[The Buffalo News] Questions et réponses des Sabres : le directeur général Kevyn Adams sur l’augmentation du plafond salarial, le poste de capitaine et la préparation pour le match d’ouverture

1 Comment

1. seeldoger47 18 heures ago

   > BN: What’s your reaction to Commissioner Gary Bettman confirming Tuesday at the NHL Board of Governors that current revenue projections have the league on track to raise the salary cap ceiling to $92.5 million?

   > KA: I think of two things when I hear it. One, the league’s in a good place. The cap goes up when the economics are in a good place, so that’s always an encouraging development. For us, we’ve certainly over the last two years been forecasting and projecting where it will go to, and where our own contracts are at. If you’re signing a longer-term contract, you have to be really disciplined because you have to make sure that you can fit all of the pieces together.

   >BN: How may this impact your approach to signing your important players who are scheduled to be restricted free agents next summer: Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Bowen Byram and Devon Levi?

   >KA: Every situation is different. If you look back to where we were three years ago, we identified some of the core, and we needed to be aggressive. We had to make sure we were setting the foundation, and build off that. You have a precedent you set in certain ways with contracts you’ve done in the past, but you have to approach each one differently because one player’s circumstances is going to be different than another.

   > BN: Can you walk me through the process of selecting Rasmus Dahlin as team captain?

   > KA: Over the last couple of years, watching Rasmus on and off the ice, the maturity you could see him playing with and his natural leadership was coming out. His competitiveness, the way he was pushing in practice, even. You could see it over the last couple years. Then, when we were going through his negotiation last year when he signed his extension, one of the questions I asked him was, « Do you envision yourself as the captain of your team someday? » You never know how a player is going to answer that question, because everyone is different. He made it very clear that it was very, very important to him and something that he wanted really badly. So, I think this has been a progression over the last few years, and then, as we got into the summer, he and I were talking a lot. We talked about the team, what he thought we needed, we golfed and spent the day together. It felt like this was the right time. (Coach) Lindy (Ruff) didn’t really know him yet, so I wanted to make sure that Lindy got to a spot where he felt comfortable, which, obviously, he did, and that’s why we decided to wait until camp. It’s exciting, and it’s something that he’s certainly earned.

   >BN: What’s your reaction to where this team is with only two days to go until the season opener?

   > KA: I’ve really liked the mindset of the group from Day One of training camp, and they want to be pushed. They’ve been dialed in since the moment they first stepped on the ice. Practices have been intense, fast-paced, purposeful. Talking to some of the players, they’ve loved how hard and competitive it is, but they know it’s for a reason. The practices are detail-oriented and working on things that are going to translate into helping us win hockey games.

   >BN: Do you get the sense that the players are enjoying the changes to practices and how they’re preparing for games?

   > KA: They love it. I felt at the end of last season that I know we’re talented, but how do we push each other? They were looking for guidance there. They’ve been open to the challenge, which I’ve liked, a lot.

   > BN: There is due diligence before signing or acquiring new players, but what have you seen them bring to the group now that they are here and weeks into camp?

   > KA: If you go back to the summer, after the season ended, and we hired Lindy, got the coaching staff set, we set out to decide what is the next step. We determined that we needed speed, size, physicality and buying into playing a certain way. Really focusing on that bottom-six group. (Jason) Zucker, he can play up and down your lineup. He can really play anywhere from your first to fourth line. He’s a good pro. He’s a team guy, which goes a long way. (Sam) Lafferty, (Beck) Malenstyn, (Nicolas) Aube-Kubel, they’re at a great spot in their career where they’re still at a good, younger age of being in their prime, but they’re experienced enough to know how they need to play, and they love it. Sometimes, if a guy is on your fourth line, but feels he should be on your second line, it doesn’t work. If you get guys who completely buy in to what they’re doing and how they need to play to help the team win, that can go a long way.

   >BN: Do you envision McLeod being a chess piece where Lindy can move him to the wing if you’re in a pinch during a tight game or put him out there to take a faceoff while another center is on the ice?

   >KA: One of the things we put a lot of value in is versatility. We felt that we had a hole after trading Casey (Mittelstadt), and we needed to address it. He clearly fit what we were looking for, and I love his versatility. You can put him on the wing, he kills penalties, he’s got great speed and he’s experienced now. He just went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and, our players, you feel that. He’s fit right in. He’s pushed the guys in practice, and I like that. Our newer guys, they’ve come in and been part of it. It feels like they’ve been here forever.