The Vancouver Canucks have been granted permission to interview Kevyn Adams for their vacant general manager job, opening a new search window for a former Buffalo Sabres executive who was fired in December.
Adams was let go after five and a half seasons in charge of the Sabres, and Vancouver needed Buffalo’s approval because he still had time left on his contract. The Canucks’ interest comes as they try to fill a front-office vacancy and weigh a candidate whose work in Buffalo is being judged very differently now than it was in December.
When the Sabres dismissed Adams, the team was 14-14-4 and tied for last place in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo then went 36-9-5 after his firing, won the Atlantic Division and ended a league-record 14-season playoff drought, a late surge that changed how some of his roster-building moves are viewed.
Adams was hired in 2020 without much prior experience in hockey operations and without Buffalo conducting a general manager search. Before that, he had spent one season as the team’s senior vice president of business administration, run Harborcenter and the Academy of Hockey in Buffalo, and served as an assistant coach under Lindy Ruff during Ruff’s first stint with the Sabres. In that hybrid role, he worked with both the coaching staff and the front office.
Terry and Kim Pegula then elevated him after firing Jason Botterill in June 2020, and Adams’ first day on the job included firing more than 20 people in the organization. His run in Buffalo also produced some hard edges. Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart wanted out within a year of his hiring. But the Sabres have also seen a solid draft record and a roster that includes Owen Power, Zach Benson and Jack Quinn, while JJ Peterka and Matt Savoie are producing elsewhere after being traded.
That mix leaves Adams as a candidate with a complicated résumé rather than a clean one. His recent deals for Ryan McLeod, Bowen Byram and Josh Doan have aged well, and his 11 years in the NHL for six different teams give him a broader playing background than many front-office applicants. Vancouver’s next move will show whether that is enough to make him more than a name in a search that is still taking shape.
