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12/15 13:49 CST Sabres fire general manager Kevyn Adams and promote Jarmo
Kekalainen to replace him
Sabres fire general manager Kevyn Adams and promote Jarmo Kekalainen to replace
him
By JOHN WAWROW
AP Hockey Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) --- The Buffalo Sabres fired general manager Kevyn Adams on
Monday in a move made 2 1/2 months into his sixth season, with the team sitting
at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and already in jeopardy of
extending its NHL-record playoff drought to a 15th year.
The decision was made by team owner Terry Pegula and announced in a press
release.
Adams' replacement was already with the team in Jarmo Kekalainen. The former
Columbus Blue Jackets GM was hired by Adams in June to serve as a senior
adviser. The 59-year-old Kekalainen is from Finland and was the NHL's first
European-born GM in spending 11 years in Columbus before being fired in
February 2024.
"We are not where we need to be as an organization, and we are moving forward
with new leadership within our hockey operations department," Pegula said. "We
are dedicated to building an organization that is competitive year after year,
and we have fallen short of that expectation."
The decision to fire Adams comes despite the Sabres enjoying their first
three-game winning streak of the season, following a 3-1 victory at Seattle on
Sunday night. Buffalo returned home after splitting a six-game road trip and is
now off until hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Adams has been criticized for mismanaging the team's assets, inability to
secure a franchise goalie, and failure to address a leadership void that
continues to linger on a team that's finished last in the overall standings
four times and no better than 19th during its playoff drought.
Under Kekalainen, the Blue Jackets reached the playoffs five times and set a
franchise record with 50 wins and 108 points in 2016-17. He previously held
executive roles with the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators. Kekalianen also
spent three years as general manager of Jokerit in Finland's top professional
league and worked with the Finnish national team program.
"It is a great honor to be named general manager of the Buffalo Sabres," said
Kekalianen. "I am humbled to be the steward of this team and look forward to
experiencing the passion that Sabres fans bring to every game."
Adams' missteps also include second-guessing himself for failing to make a
roster move to help spark the team during an 0-10-3 skid last season that
essentially knocked the Sabres out of contention before Christmas.
Adams entered this season on the hottest of NHL seats and with reportedly two
years left on his contract.
He long ago fell out of favor with Sabres fans, who began chanting "Fire Adams"
so often the team elected to not introduce the GM as traditionally happens
during Buffalo's season opener in October. Last year, fans brought blow-up palm
trees to games in response after Adams lamented the difficulty he had
attracting talent to Buffalo because the city has high taxes and no palm trees.
Adams took over in June 2020 and following a last-place finish launched a major
rebuilding plan that led to the team trading its top players --- highlighted by
the deals that sent Jack Eichel to Vegas and Sam Reinhart to Florida. After
showing signs of development, and Adams proclaiming the Sabres competitive
window opening, the Sabres have instead regressed over the past two seasons.
Buffalo went from finishing with 91 points and one win from ending its playoff
drought in 2022-23 to 84 points the next season and 79 last year.
This season, the Sabres (14-14-4) are are once again struggling with
consistency in the first half of their second season under coach Lindy Ruff,
who is back for a second stint in Buffalo. The Sabres have spent much of the
season hovering at .500, have been competitive at home (9-5-2) but have
struggled on the road with two of their five wins coming in regulation.
This wasn't the plan Adams laid out in closing last season by saying everything
was on the table to turn the Sabres into competitors.
He opened this season with: "We need to win. And I'm fully aware of that."
Adams, with input from Ruff, spent the summer adding grit at the expense of
offense by trading two-time 20-goal-scorer JJ Peterka to Utah to acquire
forward Josh Doan and hulking defenseman Michael Kesselring. The deal has had
middling results. While Doan ranks second on the team with 10 goals and third
with 23 points, Kesselring has been limited to playing just nine games due to
injuries.
Another trade that has yet to pan out involved Buffalo and Ottawa swapping
top-line centers, with the Sabres acquiring talented but injury prone Josh
Norris for Dylan Cozens in March. Norris appeared in just three games before
aggravating an oblique injury last year, and is limited to just six games this
season.
Adams has mismanaged Buffalo's goaltending position, starting with losing Linus
Ullmark to free agency in the summer of 2021 after saying he was assured by the
goalie he'd re-sign with the team in March. The Sabres have had 11 goalies
start at least one game since.
The Sabres are now on their fifth GM since Darcy Regier was fired a month into
the 2013-14 season.
Adams is from Buffalo, and a former NHL forward, who won a Stanley Cup title in
2006 with Carolina over his 10-season career.
He had no front-office experience and held a business role with the Sabres when
replacing Jason Botterill in June 2020. Botterill's firing was deemed a
cost-cutting move, with Adams purging much of the team's hockey infrastructure
as the NHL dealt with the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic.
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