Kevyn Adams stands behind the players’ bench with a Buffalo Sabres hat pulled over his head. He is watching the players very intently, almost as though he is looking for something. What that is, only he knows.
Adams, however, is not just a fan watching the team at their training camp scrimmage. He holds the title of Development Coach for the Buffalo Sabres; the very team he grew up cheering for.
“It’s very exciting. I grew up here and grew up a big Sabres fan…It’s great to come back here and join Lindy [Ruff, Sabres head coach] and the coaching staff,” he says with enthusiasm.
It is easy to see where his love for the game comes from. Adams had a long, rewarding playing career in hockey, which included 8 full seasons in the NHL. He never spent any of his playing career with the Buffalo Sabres.
He spent most of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes. It was during his five seasons playing in Carolina where the biggest highlight of his career came. In the 2005-2006 season, the Carolina Hurricanes surprised seemingly everyone and won the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup.
“…when you win the Stanley Cup, no one can take it away from you,” he says, his voice sounding more excited as he speaks, “…knowing that my name is on that Stanley Cup anytime I see it or see pictures of it just gives me chills,” he says, as his voice is almost trembling from the excitement of that moment in time.
Still, despite the thrill it brings him, Adams does not seem to be one to live in the past. Now that he is working for the Sabres after retiring from playing in 2008, he is ready to bring his experience and knowledge to the organization to help the team reach the peak of the hockey world that he was able to get to in 2006.
“It really takes a group of unselfish players…It’s really easy in professional sports to get caught up in your contract and get caught up in who’s putting up numbers,” warns Adams. “You really have to get a group of guys who buy into what’s best for the team…and you have to have good chemistry…Even then it’s hard! I think it’s the toughest championship to play for.”
Now, Adams will be able to help teach those lessons to the team. Not only that, but as development coach, he helps the players work on their individual skill. His experience is what will help make him an experienced teacher to the players.
“A lot of what I do is teaching,” Adams says of his position. The other coaches will work with the team as a whole; working on plays, systems, and pre scouting the other teams for upcoming games. Adams, on the other hand, works individually with the players on their skills. He does a lot more one on one work than some of the other coaches.
So, despite the fact he’s coaching a scrimmage squad, he is still watching as a teacher. Picturing him as a teacher is easy as he talks to the players as they come off the ice, informing them about what they are doing wrong and letting them know what they are doing right. With training camp just beginning, a new season is on the horizon.
“It’s time to get back to work,” Adams says, sounding just as determined as a player. “It is our responsibility to put the plan into place.” He is referring to acting on the team’s game plan night in and night out, hoping to reach the top of the hockey world once more, this time as a teacher and a leader.

If I had decided to jerk off instead, I probably wouldn't be paying child support...