In sports, one moment can stand out as the catalyst of a GM change.

The NBA’s Dallas Mavericks fired GM Nico Harrison on Tuesday after a 3-8 start to the season, but you could say the reason for the move was last season’s blockbuster trade that sent star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. That trade instantly drew the backlash of Mavs fans, and it predictably failed.

In the NHL, however, it's sometimes the lack of a trade that causes people to wonder whether the GM didn't put the team on the right path. That certainly is the case with Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams right now.

The Sabres are already languishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and yet, Adams has been steadfast in support of his core talent instead of adding help on offense. He actually did the opposite during the off-season, trading then-RFA left winger JJ Peterka despite being under team control. His biggest acquisitions since then were depth players Josh Doan, Michael Kesselring and Alex Lyon.

Last season, Adams mentioned it's more difficult to bring star talent to Buffalo partly because it's not a destination city right now, with higher taxes and the lack of palm trees. And while he did trade Dylan Cozens for Josh Norris, that move hasn't panned out so far, with Norris dealing with unfortunate injury issues.

In any case, Adams' decisions haven’t translated into wins. And if things don’t turn around sooner than later, Buffalo fans are bound to rise up in anger and call for Adams to be dismissed.

You can say that’s just public perception, and we don’t know what goes on behind the Sabres’ doors, and that’s true to a degree. But it’s also true that managing public perception is a key duty for every GM in the professional sports industry. And while it’s not fair to ask GMs to make trades simply for the sake of making trades, in this zero-sum business, you’re only as good as your record says you are.

So after a few years of losing, or five in Adams' case, your moves that didn’t pay off, or your decisions to not make certain moves, wind up piling up and giving fans ample reason to call for your head.

NHL Rumor Roundup: Struggling Wild Seeking Help, Sabres' Levi Might Need A Change Of Scenery The Minnesota Wild are reportedly in the market for some scoring depth, while it's rumored that Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi has asked to be moved.

A recent example of an NHL GM who paid the price for a lack of trades is former Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher.

The Flyers hired Fletcher partway through the 2018-19 season, and one season later, they made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But that trajectory didn’t matter much in the big picture, as Philly failed to make the post-season the following three years, and Flyers fans grew restless with the regression they were seeing with their own eyes.

The final straw for Fletcher in Philadelphia came at the NHL’s 2023 trade deadline.

With the Flyers sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, there was an external expectation that the organization would do what many, if not most, teams do and trade away their veteran pending free agents for draft picks and prospects.

When Fletcher couldn’t even move journeyman winger James van Riemsdyk for a low draft pick, he was fired the following week. The team's since been able to look toward the future by bringing in Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, among others, but they could've gotten a head start had Fletcher found any way to trade more of his pending UFAs.

Thus, if a GM loses long enough, their missteps on the trade front – either in terms of the trades you did make, or the deals you should’ve made – will eventually ensure they are sent to the unemployment line. That may not be entirely fair, but it is reality.

And if and when Buffalo parts ways with Adams, it won’t be the first time a GM pays the price for moves they failed to make, and it certainly won’t be the last time.

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