Jarmo Kekäläinen hired as Senior Advisor in Buffalo

[Boud]

This can’t be bad news honestly. Jarmo is a much better front office option than Kevyn Adams who’s in way over his head in Buffalo. Adams should not even be in a front office.

At the very least Jarmo had some good moments in Columbus in a very difficult situation. He can also speak in front of a camera and not look like an abolute dumbass like Adams.

It’s literally unbelivable that a NHL organization trusts Adams to lead their team. It says a lot about Buffalo’s ownership.

 

[qcal1427]

This is a great hire for Buffalo IMO

 

[Plural]

What does that even mean? I said it is a start.. no parade planning.

I'll worry about culture when there is an ounce of competence in the front office.

Absolutely, you can say a lot of things about Keklu, but he's always been a beacon of professionalism and hard work. Issue with him full stop is not his hockey sense or being competent.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Jarma be like "I show you how to fail, Kevyn, you're doing it all wrong."

 

[Oddbob]

What does that even mean? I said it is a start.. no parade planning.

I'll worry about culture when there is an ounce of competence in the front office.

Ok, just so you know. No parade planning! Not at Easter, not at Thanksgiving, not at Christmas and especially not at Stanley Cup.

 

[Dumais]

Absolutely, you can say a lot of things about Keklu, but he's always been a beacon of professionalism and hard work. Issue with him full stop is not his hockey sense or being competent.

It's signing FA & Coaches is the problem. You are absolutely right about his professionalism & hockey smarts. IMO it's his overly trusting nature (I think Babcock was a John Davidson/panic move) for those within the organization. And his free agent signings had little reason outside of "opportunity".

 

[Erika]

Was he? Consider where the organization was when he joined it, and when he left it.

People love to talk about the Babcock hiring, which was obviously a huge mistake and rightfully got him fired. But he did a lot of good things in Columbus. Drafted well, made some pretty savvy trades, actually got the team to be competitive in the playoffs for the first time in their existance...

People look at Columbus now as this young, upcoming team. Wadell has done f*** all, except hired Dean Evason. All the foundation there was built by Kekäläinen.

Pretty much this... Don Wadell is just a tool.
This current Columbus team has been built 80% by Kekalainen.

 

[57special]

If he can do some pro scouting, that would be a perk. They certainly haven't had good luck finding value among pro players.

Really? Zucker and McLeod had vg years last year. TT was nothing till he came to BUF(though i always liked him as a prospect).

I think the problem is more the team culture, and identity. The losing is happening because the Sabres management doesn't know how to build a team that can consistently compete. They have, and have had, "talent", but don't know how to mold it into a winning product on the ice.

I don't know how much Jarmo can affect things, but if he can nudge BUF into being the sort of team that CBJ was a few years ago- a gritty, tough team that played a disciplined defensive game- then it can only be a good thing. The Sabres used to do that in past decades... there have been very few times where they had the best "talent". In short, they need someone to teach them how to be more than the sum of their parts, not less.

 

[Chainshot]

Really? Zucker and McLeod had vg years last year. TT was nothing till he came to BUF(though i always liked him as a prospect).

I think the problem is more the team culture, and identity. The losing is happening because the Sabres management doesn't know how to build a team that can consistently compete. They have, and have had, "talent", but don't know how to mold it into a winning product on the ice.

I don't know how much Jarmo can affect things, but if he can nudge BUF into being the sort of team that CBJ was a few years ago- a gritty, tough team that played a disciplined defensive game- then it can only be a good thing. The Sabres used to do that in past decades... there have been very few times where they had the best "talent". In short, they need someone to teach them how to be more than the sum of their parts, not less.

In the scheme of things, they don't have good luck with finding an integrating support players overall. Last year aside, it's been pretty barren and lead to a lot of status quo or reliance on draftees. In terms of what Kekalainen is good at, finding players deeper in the draft and doing a nice job at locating depth seem to be stronger areas from his time in Columbus which are and have been traditional areas of weakness for the Sabres.

Yes, in the grand scheme identity and roster accountability are big problems. But in terms of what JK is going to be able impact in his position, I'm hoping his ability to identify harder to play against players and guys who live more around the net would be players the Sabres have needed for years and have shown no capacity to identify, develop or keep.

 

[AlienWorkShop]

Sometimes you roll your eyes at the 'jobs for the boys' handed out to hockey execs long proven to be useless, talentless hacks.

*cough, cough Chiarelli...*

But Kekalainen appears to belong in a front office in some capacity. Good for him.

 

[STL fan in MN]

He’s clearly a good talent evaluator. I question if he has all of the other attributes needed to be a top quality GM but to simply be a Sr advisor? One of the guys in the room giving his opinion? Easy slam dunk for the Sabres IMO.

Do we know yet exactly what duties he’s expected to be responsible for? Seems like the sort of role that’d also include being a pro scout among other things (perhaps this has been answered already. I admittedly didn’t read the thread before replying).

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

He’s clearly a good talent evaluator. I question if he has all of the other attributes needed to be a top quality GM but to simply be a Sr advisor? One of the guys in the room giving his opinion? Easy slam dunk for the Sabres IMO.

Do we know yet exactly what duties he’s expected to be responsible for? Seems like the sort of role that’d also include being a pro scout among other things (perhaps this has been answered already. I admittedly didn’t read the thread before replying).

Upon a day’s rumination, I have set aside my normal cynicism to say “hey, I actually like this move.”

God knows what goes through Pegula’s head, but my impression is he kinda ignored Sabres for awhile, doesn’t wanna spend if it doesn’t do anything, but now it’s just kinda embarrassing so he wants to fix it. Problem is he seemed to want to work with his GM, Adams, who has actually made some good moves- he’s also just a total yes-man. 2 seasons ago the GM had to put his balls on the table and say “spend to the goddamn cap, either we’re getting a player or eating salary for picks.” Adams didn’t do that, so he still has his job.. but is hated in Sabres land because the roster hasn’t changed enough to make playoffs.

That’s where Jarmo steps in. He evaluates talent, states his opinion, and states it strongly. If Pegula is an idiot maybe Jarmo walks at first opportunity, but I’m kinda picturing good cop/bad cop with Adams and Jarmo. Someone needs to tell the owner the hockey moves that should be made, up until now Adams seems to have operated within the owner’s stupid constraints.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[3074326]

The dude saying Jarmo was trash in Columbus is one of those people who speaks on a subject like he's an expert, and everyone else laughs because it's so abundantly clear that he's full of shit that it's actually entertaining.

Jarmo turned Columbus into a respectable franchise and drafted most of the current core players. It was definitely time for him to go, maybe even before that, but discrediting his tenure is foolish and ignorant. Look at what that team was before he arrived.

Jarmo made some good trades too. He went for it, which is what you want your GM to do. Too bad that Panarin/Duchene/Bob team couldn't have stuck together. They swept the Tampa team that was expected to win the cup after having a historic regular season.

 

[Bandit]

Buffalo doesn’t need a senior advisor, they need a senior enema.

 

[Panthaz89]

I said this when the sabres hired ruff last season, it applies here as well

He is at least an actual NHL level quality hire, which is a huge step for this sabres organization

Too bad the Sabres literally did not let Ruff change any of the other coaching staff and we keep the same garbage special teams plan year after year for a while now.

 

[majormajor]

I'm hoping his ability to identify harder to play against players and guys who live more around the net

FWIW Jarmo inherited a whole bevy of those players in Columbus.

He gradually spent them away (aside from Boone Jenner) until the team had no identity left.

This isn't a comment saying Jarmo can't be helpful with finding those players for Buffalo, he was trying to do several other things in Columbus, some of them that he did well. And of course people learn.

 

[Dumais]

FWIW Jarmo inherited a whole bevy of those players in Columbus.

He gradually spent them away (aside from Boone Jenner) until the team had no identity left.

This isn't a comment saying Jarmo can't be helpful with finding those players for Buffalo, he was trying to do several other things in Columbus, some of them that he did well. And of course people learn.

Spent them? Bob left for 10m a year and Panarin was going to NYR even if any other team offered more. Maybe you are referring to Dubi (he got hurt and retired) Foligno stuck around till his early 30s. Not sure what you mean by spent?. I think Zito leaving was the first domino. Then JD going and coming back. Total shit show all around. Surprised he did as good as he did honestly.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Good hire.

If Buffalo improves, he gets credit and can get a GM job elsewhere.

If they don't, they fire the GM and kick him upstairs.

 

[KingJoffrey]

Kekalainen made few bad mistakes, but if you compare him to Dubler Dubas he is much bettet than that entitled buffoob with fake glasses.

Kekalainen biggest mistake was trading for Laine. Second was dumping Bjorkstrand for few picks. Third was Babcock hire.

 

[majormajor]

Spent them? Bob left for 10m a year and Panarin was going to NYR even if any other team offered more. Maybe you are referring to Dubi (he got hurt and retired) Foligno stuck around till his early 30s. Not sure what you mean by spent?. I think Zito leaving was the first domino. Then JD going and coming back. Total shit show all around. Surprised he did as good as he did honestly.

Spent is the wrong word for it, but the point is that he inherited the hard to play against / identity players and did not replace them as they aged out / were traded.

If you wanted to hire an advisor who has established that they know how to acquire an identity group of players like that, then you would hire Kekalainen's predecessor, Scott Howson.

 

[Chainshot]

FWIW Jarmo inherited a whole bevy of those players in Columbus.

He gradually spent them away (aside from Boone Jenner) until the team had no identity left.

This isn't a comment saying Jarmo can't be helpful with finding those players for Buffalo, he was trying to do several other things in Columbus, some of them that he did well. And of course people learn.

I was thinking specifically of Voronkov, Marchenko, and Olivier who he drafted or brought in.

 

[Dumais]

Spent is the wrong word for it, but the point is that he inherited the hard to play against / identity players and did not replace them as they aged out / were traded.

If you wanted to hire an advisor who has established that they know how to acquire an identity group of players like that, then you would hire Kekalainen's predecessor, Scott Howson.

That's true, he didn't replace them but it's not like he wasn't trying. I think we got spoiled with that team. Foligno's hug, Dubi's New Yorker persona, Officer Bob and we had never seen a player of Panarin's caliber.

It's hard to build something when the pieces keep changing. The turnover in management and players made his job impossible to succeed. He should have recognized that and put a stop to it. He was the one in charge. Instead he accepted whatever came his way.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Jarmo was a good GM in Columbus. I imagine this is Buffalo's fallback plan if Adams fails again.

Yes it ended poorly here (as it often does when teams move on after a while) and he has some major problems with contract negotiations with RFA's and making it get ugly. But he was a pretty good drafter. An average developer. Very good at cap management. He needs to be a little bit more patient with his own prospects and their timeline to make in the NHL, but maybe that wasn't all him. He was very good at trades and wasn't afraid to make big deals, but was overall pretty poor at free agency and those decisions.

 

[majormajor]

I was thinking specifically of Voronkov, Marchenko, and Olivier who he drafted or brought in.

He can help find guys like that yes. Though I wouldn't call them or the team that hard to play against yet, they're not Dubinsky and Foligno. But they'd all be very needed in Buffalo.

 

[hockeyguy0022]

This guys is.. pretty average, like im sure it won't be a disaster, im sure he's decently knowledgeable, but this feels like sweep the dust into the closet instead of dustpan.