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Buffalo Sabres Fire GM Jason Botterill, Hire Adams as Replacement

The Buffalo Sabres have fired General Manager Jason Botterill and replaced him with Kevyn Adams.

The Buffalo Sabres have decided to fire GM Jason Botterill just weeks after confirming he’d be remaining on as the manager of the team. The team wrote on Twitter:

We have relieved Jason Botterill of his duties as General Manager. Senior Vice President of Business Administration Kevyn Adams has been named General Manager.

As the team pays three different GM’s at the same time, it will now be up to Adams to try and turn things around in Buffalo where the team and its players are sick of losing.

Adams is a former player who lasted 11 seasons in the NHL with Toronto, Chicago, Columbus, Florida, Carolina and Phoenix. He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-2006. Before being named GM on Tuesday, he was Sabres’ Senior Vice President of Business Administration. It is not clear if he will remain in that role or if another name will be brought in to help in that regard.

Sabres ownership made the following statement regarding Adams being the new GM:

New General Manager Kevyn Adams and Head Coach Ralph Krueger already have a close working relationship and we are excited to see what they can do together as we reconfigure our hockey operations…We have had the pleasure of watching Kevyn build his post-playing career over the past nine years under multiple roles throughout our organizations. We are confident Kevyn and Ralph will work together to build a consistent contender. As always, we are here to provide the necessary resources…”

This came after Sabres’ owners Terry and Kim Pegula released a statement  regarding Botterill’s being released:

“This morning, we informed Jason Botterill he will no longer be the General Manager of the Sabres. This decision was made after many candid discussions with Jason during a full review of our hockey operation. We recognized we have philosophical differences regarding how best to put ourselves in a position to compete for a Stanley Cup. So, we decided to make this change.”

It news that came an hour or so after Botterill’s release, it was also learned that the team has let go assistant GMs Randy Sexton and Steve Greeley. TSN’s Frank Seravalli writes: “Have to think both will be sought after. When Greeley was hired in BUF, he was considered one of the young, up-and-comers in NHL management circles.”

Why Name a New GM Now?

What’s interesting here is that there really isn’t much of a need to have a general manager at this exact moment in time for the Sabres. With no hockey, no draft, no trades (technically they can, but why would they?), it seems like the team would have been better served to really take their time with this decision.

They must have known Adams was their guy.

Related: Should the Vancouver Canucks Buy-Out Loui Eriksson During the Offseason?

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