The Buffalo Sabres have fired GM Kevyn Adams and replaced him with former Blue Jackets executive Jarmo Kekalainen the team announced Monday.
“We are not where we need to be as an organization, and we are moving forward with new leadership within our hockey operations department,” owner Terry Pegula said in a statement. “We are dedicated to building an organization that is competitive year after year, and we have fallen short of that expectation.”
“Jarmo has distinguished himself over the last eight months, and his experience, professionalism, and drive speaks for itself,” Pegula continued. “I am looking forward to him leading our organization to the next level.”
The Sabres have not qualified for the postseason in 14 years, and find themselves at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with 32 points. As a result, the home town fans had begun to regularly serenade players with chants of “Fire Adams” at home games.
Evidently, things reached a breaking point with upper management, and the decision was made to move in a new direction. Kekalainen is an experienced NHL executive, and is used to working with a small, but passionate fanbase from his time in Columbus. One of his biggest decisions will come in the form of whether to “clean the slate” or retool the roster as the 2026 NHL trade deadline approaches after the holidays.
“It is a great honor to be named general manager of the Buffalo Sabres,” Kekalainen said in a statement of his own. “I would like to extend my thanks to Terry and Kim Pegula for this opportunity. I am humbled to be the steward of this team and look forward to experiencing the passion that Sabres fans bring to every game.”
Buffalo has a few days to regroup after 6 game road trip, and will be off until Thursday night. Their first test under their new GM will come against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7:30pm ET game.
Photo: Michael Barera. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.