The Buffalo Sabres have made a change at general manager. In is Jarmo Kekalainen of Tampere, Finland and out is Kevyn Adams. The managerial change was expected for quite sometime in New York state. Earlier in the season, Sabres fans voiced their displeasure with the team’s general manager with chants of “Fire Adams.”
The general managerial change in Buffalo comes at a time when the Sabres have actually won three games in a row. During that stretch, the Sabres have beaten the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime (on a game winning goal by Alex Tuch of Syracuse, New York), the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on December 11, and the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on December 14.
Where are the Sabres in the standings?
Buffalo is last in the Eastern Conference with 32 points. They are tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Sabres’s comment from Owner and President Terry Pegula
“We are not where we need to be as an organization, and we are moving forward with new leadership within our hockey relations department. We are dedicated to building an organization that is competitive year after year, and we have fallen short of that expectation.”
Kekalainen’s resume
Kekalainen is 59 years old and was the general manager of the Blue Jackets from 2013 to 2024. He made National Hockey League history as the first ever European-born general manager. In that time, the Blue Jackets missed the playoffs six times, but did win their only two playoff series in franchise history. Columbus swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in four games in 2019, and then beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto three games to two in the qualifying round in a dramatic five game series when the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs were in the Canadian bubble.
Kekalainen was initially hired as a Sabres senior adviser to Adams on May 30. The goal in Buffalo will be to change the team’s culture and find a way to get the Sabres into the playoffs. Remember this is a Sabres franchise that has not seen any postseason hockey since 2011. That is 14 consecutive seasons without a postseason game.
Kekalainen’s playing career
Kekalainen played 55 games in the National Hockey League from 1989 to 1994. He played two seasons with the Boston Bruins from 1989 to 1991, and one season with the Ottawa Senators in 1993-94. In 55 games, Kekalainen had five goals and eight assists for 13 points. He was a -6 with 28 penalty minutes, one game-winning goal, two power-play points and 37 shots on goal.
The game-winning goal came on October 20, 1989 in a 3-0 Bruins win over the Edmonton Oilers. Kekalainen scored from John Carter of Winchester, Massachusetts at 9:46 of the first period to open the scoring.
