of big players on their NHL roster. Look at Tage Thompson, Owen Power, Alex Tuch, Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin. They had too many smallish prospects getting drafted high. They have had too many soft players in spots, too many unreliable players in others. They needed more right-handed defenseman.
Ruff was no big fan of JJ Peterka and the feeling was apparently mutual. Ruff was no fan of Connor Clifton either. (I demur here: Clifton was too unreliable on the ice but a lock in front of a tape recorder.)
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams discusses the team’s NHL draft picks on Saturday. Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
It’s no coincidence Peterka and Clifton are gone. It’s no coincidence that Michael Kesselring and Conor Timmins are here. You think Ruff wanted another forward or 6-foot-6 Czech defenseman Radim Mrtka? How do you think Ruff feels about 6-5 blueline bruiser David Bedkowski from Owen Sound?
What did Ruff think when Bedkowski, who was mature far beyond his years, said he was “a heart-and-soul guy, loyal to the soil”? Bedkowski said being drafted by the Sabres was an “out-of-body” experience. I got a couple of texts from junior watchers who said Bedkowski will be perfect for this organization because he’s so nasty, which is completely different than what they have.
Ruff has to love stuff like that.
For the last 10 years, ever since Tim Murray drafted Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel in the wake of the tank, the Sabres have wanted to kill opponents with skill. We know how it’s failed. You can’t get that picture of Thompson on the ice in February after getting KO’d by New Jersey’s Stefan Noesen out of my mind.
I guarantee you Ruff can’t. It’s why you seriously wonder if Samuelsson can stay on this roster.
“It’s not about ‘outskilling’ teams. It’s about outcompeting teams with skill,” Adams said. “That’s for me, what I want to see: More hard compete with skill and guys that will do anything to win.”
I was 10 feet away from Adams when he said that. It was almost as if he was parroting Ruff. What were the 1999 Sabres about? Or the 2006 team? Or the 2007 team? It’s always been confusing to me what Adams has tried to build, given he lost in the ‘99 playoffs to Ruff’s club while with Toronto, beat the Sabres in ‘06 in Carolina and even coached with Ruff for a spell in the 2010s.
Where did Adams lose touch with those kind of teams?
After a miserable 79-point season − and with everyone’s jobs squarely on the line − it feels like Ruff has said enough is enough after being back for 14 months.
“What Lindy does a really nice job of in the scouting room around the draft time is ... paint the picture to our guys exactly what is going on in the NHL right now, and the type of players that he sees having success,” Adams said. “So when our scouts are debating or challenging each other on this guy versus guy, sometimes Lindy has a perspective that I think is really important.
“I also think that Lindy has so much respect from Jerry and his staff that, the things he says go a long way. He’s an important voice in the room. He’s counted on in a lot of different ways, more than just coaching.”
Forton, who I think continues to do a terrific job running drafts for this franchise, also sounded like Ruff when he seemed to make the point the Sabres have to learn from the way the Florida Panthers play. Never mentioned them by name, but we know who he was talking about. Even talked about drafting playoff-style talent.
Although admitting there could be some recency bias, Forton admitted, “We watched the way the playoffs are played. We don’t expect that to go away anytime soon. We obviously want to be a playoff team in the near future and for a long time here.”
The Sabres’ social media team understandably likes featuring Ruff, too. They did it again Saturday, perhaps with unintended consequences in a routine video of a Ruff phone call welcoming Timmins to the organization.
Timmins, a Sabres fan from St. Catharines whose family has an Ontario cottage with a view across the river from KeyBank Center, was pumped. Ruff seemed happy to have him, too.
Sleuths on X noticed something else.
Defenseman Bowen Byram, checking Flyers left winger Jakob Pelletier during a game in April, might be on his way out of Buffalo heading into restricted free agency. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Behind Ruff was a whiteboard. Names on it were somewhat blurry but it looked like “Clifton” and “Byram” were in one color and “Kesselring” was in a different color.
The video was deleted by the team. Hmmm.
Owen Power, meet your new partner. Put it in ink right now for the opening day of training camp in September, opening night in October and well beyond. This was the Sabres' No. 1 need heading into next season and it's filled, Harrington writes.
Bowen Byram, of course, seems to be on his way out of town heading into restricted free agency. He might be the only good asset the Sabres have left to bring in a top-6 forward to replace Peterka. But he’s a former Stanley Cup champion. My thought is try to get him to sign short term to play alongside Dahlin for another year or two and see where this roster goes.
But there are several teams out there poking around Byram and the Sabres are listening out of necessity. Could you get a Byram deal for a top forward like Los Angeles’ Quinton Byfield? Or St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou? And is a move for Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust dead now that the draft is over, or does that one come to life again Tuesday, when Rust’s no-move clause expires?
Adams talked about how there will be “reset” points on the market, one being the end of the draft and another being in the July 2-3 period after the July 1 free agent frenzy ends. Remember, the Sabres got Ryan McLeod from Edmonton on July 5 last year. Rosters aren’t all done on Tuesday. And training camp isn’t until September.
This is Ruff’s last chance. It’s everybody’s last chance. You can tell he’s made it clear, probably all the way up to Pegula, that he’s going to get his way on a lot more decisions this season.
