Sabres announce Jarmo Kekalainen Hired as Senior Advisor

[Thorny]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

What I was waiting for 

Ok, so we can all agree that if we make the playoffs next year, credit goes to Jarmo, and Kevyn still gets re-assigned? If so, I’m back in

Not rhetorical someone please answer 

[LGR4GM]

Jarmo Kekalainen is the most experienced person Terry has ever hired. More than Murray, Botteril, Adams, Karmanos, Forton. 

[nfreeman]

This is an interesting and, I think, an encouraging move.  JK's track record isn't great -- in 10 full seasons as CBJ's GM, they made the playoffs in 5 of his 1st 7 seasons, but only won one round in total, then missed the playoffs the next 3 seasons, then he was fired during the next season.

Still, JK is a real NHL GM with real experience.  And he's someone from outside the organization.  And FWIW, he had a number of obstacles in Columbus that were difficult to overcome -- i.e. losing Panarin and Bobrovsky as FAs, Laine's injury, etc.

He's also almost certainly the Sabres' next GM unless they magically don't stink next season.

Good move by KA, if it was indeed his move.

[That Aud Smell]

I am stoked.

Jarmo is the most qualified FO person the Sabres have had since ... Darcy?

[shrader]

I think the comments on reporting to Adams are a bit overblown. This isn’t a position where Adams is going to be ordering him around. He’s a sounding board… “hey, maybe you should hold out for a little more than just a second round pick”.

[darksabre]

They must be paying him sooooo much money to be KA's #2. 

[Thorny]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Jarmo Kekalainen is the most experienced person Terry has ever hired. More than Murray, Botteril, Adams, Karmanos, Forton. 

Combined  

[dudacek]

12 minutes ago, Weave said:

I am not convinced this brings any meaningful change to the image and perceived competence of this organization, but what the hell, its something.

I don't know that it's about perception, so much as it's about knowledge.

This challenges two of the biggest concerns about the front office construction: that it is full of rookies and that it is an echo chamber

Dude has been around forever, knows everybody and done it all.

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

I think the comments on reporting to Adams are a bit overblown. This isn’t a position where Adams is going to be ordering him around. He’s a sounding board… “hey, maybe you should hold out for a little more than just a second round pick”.

Agree. I think Jarmo is as likely to take over as GM if the team is good as if they are bad. Adams has a proven track record: 78 points. If we make the playoffs, the variable is Jarmo 

[Mr Peabody]

Did KA hire his successor for an eventual transition to P0HO?  I thought the advisor to GM was merely a rumor but obviously not.  If the former,  this makes sense to ensure a smooth transition and prevents a ‘new guy’ from playing cowboy and blowing everything up. 

[dudacek]

I'm not really going to put too much emphasis on JK's track record as a GM right now; he's not here to steer things, or initiate them.

His role right now is to say "have you thought of this?", "why are we doing that?", "let me talk to ?, he knows..." and "Did you know..."

Edited Friday at 03:12 PM by dudacek

[That Aud Smell]

8 minutes ago, shrader said:

I think the comments on reporting to Adams are a bit overblown. This isn’t a position where Adams is going to be ordering him around. He’s a sounding board… “hey, maybe you should hold out for a little more than just a second round pick”.

Good point. We all know about Terry's fondness for the horizontal management structure.

8 minutes ago, darksabre said:

They must be paying him sooooo much money to be KA's #2. 

Lol. My guess is that he plans to become the GM in fairly short order.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

I'm not really going to put too much emphasis on JK's track record as a GM right now; he's not here to steer things, or initiate them.

His role right now is to say "have you thought of this?", "why are we doing that?", "let me talk to ?, he knows..." and "Did you know..."

How do you say "that's a ***** stupid idea" in Finnish?

[DarthEbriate]

I had never been all that impressed with his Columbus teams. But I do appreciate that when he knew Bobrovsky was leaving and he had at least an OK squad, he said, "It's now or never: punch it!" and traded for Duchesne and Dzingel. And they swept the Lightning and lost in 6 to Boston.

And they had some players that would've been good contributors that the Sabres need more of: Zucker-like.  The Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinksy, Nick Foligno types that kept them afloat.

[dudacek]

5 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Agree. I think Jarmo is as likely to take over as GM if the team is good as if they are bad. Adams has a proven track record: 78 points. If we make the playoffs, the variable is Jarmo 

 

1 minute ago, Mr Peabody said:

Did KA hire his successor for an eventual transition to P0HO?  I thought the advisor to GM was merely a rumor but obviously not.  If the former,  this makes sense to ensure a smooth transition and prevents a ‘new guy’ from playing cowboy and blowing everything up. 

 

I think this makes sense, and its why Jarmo took the job; there's opportunity for career advancement elsewhere if the team improves, and here if it improves or falters.

It may even be something that's been openly acknowledged, but even if it's not, it's definitely in the backs of people's minds.

[LGR4GM]

Just now, dudacek said:

 

 

I think this makes sense, and its why Jarmo took the job; there's opportunity for career advancement elsewhere if the team improves, and here if it improves or falters.

It may even be something that's been openly acknowledged, but even if it's not, it's definitely in the backs of people's minds.

Also he lives in Columbus and went to Clarkson, so it's not a crazy life change. 

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I think this makes sense, and its why Jarmo took the job; there's opportunity for career advancement elsewhere if the team improves, and here if it improves or falters.

It may even be something that's been openly acknowledged, but even if it's not, it's definitely in the backs of people's minds.

Move is only interesting to me if he’s scheduled to take over in light of success and not just failure 

Making the playoffs and it being used to cement Adams place as GM is a bad thing 

[dudacek]

I'm also once again reminded of how tight the Sabres seem to be in terms of gossip.

There were no reports from the usual sources they were talking and the only place this came up in the rumour mill was on those stories that listed all the former GMs that were out there.

The biggest buzz I heard about this move was on here when somebody pointed out a while back that Jarmo was following the Sabres, the Jackets and no other NHL teams on Twitter.

[Thorny]

Following Marino on twitter was a pretty big tip off 

[Thorny]

Chad also theorized last summer Adams could he “bumped up” to president or whatever with his successor as GM brought in to learn the ropes, so if that wasn’t a total guess, could be the plan now

tbh I wouldn’t be shocked shocked if Adams is moved up before the season starts 

Edited Friday at 03:26 PM by Thorny

[French Collection]

Just now, Pimlach said:

Looks like a hire that can replace Adams as GM at any time.  

I like the fact that there are guys in the organization who have GM experience (Jarmo) and front office experience while being considered for GM jobs (Karmanos). Jarmo just made TP hiring Forton for GM less likely.

[DarthEbriate]

In the event that someday a couple years from now, Jarmo is Sabres GM, and they make the playoffs -- and either Terry or a sportswriter or tv talking head or a Sabrespace poster gives credit to Adams for the roster he assembled that Jarmo is just the benefactor of...  we all agree now to immediately shoot them down.

[Taro T]

48 minutes ago, Thorny said:

What I was waiting for 

Ok, so we can all agree that if we make the playoffs next year, credit goes to Jarmo, and Kevyn still gets re-assigned? If so, I’m back in

If the goal is getting rid of Adams, personally expect the "best case" is barely missing the playoffs this year which then results in Kekalainen taking over as either GM or PoHO as Adams is offered a role running one of Pegulas non-professional sports team ventures (likely going back to Harborfront if he can accept the obvious demotion).

If they make the playoffs, they aren't changing a thing (although Ruff likely rides off into the sunset as he's getting kind of old for this ####) though could see some of the AGMs deciding they want to see if there is more upward mobility in other organizations as pretty sure all their contracts are on the same timeline as Adams'.

Don't really know how this all plays out now.  But yeah, expect Adams is on a very short leash.

 

And, while there's a lot that's impressive about Jarmo's resume, have a hard time getting past the only 1 trip to the 2nd round in 10 years and IIRC they got swept after sweeping the juggernaut Bolts that year.  They ran the momentum of that game 1 comeback through that round but couldn't sustain any of that momentum beyond that.

But, at the end of the day, the FO is now better than it was a couple of days ago.  So, will take encouragement from that.

And yes, Adams has ties to Carolina's management and Seattle's and he talks often of speaking to others around the league; Jarmo should have way more connections than Kevyn has because he's done that job for 10+ years in C-bus and had FO experience with 2 other teams prior to that.  So, hopefully this helps on the trade front.  And he DID convince Gaudreau to sign with C-Bus, so he has been successful at least once in convincing a star player to play for a team most of the league avoids like the plague.  Which after 14 years ...

 

EDIT: Actually, thinking a bit more on it, maybe this is the precursor to giving Adams that bump up to PoHO that we expected should they have not screwed the pooch last year PROVIDED they do make the playoffs.  Maybe?

Edited Friday at 03:34 PM by Taro T

[Taro T]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I'm not really going to put too much emphasis on JK's track record as a GM right now; he's not here to steer things, or initiate them.

His role right now is to say "have you thought of this?", "why are we doing that?", "let me talk to ?, he knows..." and "Did you know..."

And hopefully, and IMHO even more importantly, to say "have you ACTUALLY spoken to _____ (within the Sabres organization)?  Wtf is he responsible for x?  He's a f'n (pick whatever derogatory term doesn't trigger you)."  And then see to it that Adams &/or Pegula end up altering that person's responsibilities.

[Thorny]

5 minutes ago, Taro T said:

If the goal is getting rid of Adams, personally expect the "best case" is barely missing the playoffs this year which then results in Kekalainen taking over as either GM or PoHO as Adams is offered a role running one of Pegulas non-professional sports team ventures (likely going back to Harborfront if he can accept the obvious demotion).

If they make the playoffs, they aren't changing a thing (although Ruff likely rides off into the sunset as he's getting kind of old for this ####) though could see some of the AGMs deciding they want to see if there is more upward mobility in other organizations as pretty sure all their contracts are on the same timeline as Adams'.

Don't really know how this all plays out now.  But yeah, expect Adams is on a very short leash.

 

And, while there's a lot that's impressive about Jarmo's resume, have a hard time getting past the only 1 trip to the 2nd round in 10 years and IIRC they got swept after sweeping the juggernaut Bolts that year.  They ran the momentum of that game 1 comeback through that round but couldn't sustain any of that momentum beyond that.

But, at the end of the day, the FO is now better than it was a couple of days ago.  So, will take encouragement from that.

And yes, Adams has ties to Carolina's management and Seattle's and he talks often of speaking to others around the league; Jarmo should have way more connections than Kevyn has because he's done that job for 10+ years in C-bus and had FO experience with 2 other teams prior to that.  So, hopefully this helps on the trade front.  And he DID convince Gaudreau to sign with C-Bus, so he has been successful at least once in convincing a star player to play for a team most of the league avoids like the plague.  Which after 14 years ...

I’ll tune out for now then thanks 

for the honesty

Edited Friday at 03:32 PM by Thorny