Former Miami RedHawk, Stanley Cup champion, and now General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres, Kevyn Adams '96, answered our questions about Miami, what his experience meant to him and how his time at Miami brought him to where he is today.
Q: As a Miami Merger, how does it feel to keep Miami in the family with your daughter beginning her sophomore year this year?
A: It has been incredibly special. Miami is such a special place for my wife and I. When our kids were younger we always thought it would be really cool if one of our kids attended Miami. Sure enough our oldest, Emerson, is there. She is a part of the acapella group, the Misfits, and a member of Chi Omega. She is fully engaged in the Miami community and loves every second of it. It was surreal dropping her off her freshman year at Hepburn Hall, which is where I lived for three years.
Q: When you reflect on your time at Miami, how did your teammates and coaches influence you to become who you are today?
A: It is something I think about often. They were very impactful. It was a huge adjustment for me as a 17 year old, but I was embraced by my teammates. They looked after me and taught me a lot, how to put the work in not just on the ice, but in the weight room too. I give a lot of credit to Chris Bergeron as he was the senior captain my freshman year. He was my big brother. I took a lot of the lessons I learned and took them through my journey for the rest of my life.
Q: As a teammate of Miami head coach Chris Bergeron, how did it feel to see him be named the head coach of your alma mater back in the spring of 2019?
A: Chris and I are very close, so I was extremely excited for him and his family. I know Miami and Oxford means a lot to them. I could not have thought of a better person to lead Miami’s hockey program in Chris Bergeron. He is everything Miami is and he will put the program where it needs to be and I have all the confidence in the world in him.
Q: While you were at Miami the hockey team made its first appearance to the NCAA tournament and won the CCHA conference title in the 1992-1993 season, what moments from that season stand out the most?
A: It was a really special group. Thinking back on that season, I don’t think anyone expected us to be as good as we were. We played with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and we believed in each other. We had a lot of good players, and it was an incredible group. I think back so fondly on those days. I am very proud of that team. I remember clinching the league and hugging on the bench after winning the game against Lake Superior.
Q: Do you feel that your team at Miami shaped you to accomplish being the 25th overall pick in the 1993 NHL draft?
A: There is no doubt. Our team had great success and I was in a position to succeed. I was someone who continued to get better throughout the year. Guys like Chris Bergeron made such an impact on me and shaped me at 17 years old that took me through my NHL career
and still to this day. I have no doubt in my mind that if I didn't have those experiences at Miami on and off the ice that it would have definitely been a different journey for me.
Q: What was making the transition from a professional athlete to working for a professional organization like?
A: It is interesting. As anyone who goes through a career in professional sports you learn a lot as you go. You start to think about what you will do when you are done playing. I think that for me it has been about learning, growing, surrounding myself with good people and doing things the right way. These are all lessons I learned at Miami. I am a firm believer in being where your feet are. Whatever job you have at that moment, you give everything you got, wake up and put the work in while doing your best. If the next door opens, you knock it open and go on to the next challenge. That is the way I have always tried to live my life, and this all started with my experiences at Miami.
Q: How did your time at Miami as a student-athlete help guide you down the path to get to where you are today as a general manager of a NHL organization?
A: As a student-athlete at Miami you have an expectation in the classroom just as you have one on the ice or on the field. I respect that a lot about Miami. You have to learn time management, accountability and how to fit everything you need to fit in and have success. You can’t make excuses, you have to get it done, whether that was in the classroom or on the ice. I learned that at a young age at Miami and it is similar to my role now. As a general manager of an NHL team, you have to get up everyday, figure out what is most important, what you are going to do to be better than the day before, how to challenge the people around you and how to listen to the people around you to help them make you better. These are things I do on a daily basis in this role that is an extension of my time at Miami and my career playing.
Q: After just over a month of your new role as the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, what are your top priorities that you are working on?
A: It has been an interesting 6-7 weeks since I started as the general manager. Part of it has been prioritizing what the biggest focus is right now. For me it has been started internally. That has been talking to our coaches a lot and understanding what their thoughts are on players. It has been talking to our players. It has been working with our internal staff and having meetings to be sure we are set up the right way.
For the hockey fans, there is a new collective bargaining that was just agreed upon. Now it’s digesting the new CBA and what are the nuances that may change, how we manage a salary cap, and putting the roster together while being mindful of where we are at financially the salary cap.
That is where you go back to doing things one at a time. You focus and prioritize. You need to be smart enough to realize you have to have great people around you because there is a lot of work to do. Delegating and making sure we are doing it the right way together and being collaborative. These are the types of things that are staples for success, whether it is a sports organization or a business. Then it is living it and doing it everyday. It becomes a way of life.
