TONY’S TAKE – THREE THOUGHTS ON JARMO KEKALAINEN
- Tony Fiorello
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
by Tony Fiorello
On Monday the Buffalo Sabres announced they had fired sixth-year general manager Kevyn Adams and replaced him with senior advisor Jarmo Kekalainen, making him the 10th person ever to hold that title for the team.
Kekalainen, the Finnish-born ex-GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets (and the first European to hold the title in league annals), led the team for parts of 12 seasons with five trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team’s four best point totals in their history and one playoff victory – a sweep over the then-record setting Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 – on his resume. Hired in May, Kekalainen bided his time until owner Terry Pegula canned Adams following yet another disappointing start to the season.
While there’s no guarantee how Kekalainen will pan out at the helm of the Sabres’ front office, here are three thoughts from this corner on his hiring:
KEKALAINEN KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING
Unlike Adams, who infamously had no experience working in an NHL front office before he got the job, Kekalainen comes to Buffalo with a wealth of experience – making him the first man to be hired to the position having been a general manager previously since Scotty Bowman in 1979 (and just the third in franchise history along with George “Punch” Imlach). He began his career as a European scout for the Ottawa Senators in 1995-96 and eventually was promoted to director of player personnel in 1999 until he left for the St. Louis Blues in 2002 to become their director of amateur scouting.
Kekalainen was elevated to assistant general manager of the Blues before the 2005-06 campaign and expanded his horizons from just concentrating on the draft to having responsibilities in pro scouting as well. He also served as assistant general manager for Finland at the 2014 Winter Olympics, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, and will serve in a major role again for his country at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
HE'S A SOLID DRAFTER OF TALENT
Kekalainen’s record at the draft table is pretty good. He’s been involved in the drafting of such notables as Martin Havlat, Jason Spezza, David Backes, Lars Eller, Erik Johnson, T.J. Oshie, David Perron, Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen, Ben Bishop, Zach Werenski, Pierre-Luc Dubois (who he notably selected over consensus pick Jesse Puljujarvi in 2016), Vladislav Gavrikov and Kirill Marchenko.
In addition to early round picks, he’s also nailed draft picks in the third round or later – something the Sabres have struggled to do for many years. In Ottawa he had a hand in picking successful NHLers like Chris Kelly (third), Ray Emery (fourth) and Brooks Laich (sixth) and with St. Louis names such as Lee Stempniak (fifth), Roman Polak (sixth), Bishop (third) and Ryan Reaves (fifth) have had nice careers. In Columbus where he had final say over the roster, he selected Elvis Merzlikins (third), Oliver Bjorkstrand (third), Keegan Kolesar (third) and Gavrikov (sixth). That would be a welcome sight for Buffalo.
JARMO HAS “BIG ONES”
Another thing the Sabres’ new head honcho has that Adams didn’t is a willingness to make headline-grabbing transactions. In Columbus, Kekalainen wasn’t afraid to make big moves as he acquired the likes of Seth Jones, Artemi Panarin, Patrik Laine and Matt Duchene via trade and was able to woo the late Johnny Gaudreau to the Blue Jackets as a free agent a few years ago. He’s also hired some competent coaches – Kekalainen and Todd Richards worked reasonably well together for a few years and John Tortorella was easily the most successful bench boss the franchise had.
Not all his moves worked out – Brad Larsen and Pascal Vincent were underwhelming behind the bench and the hiring and subsequent firing of former Stanley Cup-winning coach Mike Babcock in the summer of 2023 was a disaster – but at least Buffalo’s new boss has the intestinal fortitude to make bold decisions, something this franchise has been lacking for quite some time.