Rating every trade Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has made in 5 seasons
Adams is approaching his fifth NHL trade deadline with a team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference.
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Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams is more than halfway through his fifth season on the job. He’s approaching his fifth NHL trade deadline with a team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres’ roster isn’t devoid of talent, but there are still major holes and big-time questions to answer as Buffalo tries to end what will soon be a 14-year playoff drought.
One of the main concerns Sabres fans have as the deadline approaches is whether Adams should be the one executing trades that could impact the short- and long-term future of the franchise. With that in mind, this seemed like an appropriate time to look back at every trade Adams has made to assess the job he’s done in that area of the gig. We’ve excluded draft picks, free-agent signings and contract extensions to keep the focus on the deadline.
Trades that have had a positive impact
July 5, 2024: Acquired Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio from the Edmonton Oilers for Matt SavoieThe early returns on this trade have been positive for the Sabres. Ryan McLeod hasn’t been a gamebreaker in Buffalo, but he’s given them solid center play in the middle of the lineup and been a reliable penalty killer. The 25-year-old is on pace for career highs in goals, points and ice time this season and is a potential long-term answer to the No. 3 center spot. How this trade looks long-term will depend on how Matt Savoie develops. He currently has 34 points in 43 AHL games.
March 6, 2024: Traded Casey Mittelstadt to the Colorado Avalanche for Bowen Byram
This trade looks like a win for Adams and the Sabres. Casey Mittelstadt needed a contract extension, and the Avalanche gave him a three-year deal worth $5.75 million per. But despite playing a big role, Mittelstadt has just 32 points in 57 games and is minus-13. Meanwhile, Bowen Byram is on Buffalo’s top defensive pair and has been one of the team’s most consistent players all season. The question now is what Byram’s next contract looks like as he is scheduled to be a restricted free agent after the season.
March 3, 2023: Acquired Jordan Greenway from the Minnesota Wild for a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick
Time will tell whether the prospects the Wild got with these draft picks amount to anything in the NHL, but Jordan Greenway has been a reliable contributor to the Sabres when healthy. He’s a standout on the penalty kill and plays a steady defensive game. He still hasn’t matched his career high of 32 points, though, and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Big trades that have aged poorly
Nov. 4, 2021: Traded Jack Eichel and a 2023 third-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights for Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick (Noah Ostlund) and a 2023 second-round pick (used in the Greenway trade)Jack Eichel won the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights and has become a two-way star at the top of the team’s lineup. When Adams was talking about the challenges of attracting outside talent to play for the Sabres, he brought up the lack of winning, the weather and the taxes. But players around the league also noticed the way the team handled Eichel’s medical situation. It’s not easy to find star talent like Eichel. Trading that player rarely results in a win. Alex Tuch has been terrific for the Sabres on and off the ice, but he’s not on Eichel’s level. And the other pieces of this trade haven’t made enough of an impact to tilt this deal in Buffalo’s favor.
July 24, 2021: Traded Sam Reinhart to the Florida Panthers for Devon Levi and a 2022 first-round pick (Jiri Kulich)
The pieces the Sabres got in this trade look promising. Devon Levi is having another standout season in the AHL, while Jiri Kulich looks like a potential top-of-the-lineup center. Those are two big pieces of Buffalo’s future. But Sam Reinhart is a legitimate star. He’s fresh off a 57-goal season that ended with a Stanley Cup win. Had the Sabres not strung Reinhart along so often in contract talks, maybe he could have been the piece they built around after Eichel’s departure.
April 10, 2021: Traded Brandon Montour for a 2021 third-round pick (Stiven Sardarian)
Brandon Montour was a pending unrestricted free agent, so the Sabres felt the need to get something back for him. Montour ended up breaking out with the Florida Panthers, putting up 73 points in 2022-23 and playing a key role on the Stanley Cup-winning team in 2023-24. He has since signed a contract worth more than $7 million per year with the Seattle Kraken. Stiven Sardarian is having a productive season in college hockey, but he’ll have to make an impact in the NHL to outweigh what Montour has done.
Buffalo traded Taylor Hall just a few months after signing him as a free agent. (Bill Wippert / NHLI via Getty Images)
Big trades that didn’t work out
April 11, 2021: Traded Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar to the Boston Bruins for Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round pick (Aleksandr Kisakov)When the Sabres signed Taylor Hall ahead of the truncated 2021 season, the team released a behind-the-scenes video that showed owner Terry Pegula saying it was a move that signaled the team was pushing for the Stanley Cup. Just a few months later, Hall was out the door for a meager return after scoring two goals for the Sabres. Buffalo would go on to pick No. 1 in the 2021 draft. The Sabres got very little for Hall because of his no-trade protection.
September 16, 2020: Acquired Eric Staal from the Minnesota Wild for Marcus Johansson
March 2021: Traded Eric Staal to the Montreal Canadiens for 2021 third-round pick (Josh Bloom) and 2021 fifth-round pick (Viljami Marjala)
Eric Staal scored just three goals for the Sabres before Adams flipped him at the deadline. This was one of a handful of moves that doomed Adams’ first season with the Sabres and sent them on the path of a full rebuild.
Big trade that could still pay off
July 23, 2021: Traded Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers for Robert Hagg, a 2021 first-round pick (Isak Rosen) and a 2023 second-round pick (Anton Wahlberg)It’s tough to complain about this trade. Rasmus Ristolainen has put together some decent stretches of play for the Flyers, but trading him for a first-round pick was an easy call. The prospects the Sabres ended up getting in this deal haven’t made an impact yet, but they’ve shown promise in the AHL. Ristolainen didn’t fit with Buffalo’s rebuild, so moving him for this haul made sense.
Smaller trades that didn’t make a positive impact
August 18, 2023: Traded Ilya Lyubushkin to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2025 fourth-round pickTrading Ilya Lyubushkin for a mid-round draft pick isn’t an earth-shattering trade, but it feels like a mismanaged asset in hindsight. The Sabres were banking on Erik Johnson, Connor Clifton and Henri Jokiharju providing enough right-handed depth on the blue line in 2023-24. Lyubushkin isn’t a game-changing talent, but he’s plus-13 for the Stars this season and has been on the ice for 52 percent of the expected goals. For a team that lacks physicality, Lyubushkin brought that.
February 27, 2023: Traded Josh Bloom to the Vancouver Canucks for Riley Stillman
Riley Stillman was supposed to bring physicality and toughness to Buffalo’s blue line. But he ended up playing just 18 games for the Sabres during the 2022-23 season and then didn’t make the NHL roster the following year.
June 29, 2024: Acquired Beck Malenstyn from the Washington Capitals for a 2024 second-round pick (Cole Hutson)
The second-round pick was a steep price to pay for Beck Malenstyn. As of this writing, Malenstyn is averaging almost four fewer minutes of ice time per game and is not tracking to match the 21-point season he had last year in Washington. Malenstyn has shown the speed and physicality the Sabres were looking for when they acquired him but Lindy Ruff hasn’t given him a big enough role to make a consistent impact. Meanwhile, the Capitals used the pick to take Cole Hutson, a defenseman who is averaging more than a point per game as a freshman at Boston University this season.
December 6, 2023: Acquired Eric Robinson from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2025 seventh-round pick
Eric Robinson had two goals and nine points in 40 games for the Sabres. He left in free agency and is currently having a career-best season for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Smaller trades that could still help the Sabres
March 1, 2023: Traded Erik Portillo to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2023 third-round pick (Gavin McCarthy)Considering Erik Portillo made it clear he wasn’t going to sign with the Sabres, getting a third-round pick for him was a win. Gavin McCarthy, a right-shot defenseman, has 11 points during his sophomore season at Boston University.
July 28, 2021: Acquired Will Butcher and a 2022 fifth-round pick (Vsevolod Komarov) from the New Jersey Devils for future considerations
Will Butcher didn’t do much for the Sabres (37 games, eight points, minus-10). But he was acquired for free, and the fifth-round pick that was thrown in turned into Vsevolod Komarov, a right-handed defenseman who is developing into a decent prospect for Buffalo.
March 20, 2021: Traded Jonas Johansson to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2021 sixth-round pick (Nikita Novikov)
Jonas Johansson had some decent stretches of play after this trade, but the sixth-round pick became Nikita Novikov, who has already outperformed his draft status and has a chance to get to the NHL.
Deadline dumps
March 8, 2024: Traded Kyle Okposo to the Florida Panthers for Calle Sjalin and a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick; Traded Erik Johnson to the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2024 fourth-round pick; Traded Devin Cooley to the San Jose Sharks for a 2025 seventh-round pickGetting a fifth-round pick for Kyle Okposo is better than nothing. But that the captain of the team spent a good chunk of the season plotting his exit may have contributed to the Sabres’ inability to meet expectations that season.
Recouping a fourth-round pick for Erik Johnson was a nice piece of business, but signing Johnson and banking on him to solidify the defensive depth was a swing and a miss.
Devin Cooley is now in Calgary’s organization and having a great season in the AHL.
Inconsequential deals
March 3, 2023: Traded Rasmus Asplund to the Nashville Predators for a 2025 seventh-round pickMarch 2, 2023: Traded Anders Bjork to the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations
June 10, 2022: Acquired Ben Bishop and a 2022 seventh-round pick (Linus Sjodin)
from the Dallas Stars for future considerations
March 20, 2022: Traded Robert Hagg to the Florida Panthers for a 2022 sixth-round pick (Gustav Karlsson)
November 4, 2021: Acquired Johnny Boychuk from the New York Islanders for future considerations
Draft-pick trades
2024 Draft: Traded a 2024 first-round pick (No. 11) to the San Jose Sharks for a 2024 first-round pick (No. 14) and 2024 second-round pick (No. 42)The San Jose Sharks used this pick to take Sam Dickinson, a defenseman who has 20 goals and 59 points in 38 OHL games this season. The Sabres took Konsta Helenius, who is currently in the AHL, and Adam Kleber, a defenseman for the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Acquired a 2024 third-round pick (Brodie Ziemer) from the Colorado Avalanche for a 2024 fifth-round pick (Maxmillian Curran) and a 2024 third-round pick (William Zellers)
The Sabres felt strongly about moving up to draft Brodie Ziemer. The early returns look promising, as Ziemer was a key leader for Team USA’s gold-medal-winning team at the World Juniors.
Acquired a 2024 fourth-round pick (Simon-Pier Brunet) and a 2024 seventh-round pick (Ryerson Leenders) from the Winnipeg Jets for a 2024 fourth-round pick (Kevin He)
2020 Draft: Sabres acquired the 2020 second-round pick (No. 34) from the San Jose Sharks for a 2020 second-round pick (No. 38) and 2020 fourth-round pick (No. 100)
The Sabres used this deal to move up and select JJ Peterka, who has become a productive winger for them in the NHL. He had 50 points last season and has 41 points in 52 games this season. That was worth the price paid to move up a few draft slots.
