The Buffalo Sabres are reportedly considering replacing GM Kevyn Adams. Will veteran advisor Jarmo Kekalainen get the job, or can the Sabres bring in a more successful executive?
As per a report by The Athletic, the Buffalo Sabres are having internal discussions about replacing GM Kevyn Adams.
The Sabres have won two games in a row on their current road trip, but they had lost three straight games prior to that, and they still sit in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 13-14-4 record.
Thus, it’s hardly surprising that Buffalo ownership would be contemplating a regime change. But the question now is, who will be Adams’ replacement?
The easy answer is Jarmo Kekalainen, who has been serving as a senior adviser to Adams since May. Kekalainen spent 12 years as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. With due respect to Kekalainen, he doesn’t have much NHL success on his resume.
Why, then, would he be the right choice? Simply because he’s close to the seat of power at the moment? That doesn’t sound like a surefire recipe for success to us.
To be sure, hiring a retread like Kekalainen shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion. Perhaps the Sabres make him the interim GM to navigate his way through the rest of the regular season, then revisit a list of candidates in the summer. There’s really no rush to hire Adams’ replacement, so a few more months of Kekalainen would essentially give him an audition for the job.
But if there’s no material change in the makeup of the Sabres by the end of the year, why not cast a wide net and see what’s out there? That’s what the New York Islanders did when they fired icon Lou Lamoriello and replaced him with rookie NHL GM Mathieu Darche, and the Islanders (with some good draft fortune from the hockey gods) are having a strong season with a strong future.
By waiting until the off-season to hire a permanent replacement for Adams, the Sabres would be wise to see what other options there are for their GM job.
Maybe it’s someone like former Montreal Canadiens GM and current Los Angeles Kings executive Marc Bergevin. His experience running the Canadiens didn’t include a whole lot of success, but Bergevin is respected around the league, and as a senior advisor to current Kings GM Ken Holland, Bergevin would welcome the chance to run a team again.
Or perhaps the best candidate would be someone like Darche – someone who doesn’t have experience as an NHL GM, but who has aspirations to do so.
Now, it’s probably unlikely Buffalo ownership wants someone who is a rookie GM, as they’d gone down that road before with former GM Jason Botterill, with no solid results to point to.
The Sabres have to weigh several factors when deciding on an architect for the next 5-to-10 years, and that’s where ownership comes into the mix. Buffalo owners Terry and Kim Pegula have shown they can pick the right GM when it comes to the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, but they haven’t been able to do the same with their hockey team. If that doesn’t change with Adams’ replacement, there needs to be a serious conversation about the future of this Sabres team with the Pegulas paying the bills (pun intended).
That said, it certainly appears that the Adams Era in Buffalo is careening toward an end. He’s had more than five years to stick the landing, and he failed to do so. And now, with this possible incoming big change in the Sabres' front office, we’re likely to see big changes coming for the Sabres’ roster.
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