The Buffalo Sabres parted ways with General Manager Jason Botterill today as they begin preparations for next season. Botterill was named Sabre’s General Manager in 2017 but failed to turn around the fortunes of the team as they have now failed to reach the playoffs since 2010-11 season. Owners Kim and Terry Pegula released the following statement in regards to the firing:
“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. We wish Jason and his family all the best moving forward, and we thank him for his time and energy devoted to our organization and to the City of Buffalo.”
The Sabres didn’t waste any time in naming a replacement with Senior Vice President of Business Administration Kevyn Adams stepping into the role effective immediately.
“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 the benefit of this long 2020 pause to take time to reorganize and re-energize our hockey department. We recognize the importance of this offseason with so many player decisions to be made.
“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.
“Our fans deserve better, and we are all tasked with the burden to improve and provide them a consistent, contending team for years to come.”
24-Team Playoff Format
The news comes as a surprise considering the Sabres seemed to support Botterill earlier in the summer with owner Kim Pegula telling The Associated Press in May: “He’s our GM. Our plan is to continue with him.” Dimitri Filipovic of the PDOcast summed it up perfectly with the following tweet:
Sabres since last game:
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) June 16, 2020
•Didn’t take care of employees
•Paused “super yacht” construction
•Announced they’re keeping GM
•Rasmus Ristolainen labelled “core player”
•Tried to call Lawrence Pilut’s bluff about going to KHL but had no leverage.. so he just left
•Fired GM
