The Buffalo Sabres made headlines Tuesday morning by announcing that General Manager Jason Botterill has been fired along with Assistant GM’s Randy Sexton and Steve Greeley. The team has named Kevyn Adams as the new General Manager.
Later in the day the organization also fired the entire Rochester Americans coaching staff of Chris Taylor, Gord Dineen, and Toby Petersen. More on the Amerks firings:
There’s little that I could write about the firing of Botterill, Sexton, and Greeley that hasn’t been written elsewhere (which I’ll link to below). From the Rochester Americans side of things, this management group had done more for the franchise in focusing on a winning team than any prior management group since the Sabres returned to Rochester. From day one there was a focus on improving Rochester in order to improve Buffalo. Things improved in Rochester but they never improved in Buffalo.
In case you missed any news throughout the day here’s a number of sources below:
“This was somebody that has been part of our organization in multiple roles and that we’ve come to know and respect.”
Kevyn Adams is the new Sabres GM. More on why he was the only candidate:https://t.co/jRQZS4tGPd
— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) June 17, 2020
“We felt like we weren’t being heard.”
The Pegulas’ voices came through loud and clear with a Sabres bloodletting that shook the NHL for its size and scale. https://t.co/KKUOVjsh5d
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) June 17, 2020
Statement from Sabres Owners Terry and Kim Pegula. pic.twitter.com/np3SzkdDXq
— Sabres PR (@SabresPR) June 16, 2020
Longer story: Disconnect with Pegulas costs Jason Botterill job as #Sabres GM:https://t.co/pZS6FDnl8H #Sabres50 #Buffalo pic.twitter.com/bDuDMEUA4A
— Bill Hoppe (@BillHoppeNHL) June 17, 2020
My latest column at [BN] Hockey: On another dark day for the #Sabres, Terry and Kim Pegula don’t offer a lot of real answers. https://t.co/KhJFlfZ8fT
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) June 17, 2020
Updated story on the mass firings by the Sabres. Jason Botterill, his assistant GMs and amateur scouting director Ryan Jankowski are gone.
It all began with a directive to make hockey ops “leaner.”https://t.co/MXPCswMlBw
— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) June 16, 2020
Pegulas end up in another unwinnable position of their own makinghttps://t.co/5MR1Y84J3F
— Tim Graham (@ByTimGraham) June 17, 2020
Big news out of Buffalo this morning as the #Sabres announce the firing of Jason Botterill and the hiring of Kevyn Adams. @wolfebltd has more. https://t.co/etxWlmnycC
— Die By The Blade (@diebytheblade) June 16, 2020
Taped this quickie podcast 5 hours ago. Even then, did not realize the scope of changes. Close to 30 people, right down to the Hockey IT guy. Quick calls, some as little as 20 seconds. Obviously, there will be more info over the next few days. https://t.co/WKL6MvEwWV
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 17, 2020
