Adams Chosen as New GM of Buffalo Sabres

Kevyn Adams (Miami) was named the new general manager of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. A product of Clarence, N.Y., Adams has worked in various roles within the Sabres organization since 2009 after retiring as an active NHL player. He won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

After two season of junior hockey with Niagara (NAHL), where he averaged a point per game in 95 outings, Adams, a center, skated four collegiate seasons with Miami (Ohio). He collected 69 goals and 102 assists for 171 points in 151 appearances with the then-Redskins, while also helping them to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance as a freshman in 1993.

Drafted 25th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1993, Adams turned pro in 1996-97 with the expansion Grand Rapids Griffins, then of the International Hockey League, where he scored a career-high 22 goals. He split the next three seasons between the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and their American Hockey League affiliate in St. John's. He recorded a career-high 35 assists and 50 points with St. John's in 1998-99, and in 161 career AHL regular season games registered 38-67—150 points .

Adams played a total of 540 NHL regular-season games with Toronto, Columbus, Florida, Carolina, Phoenix and Chicago, from 1997 to 2008, and notched 59-77—136 points before retiring as a player following the 2007-08 campaign. He twice helped Carolina to the Stanley Cup final, in 2002 and 2006, and scored 16 goals in the regular season and postseason combined in 2005-06 as the Hurricanes claimed their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

Adams, 45, joined the Sabres organization in 2009 as a development coach. After two seasons in that capacity, he served the next two years as an assistant coach with the NHL team before spending the following six seasons as Buffalo's director and youth hockey supervisor. He was then named Senior Vice President of Business Administration in 2019, and was working in that role when he was tabbed as general manager.

Adams also served the last seven years with the Buffalo Junior Sabres (OJHL) as that club's president. In addition, he coached their entry in the 2019-20 Quebec PeeWee Tournament.

Dumoulin Signs with Carolina, Gives Up Last Year at BC

Hours after BC junior forward Chris Kreider signed an entry-level contract with the New York Rangers, classmate Brian Dumoulin did the same with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Both players gave up their fourth and final year of college eligibility after leading the Eagles to the 2012 NCAA championship on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Ferris State in Tampa, Fla.

Dumoulin, who was drafted in the second round (51st overall) by Carolina in 2009, finished his college career with 11 goals and 72 assists for 83 points, and was also posted a plus-90 rating. He was also a first team All-America selection on defense as both a sophomore and a junior, and one of 10 Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists as a junior. He signed a three-year deal with the Hurricanes.

A 6'4", 210-pound native of Biddeford, Maine, Dumoulin had a goal and 22 points as a freshman in helping BC to the 2010 NCAA title, and had a three-assist game in a national semifinal victory over Miami (Ohio) in Detroit. As a sophomore, he recorded a career-high 30 assists and 30 points, and as a junior notched a career-high eight goals to go along with 21 assists.

A solid defender and efficient skater with superb puck-moving skills, a deceptive shot and an exceedingly long reach that help him to disarm opposing puck carriers, Dumoulin registered just 48 penalty minutes in his three years with the Eagles. Four of his goals came on the power play, and three were game-winners.

He tallied the final point of his BC career with an assist on Paul Carey's game-winning goal in the national final against Ferris State. In nine career NCAA tournament contests, Dumoulin notched a goal and four assists, with the goal coming in BC's 6-1 Frozen Four semifinal win over Minnesota on Thursday.

Dumoulin, who starred with the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs prior to enrolling at BC, also helped the Eagles to three consecutive Beanpot Tournament titles and three straight Hockey East Association tournament crowns. He also skated in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, helping the U.S. to a bronze medal in Buffalo.

He is expected to join the AHL's Charlotte Checkers for their Friday game at Peoria, and could be with them well into the Calder Cup playoffs.

More Early Signings - and More to Come

We're not even at the Frozen Four yet, but Division I players with college eligibility remaining have been setting sail for the pros for weeks now.

Boston College lost would-be seniors Cam Atkinson and Jimmy Hayes to Columbus and Chicago, respectively, although I can't say either player's signing was a complete surprise. Atkinson scored 61 goals the last two seasons and is now a Hobey Baker Award finalist, while Hayes just recorded a 21-goal campaign - and is also 6-foot-5 to boot. He's already played a game with the AHL's Rockford Ice Hogs, while both he and Atkinson already had a national championship ring from last season.

The Eagles' sophomore class may not be intact for long, either. It's wait and see if the New York Rangers will come calling for Chris Kreider's services, or if Carolina will try to pry Brian Dumoulin from the BC blueline. Dumoulin has reportedly said he's going back to school next fall, but that probably won't stop the Hurricanes from trying to get his signature on a contract before training camp starts.

Hockey East had earlier lost two rising juniors in Boston University's David Warsofsky and Maine's Gustav Nyquist, who went to Boston and Detroit, respectively, and are now both in the American Hockey League. Warsofsky has already skated in four contests with the Providence Bruins, while Nyquist posted a goal and an assist in his first two games with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

RIT lost junior forward Tyler Brenner to Toronto after he just missed out on a second trip to the NCAA Tournament with the Tigers. The Maple Leafs had earlier signed Wisconsin junior defenseman Jake Gardiner.

The ECAC wasn't immune, either, as junior netminder Allen York chose to go to Columbus after helping Rensselaer to its first national tournament berth in 16 years. Clarkson defenseman Mark Borowiecki said goodbye to a potential senior season in Potsdam and is now in Ottawa's system, as is former Michigan State rearguard Derek Grant, who passed up his last two years in East Lansing and in the CCHA.

It also wasn't an earth-shattering revelation that Stephane Da Costa left Merrimack this week after a pair of 40-plus point campaigns at the NCAA level. The France native inked a deal with Ottawa, and is set to make his NHL debut this weekend. That puts him head of other early signees, most of whom were expected to earn their indoctrination in the AHL. That includes Denmark native and former St. Cloud State defenseman Oliver Lauridsen, who is now with Philadelphia's affiliate in Adirondack.

Denver sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan recently walked away from his last two years with the Pioneers to sign with the New York Islanders, and has since reported to the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Also in Bridgeport is former Mercyhurst forward Phil Ginand, the first NCAA skater to sign early this spring.

The current college hockey season will end next Saturday night. The current silly season, as I call it (with a big nod to NASCAR) has a whole summer - and even autumn - to go.