The Buffalo Sabres this afternoon fired general manager Kevyn Adams, ending a five-and-a-half year tenure in which he failed to build a playoff team. Jarmo Kekalainen, who had been serving as a senior advisor to Adams since late May, was named the new permanent GM.
Kekalainen, 59, spent 11 years as GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets before being let go in 2023-24.
Right now, the Sabres, who an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, sit in eighth place in the Atlantic Division and 15th place in the Eastern Conference, six points out of the last wild card spot.
On Sunday, they reached .500 by beating the Seattle Kraken 3-1, their third straight victory after beginning their six-game road trip with three consecutive losses.
Still, that hot run wasn’t enough to save Adams’ job.
Adams, 51, took over as GM in June 2020 having never worked in an NHL hockey department. He did, however, play 10 seasons in the NHL.
Following a brief stint as an assistant coach with the Sabres from 2011 to 2013, owners Terry and Kim Pegula hired him to run the new Academy of Hockey at LECOM Harborcenter.
Adams’ work impressed them so much that in 2019 they named him the Sabres’ senior vice president of business administration. Then they stunned the hockey world by firing GM Jason Botterill and naming the Clarence native as his replacement.
After some early success rebuilding the Sabres – they came within one win of making the postseason in 2022-23 – they regressed.
“I would like to thank Kevyn for his dedication and loyalty to the Buffalo Sabres,” owner Terry Pegula said in a statement. “He has been a reliable presence, and we are appreciative of his enduring care and commitment. I personally wish him and his entire family all the best.
“We are not where we need to be as an organization, and we are moving forward with new leadership within our hockey operations department. We are dedicated to building an organization that is competitive year after year, and we have fallen short of that expectation.”
Kekalainen took over the Blue Jackets in February 2013 after spending three seasons as GM of Jokerit in Liiga, a Finnish league. Before returning home, the Finn served as assistant GM and director of amateur scouting for the St. Louis Blues and director of player personnel for the Ottawa Senators.
In the late 1990s, the Finn served as GM of HIFK, a Liiga team, while also scouting for the Senators. He led the Blue Jackets to their four highest point totals in franchise history and to five of their six playoff appearances. In 2019, they upset the Tampa Bay Lightning, who tied an NHL record by winning 62 games, in the first round of the playoffs.
“The hiring of Jarmo was the result of an extensive search process in which Jarmo stood out as our top choice for the senior advisor position,” Pegula said in a statement. “Jarmo has distinguished himself over the last eight months, and his experience, professionalism, and drive speaks for itself. I am looking forward to him leading our organization to the next level.”
Kekalainen is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in KeyBank Center.
Check back for more on this developing story.