TGAF: What Sabres can expect from Jarmo Kekalainen; Panthers-Oilers preview
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I guess it’s Tim Graham and friends brought to you by CTBK CPAs and Business Consultants. I’m Tim Graham of the Athletic here with Jonah Bronstein of Bronstein Sports Plus. We’re going to be joined later in the show by George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, friend of the show, longtime Panthers beat writer for the Miami Herald and for the Athletic, but he also covered the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Columbus Dispatch when Yarmmo Kean was the general manager there. and he’s going to tell us his thoughts about Kekalenan. Uh what kind of guy he is, what kind of hockey man he is, how he goes about his work, what his reputation is, and uh get some insights there on somebody who’s actually covered the guy that the Sabres have just hired to be senior adviser to general manager Kevin Adams. Um so yeah, that’ll be coming up a little bit later in the show. Uh we have Bill’s voluntary practices. Uh, I know that everybody calls them OTAAS, but I also of the belief that people always stop for a second and have to wonder what OTAAS are. Are those voluntary? Are those mandatory? The hardcore fan knows, but you know, I think people you always wonder is do they have to be there? So that’s why I just call them voluntary practices. You don’t have to call them OTAAS, right? Everything. The workouts they’ve been doing for six to eight weeks are not technically called OTAAS, but they’re also organized team activities. So it’s they’re voluntary. Yeah. So yeah, it’s a voluntary workout. They don’t have to be there. James Cook was not there. The only one. Josh Allen was there and I found that newsworthy obviously by the fact that I wrote a story about it. Um I thought more people would write about that as a as a headline that Josh Allen was there the week of his wedding allegedly. Uh because we’re not supposed to know that his wedding uh is May 31st, believed to be. Uh but Deion Dawkins uh let it slip months ago. The guy who’s supposed to protect Josh Allen at all costs uh blabbed too much and said May 31st. I didn’t even know Josh Allen was getting married. Is it a local girl? Western New Yorker. Well, no. Uh it’s uh it’s Haley Steinfeld from uh Sinners, the hit movie that just is breaking records despite the the film industry being down. Could be an Oscar winner. She should she could win uh a statueette. What a year, huh? MVP of the National Football League. Uh the brand new contract, Josh Allen, the most guarantees in NFL history, over a quarter billion dollars in guarantees. Uh box office smash, getting married. I mean, the guy’s got the world by the balls, right? But the reason I thought it was significant was just three years ago, this guy was missing voluntary practices to golf to take part in the match teamed with Patrick Mahomes uh in a made for TV competition against Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers. He missed two practices for that and here he was the week of his wedding when any of his teammates would have looked and said absolutely does not need to be here. third year of Joe Brady as offensive coordinator, same head coach the entire run of his career since Josh Allen’s been here. The continuity is off the charts, but there he was on the field with his teammates. I I thought that was a it was a big statement as such. That’s why I wrote about it. So, check out that column at the Athletic. Um, I got a chuckle with a number of uh people we work with on the Bills Beat, you know, younger men who’ve gotten married in recent years and they were saying, “Wow, Josh Allen’s here on the week of his wedding. We believe.” I mean, that’s a very busy week. He’s got to do this with the flowers and that with the music and the tuxedos. And I’m thinking, it’s not like your wedding, buddy. Josh Shalen doesn’t have the same responsibilities in the wedding planning that you had when uh you got married at the staff was hired to handle all those decisions for him with the somebody would bring him a piece of paper, send him an email to check some boxes probably periodically. Um maybe they put some thought into where people were going to sit. You know, we don’t even know how this is going to go because maybe this is a an elopement. Maybe it’s going to be 10 people there. We don’t know. That’s kind of the point is they’ve kept it secret, confidential. Some photos will probably be purchased by Vanity Fair. Um, I don’t know. I think this is even bigger than say People magazine, right? This is like big time celebrity wedding that I don’t think that Western New York is giving as much credit to, right? I mean, has the Buffalo News written stories about Josh Allen’s wedding? I mean, this would be I mean, Jim Kelly’s marriage to local girl was a massive story. I’ve seen some of those clips before that Josh Allen, this is a worldwide interest that the reigning NFL MVP is marrying this movie star. She’s already been nominated for an Oscar. She was nominated for an Oscar in True Grit and now she’s in the biggest box office smash of the year. I don’t know. I just I thought it was a big story. I thought that it was sign and I think it he deserved credit for being there because this was the and I use that phrase as I do a lot every because the Bills fans call him their golden retriever quarterback the big goof who’s just going out there living life and trying to be as happy as he can be and make everybody around him happy. Well, this is the guy who just three years ago missed two practices to be in a golf event. Had nothing to do with his team or team. Oh, by the way, that was Ken Dorsey’s first time as a offensive coordinator at any level. And you would want your quarterback to be there working with his rookie offensive coordinator. And he didn’t. And people were like at the time were like, “Ah, what’s the big deal?” But I think it says something. it. Maybe he is finally becoming that executive that NFL owners would want their quarterback to be, the guy who is running a bit a very business-like as opposed to just being, you know, uh, dude bro who happens to sling a football 70 mph. I’m curious um how many of Josh Allen’s teammates and coaches and other people in the Buffalo Bills organization are attending this wedding or will be attending this wedding. Uh you know, Josh Allen being his role as a team leader and just his personality seem to think he’s kind of got to invite everybody and that seems like we said or maybe it’s nobody. Maybe it’s highly exclusive. I mean, we’re going to, you know, she’s been in movies with major stars, you know, Josh Brolan and uh Jeff Bridges and Brad Pitt and I’m not and that’s just from the True Grit days. I mean, she’s been I mean, who does she invite? I mean, who’s going to be at this wedding? I mean, or people that she happens to know in Hollywood that she’s uh maybe she hasn’t worked with that and it’s not obvious. I bet you we see this guest list. It’s I mean if everybody gets invited or it could be 10 people on a secluded beach somewhere and the helicopters are going to be looking for them all week uh around Malibu and Coronado and who knows where. The Santa Barbara wine region, San Francisco. I mean he’s from he’s he’s from closer to San Francisco than LA. Maybe he gets married in Maybe he gets married at um Pebble Beach. I don’t know. Do we think Stefon Diggs will get an invite? Probably not. Well, let’s talk about that. Is it a story or not that he was on a boat with a passing out a pink substance to bikini clad women while the New England Patriots were going through their OTAAS? Uh Stefan Diggs did not show up. He was at OTAAS last week, but he was not at the voluntary workouts this week. and new head coach Mike Vrabel had to discuss it that and he didn’t seem too pleased about it. He talked about making good decisions on and off the field. That’s what he wants from his players. What are your thoughts on that from as is it a story? I think Stefan Diggs not being at the OTAA and if that was his decision and because maybe the Patriots told him to stay away because of uh you know the media scrutiny over this video. But if uh Stefan Diggs missed the practices, you know, he’s a new player on this team. He’s coming off an injury. With his rehabilitation from the injury, maybe he’s not going to be out there on the field, but he should probably be with the P the Patriots training staff and doing work with them and getting to know his teammates and showing up for the team. Yes. Uh and if that’s what he’s doing instead, that’s a story. I And it is definitely a story because of the attention, the interest it’s gotten. I don’t know if what was going on on that boat or what was in that bag or what color the substance was of in the bag is as big of a story as it seems to have been and the way it was covered. He could find himself getting that FedEx envelope that players get where it says you have to do a drug test. The NFL can do that based on evidence it sees out and about. I mean, you have to a lot of time like there’s a protocol for all the different drug tests and I’m sure that the there are some subtleties in place since the last time I poured over the collective bargaining agreement, but it used to be you needed to test positive to get in the tiered system of being monitored. You needed to really screw up or be arrested for something. Um, but the NFL also can with reasonable suspicion, I believe, just start testing you. Uh, you don’t have to be caught red-handed or by a a a law enforcement agency or a medical um agency. I think that the NFL wants it it can apply plausible suspicion and if he’s holding on to something that they think, well, so Stan Digs might get the the drug test, he might be asked to do it. There there’s nothing in that video that I guess it suggests, but there’s nothing in that video that tells us that Stefan Diggs was using any of these substances. Possession is still illegal. Possession is illegal. That That’s why it looks almost worse this way because it does appear and he’s distributing it. Exactly. I don’t know if that’s the case, but by based on the video, it appears as if he’s supplying this to the women in the video. And that’s a bad look. And that’s really the reason why a lot of these drug testing programs exist in professional sports is not because it’s all that bad or or that the leagues and the teams care that much about what the players are doing recreationally in their own time. It’s how bad it looks from a public relations standpoint. Uh and that’s why the leagues don’t want players uh getting caught and being seen uh doing these things in public. Yeah, it’s funny. You know, you talk about the leagues and the PR aspect of it. Um, you know, the NBA famously doesn’t test for marijuana for a reason. The NHL famously doesn’t test for cocaine for a reason. And I asked Doug uh Bill Daly about that, the deputy commissioner back when I was doing that radio show uh in Toronto on TSN 1050. He was a guest for, you know, I was the co-host with Dave Naylor, the main co the main host and uh Bill Daly was the guest and drug um drug testing was a head it was a it was a hot topic at the time. I think it was being collectively bargained. I don’t recall what it was, but I asked him why why don’t you test for cocaine? and he didn’t dodge the question and he but he and he was just like we just don’t feel that that is something that we need to do because we don’t feel that that’s a problem and I think that the common sense u understanding of why the NHL wouldn’t test for cocaine is because they know so many of their players are using it and so many of their players probably need it. It’s a hard sport to get ready to play. It’s similarly to the NBA, right? But for coming at it from different angles, NBA players wanted it to medicate, you know, away from the the court for this busy schedule that they have, this this 82 game schedule. And the hockey players want their cocaine because they need to play 82 games. It’s to get them, you know, one of them’s maybe before the game, the other one’s when you’re not playing. I mean, I know that you follow culture and all that stuff, sports culture. I don’t know if maybe you’ve read any uh think pieces about uh NBA and weed and all that stuff, but that’s kind of the sentiment. I’ve read a lot about how the NBA instituted a lot of its drug testing policies and drug suspensions in the 80s and late 70s because how problematic it was, how many players were doing cocaine. And yeah, I think it was a problem that uh some players that were talented never reached their potential and were unreliable. But the bigger problem bias is death. Exactly. Well, right. And and that played into it as well. The biggest problem for the NBA was the perception that all of the players are on cocaine and that they’re not uh reaching their full potential as players because of this. and they had to kind of get that out of the league and have very strong anti-drug policies in order to really just kind of eradicate uh cocaine from the league. And they didn’t need to really do that with marijuana and chose not to do it that way uh as the years went by. Yeah. The NBA’s always been known as a weed kind of sport though, right? I mean, there’s Yeah. The late Cliff Robinson, Uncle Spliffy, you know, you know, from the Buffalo native who actually got into the the weed business out in Portland after he was retired uh and before he died. But yeah, Uncle Uncle Spliffy while he was playing, he was known as a big hothead. Yeah, Bill Walton, he’s spoken a lot about that and how, you know, necessary a lot of NBA players found it was postgame and for recovery and getting to sleep and things like that. Um, all right. So, that’s, uh, so, oh, uh, that was kind of a, um, off-ramp that we took there. Uh, we were talking about Bill’s voluntary practices and then Stefan Diggs and then, uh, recreational drug use. Yeah. We didn’t liel uh Haley Steinfeld at all in that conversation by linking those together. Oh, no. I don’t think so. I think we were okay. We didn’t accuse anybody of anything. Um Joey Bosa’s calf injury that uh the least surprised of any of the updates that we heard from Shawn McDermad on Tuesday was that Joey Bosa is hurt and that he might not be available until the start of training camp at St. John Fiser at the end of July. Is this uh here we go again? Uh is this another Von Miller situation where they they bring in a guy who’s uh although Von Miller didn’t he did have the previous knee injury, but he wasn’t known for being injury plagued. But this is kind of the risk that you get with bringing in Joey Bosa and he’s he’s missed a lot of games throughout his career for various things and here he is hurt again. Um, I don’t know if you have any thoughts on how that impacts the Bills and their pass rush. I’m just looking at a chart here, at least according to this, trying to count how many different body parts Joey Bosa has appeared on the injury report with, and I got maybe nine or 10, and none of them are a calf. I think that’s the problem with Joey Bosa is how injuryprone he is. He doesn’t really have like a major knee injury or a major Achilles tear that makes him damage goods in the way that some players are like that. But how often he gets injured all over his body uh just is worrisome from a Bills perspective that he’s a player who’s breaking down or a player that just can’t stand the rigors of a full season. And I do wonder if the Bills are being a bit cautious here that maybe it’s not a major injury and holding him out of the spring practices is a way to keep him healthy. And I do think you’ll see more of that with the Bills and Joey Bosa as the season goes along, but because of the suspensions on the defensive line and things like that, they might need him at the beginning of the season a bit more than uh they thought they would when they signed him. Bills have eight edge rushers right now on their roster. I will give them to you in numerical order. Uh, Gregory Rouso, Hayden Harris, Michael Hoy, Javon Solomon, AJ Epanessa, Paris Shand, Landon Jackson, Joey Bosa. Um, you know, they’ve they’ve obviously tried to supplement that with with Hoy with Bosa drafting Landon Jackson uh on the second day. Um, you know, we’ll see how that shakes out. Um, and we’ll we won’t get to see Joey Bosa work until St. John Fischer. Uh the bandits three repeated. Uh just want to make a point if uh you know that’s that’s the uh the parade is this afternoon. We will miss that because we are recording this podcast on Friday afternoon. Uh you’re out there Jonah. How was the was I mean everybody talks about the electricity in the arena. This is a three repeat. This is getting to be routine if you don’t want to say old hat but it’s getting to be somewhat routine. Did this one feel any different than the others for you as as covering it? Well, different in the sense that the first one was the first, not the first time for the Bandits, but the first in this era, this run and and the first that I had covered and been out on the field for and that was unique and cool and now it’s happening again and again. So, it it feels a little bit it it still is exciting and fun and I think everybody that was there really appreciated the moment, but it’s also not as like, you know, amazing as it was the first time cuz it’s happening over and over again. But still, as they have in their other closeout games, the past two years, the Bandits blew the game wide open and it was a celebration throughout the third and fourth quarter of uh the Bandits championship before the game was over with. And then just the experience of winning the championship on the home floor with a full building and the fans stick around for the trophy presentation and the celebration and the confetti pouring from the ceiling. Uh I’m sure the Bandits players would have loved to win the series in two games out in Saskatchewan, but I think for the fan base and the Bandit land culture and maybe after the fact they realize that it is cooler winning at home than on the road and it does make it a better experience. And there’s other sports where that can happen, but in a lot of sports, you win the championship games or the playoff games on neutral sites and the fans don’t get to share in it in the same way. So, I think it’s it’s fitting with the way the Bandits have this dedicated fan base that they get to experience it with them and then spill over into the cobblestone bars and and celebrate all throughout the night with the fans that were cheering them on. the uh Buffalo Sabres would just like to experience a taste of the playoffs, let alone a Stanley Cup. And they made a move today hopefully uh and they want they think it’s uh going to shore up their front office a little bit. And that’s Yarmmo Kalenan, the uh former general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, is now senior adviser to Kevin Adams. Let me just quickly give uh his his uh resume for those who uh maybe know of Kellenan as a general manager. Uh but you know where what’s this guy’s background? He’s going to be 59 in about a month. So he’s not old for you know general manager. This isn’t the type of guy that you’d look at and say man the game has passed him by. Uh like Lamarello a lot of you know rumors about him. he was spotted in Buffalo and whether or not he was spoken to about being the uh senior adviser that that Kevin Adams brought in. Uh but this is a guy who has is just steeped in scouting and executive work, which is something that Kevin Adams quite frankly didn’t do. I mean, yes, he had a year or two in hockey operations with the Sabres. He was an assistant to Lindy Ruff briefly, but you know, he kind of cut to the front of the line uh when it came to being a general manager. He didn’t do all those big scouting trips or uh you know, spend uh weekends in Moose Jaw. Um so, Yarmmo Kalenan after his work in Finland uh was the Ottawa Senator’s director of player personnel from 199 uh from 1999 to 2002. He then became the St. Louis Blues director of amateur scouting from 2002 to 2005 and then he was promoted to assistant general manager in St. Louis from 2005 to 2010. Uh he then uh went back to Finland was the general manager of Joker which is one of their top uh organizations there. Um from 2010 to 2013 and then from 2013 to 2024 he was the Blue Jackets’s general manager. Um, and the reason I wanted to lay out his experience and his age is we’ve discussed on this show, Jonah, that our skepticism because he hasn’t uh throughout his tenure as Sabers’s general manager. Um, Kevin Adams has not really hired anybody or had worked with anybody who could be considered a threat to him. Uh, and I’m not saying that that Kalenan is, you know, lurking and waiting to pounce, but this is a guy who should be challenging uh the thought process of Terry Pagula, of uh Kevin Adams, of Jason Carmanos, even of Lindy Ruff, you know, let’s, you know, you know, work on things. I mean, that’s the that’s the possibility. That’s the potential of having somebody like Yarmokan come in and not somebody who’s at the end of his career. This guy was just a general manager a year ago and is only uh he’s currently 58. So this is a guy who’s not done. I wouldn’t think. Um and so you could be looking potentially at the uh Buffalo Sabres next general manager. And I didn’t think that Kevin Adams would frankly bring in a type of guy who could do that. So I guess kudos to to him for his willingness to work with somebody who actually has this kind of cache. Yeah, I mean I think this is a good addition to the Sabres front office. It’s something Kevin Adams probably should have done almost immediately or earlier in his general manage manager tenure. Um, as far as bringing someone in who’s a threat to Kevin Adams, I think anybody that has experience and takes on the role of senior adviser probably would have looked like, you know, a potential general manager replacement. I do think but to somebody the point just to just to you know refine it a little bit like a Lou just using that name I mean he’s old like he’s he’s probably done uh Doug Mlan is a name he was uh he was talked to back when Kevin Adams first became general manager as a possible senior adviser. Doug Mlan is I mean would be the classic senior adviser probably not never to be a general manager or otherwise director of anything ever. Rick Dudley, uh, you know, guys who are at this the tail end of their careers is is what I would have assumed would have been coming in. Somebody who’s a little more toothless than Yarmmo Kalan. Yeah. Well, my read is that because Kevin Adams took a while to make this higher and seemed to have talked to a number of different people and evaluated the strengths and weaknesses and or, you know, went through a list of candidates and found someone who was willing to take the job. Maybe some of these other people weren’t as willing to do it. um that he chose somebody that fits the experience profile and helps his front office, but probably he doesn’t perceive as a major threat to work behind his back and to try to get him fired. That this is somebody that’s going to help Kevin Adams and the Savers succeed. And if the Sabres win games and go to the playoffs next year, there’s going to be no change to the general manager. The change is only going to come if the Sabres continue to lose and, you know, are at the bottom of the standings again as they have been uh this past season for much of this past season. So, I say kudos to Kevin Adams for adding this type of experience to the front office. I don’t know if they’ve had a general manager with this much experience since John Muckler. So, it’s been a long time since the Savers have had anybody with previous general manager experience or could bring in that fresh set of eyes and know how things work around the league in the way that uh this hire will. But as far as is this somebody that’s going to be the next general manager after Kevin Adams, I don’t that remains to be seen and I kind of don’t think that Kevin Adams thinks that’s going to be the case. And I think he found a thread of the needle of somebody who brings experience and helps the front office but isn’t going to be working uh behind the scenes to, you know, make a change in the top chair, right? And and candidly, we don’t know exactly how this dynamic is going to work. Maybe Yarmmo Kechalan stays in Finland and spends very little time. You know, maybe it’s a this is a phone uh this is a remote office that Yarmmo Keolan is going to keep and maybe he does, you know, stays over in Europe and may it look there’s also the Raasmus Dalene aspect of this. You know, a guy who is going to make sure Raasmus Dalene doesn’t get too frustrated because Kalanan is a Finn. Uh I I’m got sorry I got my guy that’s an offensive thing I just said right confusing my my fins and my Swedes. Um but you do have somebody with the European background who understands the European player and uh what they uh what they need and what they go through and and uh he is just uh he has an international presence to him uh regarding uh credibility which is something that I think players are frustrated uh and have been at the direction of the program and this is I keep using the word cache but that’s uh it’s gravit as I think that’s the word I’m looking for it. It adds a significant amount of gravitas to the Bills or to the Sabres front office. And the big question is, can Kolina help Kevin Adams solve his biggest problem, which isn’t maybe not entirely Kevin Adams fault, but is getting top players to either sign with the Sabres in free agency or be willing to be traded to the Sabres. And that uh you know, that’s really been a major roadblock the past couple of seasons. And when Kevin Adams has tried to make a big swing or add a big-time player to the roster, he just is not able to do that. And can a experienced front office executive who’s been a general manager before uh convince any of these players or their agents to, you know, view Buffalo in a different light than they have been over the past number of years? Yeah, this is a guy who, like I said, he was 2013 to 2024 was the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. This man has negotiated contracts. He has made trades. He has field, you know, all the trades he probably that he hasn’t made are, you know, add those up. And from that standpoint alone, Kevin Adams, uh, you know, can can have that amount of experience and expertise on how to handle and navigate things that have made Sabres fans nervous at different times. Going into free agency under Kevin Adams, Sabres fans are nervous. Going into the trade deadline under Kevin Adams, Sabres fans are nervous. they they just have an an impression that he is going to get fleeced or that he isn’t going to be able to get it done because he doesn’t know how. Uh his you know the comments about the palm trees and taxes. You know that that was Kevin Adams essentially throwing up his hands and saying I haven’t been able to figure it out. I know that these are our circumstances that we’re dealing with but you guys need to understand I can’t I can’t do it. You know well here’s a guy who has done it. Um, Columbus is no dynasty. They’ve Columbus because it was newer, there was some sort of appeal to Columbus because of their facilities, their new barn, the fact that the fans were raid. Um, but you know, Columbus is no destination for hockey. And so, he’s dealt with some of that. And uh you know hopefully uh for Sabres fans uh this is uh somebody who helps fix things instead of just u you know is it one more uh one more move that comes off as flaccid. Right. With Kevin Adams tenure with the Sabres. If you go move by move, trade by trade, draft pick by draft pick, I I think he’s had more hits than misses. He’s uh hasn’t really been fleeced on too many trades. uh if he hasn’t been a big winner on a lot of the trades, I think some of them have worked out well. It’s the guys who go and go win somewhere else. Of course, you know, Jack, the Jack Eel trade, um you know, it was for that was a decision maybe if the Sabres would have let him have his surgery, then Kevin Adams wouldn’t have needed to make that trade. But, you know, did they win that trade? I mean, anyways, I don’t want to go I don’t want to get tit for tat on on all of them, but yeah, there there’s there have been some a lot of moves that hurt or the moves that aren’t made, the the moves that the the in the um the inactivity at critical times when Sabres fans and the team seem to be begging for an injection of some kind and Kevin Adams is paralyzed by his whether it’s for whatever reason, whether it’s his in he’s not he doesn’t have the he’s not allowed to spend the money or he doesn’t know how to pull off the move or he’s wrong and just says we don’t need to make the move. Those are the things I think that have really added to his reputation here in Buffalo as somebody who can’t get it done. So, but I’m sorry I I uh Well, right that that’s where I was going. It’s the negative space. It’s the the moves that haven’t happened, the trades that haven’t happened or the acquisitions or the misreads on when to how to develop players and when to call them up and things like that. And an experienced general manager should be able to help advise Kevin Adams on that. I don’t know how much of a difference it’ll make, but it’s a plus, not a minus, I think, uh, adding this to the Sabres mast head, if you will. and having been in multiple organizations, three NHL organizations, this will be his fourth. Uh so there’s uh you know there’s a there’s a spectrum of different ideas that he’s been exposed to and then of course the European game which he’s heavily involved in uh the the Finnish national team and whatever. And George Richards is going to tell us more about that when he joins us here shortly. And the Sabres have some big decisions to make coming up with restricted free agents and Alex Tux extension coming due and some cap room that they have, but maybe it’ll get used up by these extensions and having uh another, you know, trusted member of the brain trust uh should be able to or you would hope would be able to help the Savers make the right decisions on some of these big decisions that they have. Jonah, is there anything else we want to talk about before uh George Richards joins us? Just kind of acknowledge if anybody is paying attention or interested in doing this the uh PAR ice hockey world championships going on here in Buffalo and reaching the semi-finals today and gold medal bronze medal games on Saturday at Harbor Center. Uh Nick Sabato had a nice story in the Niagara Gazette about a team USA player Declan Farmer who um you know the basis of the story was might be the best hockey player in the world. Sled hockey, ice hockey, any form of hockey, street hockey, roller hockey, tonsil hockey. And he’s uh you know as accomplished in this sport as anybody in the NHL is. And you know this is high level competition especially when you get to the world championship gold medal game. Team USA has been rolling through this tournament so far. We’ll see if that continues in the medal round, but it’s happening right here in our backyard. And you know, tonight you could go to the Bandits rally, uh, catch some of those hockey games. The Pidens are in town. You There’s a lot going on in that downtown sports complex. It doesn’t include a soccer stadium quite yet, but but has a lot going on without that. And it’s a it’s a perfect time because there’s nothing to watch on TV tonight. Uh the uh the Stanley Cup final is set. We’re going to talk to George Richards about that too because he covers the Florida Panthers. Uh so the Panthers are going to rematch against the Oilers and the uh NBA uh tournament is paused. There’s no game tonight because Oklahoma City has advanced and the Knicks just won last night. So there’s nothing going on. So get out and do something in Buffalo. Um all right, let’s take a break and then we come back. Uh I’m going to talk to George Richards uh as promised on Tim Graham and friends brought to you by CTBK CPAs and business consultants. The financial means of a business go beyond tax and a test services. That’s why CTVK goes beyond accounting services and offers outsource solutions for their affiliation with CFO solutions plus these additional services allow clients to focus on their operational and long-term strategic goals. Trust CTVK’s outsource solutions to provide cost-effective value added financial services tailored to your company’s needs. Call CTVK at 7166302400. Again, 716-630-2400 or go to ctvk.com to learn more about CTVK’s outsourced solutions. Hey, it’s your boy Farel. I’m a huge fan of Tim Graham and friends. Then again, who isn’t? Shake it. As promised on Tim Graham and Friends, brought to you by CTBK, we are joined by the legend, George Richards from Florida Hockey Now, longtime NHL reporter, with the Miami Herald, with the Columbus Dispatch. And that’s a great little twist there because we’re going to talk not only about the Florida Panthers uh returning to the Stanley Cup final, but also the Sabres and their move today, hiring former Blue Jackets general manager Yarmmo Kealan to be senior adviser to Kevin Adams and George Covered Yarmmo uh in Columbus. George, thanks for fitting in some time. I know you’re busy. I know you got to get to the Marlins game. Yeah. I also be remiss as to mention George Richards also covered the Panthers for the Athletic. Uh so how long have you been covering the Panthers? Um boy, it’s been uh I took over the lockout year. So 2004. So 21 years. Were you on the beat for the lockout? Yes. So that what a I mean with Mike with Mike Keenan as the new general manager, Jacques Martan as the new head coach and a rookie beat rider and it was it was a lot of fun. All right, my apologies to the audience here because they want to hear George’s thoughts on Kellen, but we’ll get the Sorry, professional detour here. We do have a lot of people who comment when we talk journalism. They really like it. What was it like to go from you were high schools and colleges at the Miami Herald, right? to go to the Panthers beat, but during a lockout, you’re not covering games. You’re covering the business. You had to cover the league. You weren’t even really covering the Panthers at the time. What was that like? Cuz I was also covering the Sabres at that time, but I’d had three seasons of hockey. I knew all I knew many of the people, but to be able to to be thrown in the deep end like that had to be uh trial by fire. It it really was because this was back in the good old newspaper day where we had a a Sunday hockey column rain, you know, rain, sle or shine, you know, so there was no news. I mean, it it was, you know, we were writing about labor disputes and, you know, you had all those guys playing in the minor leagues and I was writing about that. Um, the Panthers had contracts that were coming due and we didn’t know how all that was going to happen. Um, and here I am, you know, I’m trying to figure out restricted free agency, unrestricted free agency. So, quick story. Uh, Roberto Lewango is a restricted free agent. And, uh, so I, you know, I call up Mike Keenan, who’s the general manager of the Panthers, and I start talking. I was like, “Hey, is there any concern with Roberto Lewongo?” And I hadn’t, you know, this was, I didn’t know restricted, unrestricted. And he’s like, “Yeah, you know, it’s a concern.” So, I write a story that Roberto Lango may have played his final game as a Panther because, you know, he’s a free agent and and Keenan just let me, you know, just let me go with it and and it was like baptism by fire. I will never forget the difference between a restricted free agent and an unrestricted free agent again. Who knows though, maybe Roberto Lango goes and plays in Europe, which a lot of those guys were doing at the time, and doesn’t come back. Like, that was the fear, especially in a small market like Buffalo. What if these guys go off in this decide they don’t want to be in the NHL anymore after the NHL burned him for a year of salary like Olioenan back then? What if he goes back to Finland and plays, you know, for, you know, but that didn’t happen. So, but it was it was, you know, it was fun. And Jock Martan, let me give him a lot of credit. Um, you know, Jock Martan was a was a professor, you know, he was he was in the teaching profession before, you know, before he became an NHL coach with the Alda Senators. Um, and he had two newbies on the Florida Panther beat. This is when three newspapers covered the team. Palm Beach Post had the veteran Brian Beain, native Western New Yorker, Michael Russo took off. So, you had Steve Gordon who was like me, came over from the colleges and in and the high schools and myself. So, Joan competition and and everything was, you know, boom boom boom. Jock Martan, you know, hey, don’t don’t you know that’s a nothing burger, you know, that kind of he was very he taught us, you know, in those first couple years what to look for, how to basically cover hockey. The first couple years was an education and uh Brian Beain very helpful, Palm Beach Post, longtime hockey writer, helpful as well. But uh for both myself and Steve Gorton, that was that was big coming on a beat like that fresh in the middle of a labor dispute. It wasn’t easy. Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever asked you about that and I’ve known you since then, but yeah. And I was Well, during the lockout, I’m competing with Michael Russo. He was he stayed at the Sentinel through the lockout. So, you know, he’s getting all these scoops from, you know, people I’ve never even heard of, you know, the from the league office or an assistant GM with the Anaheim. I’m like, I what am I doing here? Um, so, you know, it it was it was rough at times, for sure. Well, it turned out all right for you. you are the encyclopedia of Panthers coverage, the go-to guy at Florida Hockey Now, and um you know, happy for the run that’s that you’re on. Not that you care per se about winning or losing, but when you run your own website, winning helps, I’m sure. And also content, right? Every every every round gets you two weeks of content, right? And also just it’s fun to cover a winner when you’ve covered a franchise like the Panthers that was just a perennial doormat. Is this ever going to work? I mean not that long ago that was and it was like that for the Tampa Bay Lightning for a while. It was like that for Carolina. But as long as there’s a phoenix in the league, you can look to see what it could be like, oh my god, I hope I’m not covering a team that the NHL just abandons or has to whatever. I mean, and listen, and I get, you know, when when when Gary Bman steps on the ice, you know, in a in a northern market, I get why he’s booed, but for Gary Bman to get booed in South Florida or Tampa, it makes no sense. He worked so hard to keep this thing going. um you know when you would see you know the the the Ottawa you know on Tuesday night against Ottawa there would legitimately be 5,000 people in the building and and those pictures are circulating and it was like whoa this thing just is not looking good and B was like nope nope it’s good market they’ll this team has stunk for so long you know you remember um they went what 12 years without it was a Sabres home game for the first probably five or well probably the entire time I covered the National Hockey League because I stopped in ‘ 07 when I moved down to the Palm Beach Post when I we we would we actually saw each other more uh when I was covering football down there uh and uh nights at the uh at the quarter deck and um the quarter deck or the flanigans. Yes. Um, but yeah, they were all Sabres home games and I’m sure it was like that for any Northern team, the Rangers or, you know, maybe even the Devils uh brought fans out for to see the Panthers play in Sunrise, but totally different now. Um, but let’s talk about Yarmmo Keelan and then we’ll talk about the final series, the rematch against the Oilers, uh, which was the series I’m rooting for. Uh because number one, I’m a fan of George Richards and I want George to go as deep into the playoffs as he can. Uh and I think Florida as a winner is a good story because it is when we’re talking about what they just went through or what they’ve gone through generationally as a franchise. I I just like the NHL having stronger footholds in their markets. Um, I would probably want Phoenix if they were still there and now Salt Lake City to at some point experience some traction. Uh, I think it’s good for sports. It’s good for the business. Um, and then also anytime you can watch Conor McDavid over a series, uh, when you’re settling in and that’s all that’s on and you get to watch Conor McDavid and not competing with other games in the earlier rounds, you might see Conor McDavid three out of those five or six games or seven games when they only go one round. Now they’re, you know what, screw it. Let’s just keep talking about this series. We can’t Now the spotlight’s on, right? I mean, this is Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, let Yeah. Tell tell me about this this matchup as you see it and how much diff is it from last year? Uh, yeah, it’s definitely different because now you’ve got an Edmonton Oilers team that’s experienced the pain of loss, right? to me and that was a thing that um I I don’t know how many how many people watched that prime that prime series that the documentary that they did during the Stanley Cup finals. It didn’t come out I don’t think until September or October. Um, but they were right behind the scenes. Game seven, uh, when the NHL, you know, PR person comes to the visiting locker room door in Sunrise and says, “Hey, we need Connor. He won the Khan Smite.” And they’re like, “No, he ain’t coming.” And then you just see the tears and in the emotion and all that. Um, listen, when Edmonton came to South Florida to play the Panthers in the regular season, they did the morning skate out. They didn’t want they came to the arena. one of the few teams to come to the arena for their morning state. Everybody’s been going to Florida, the Panthers new place in Fort Lauderdale. I think Edmonton did that to get over it, right? Just this is the same building. This is the same place. You were sitting here crying. The same paint, you know, all that stuff. Get it out. Get out of your head. We’re here. We’re playing a game. That’s the end of it. Um, but they’re also a better team. I mean, you look at Steuart Skinner the way he has played lately. Um, you know, earlier in the playoffs, you didn’t know what you were going to get from Skinner, right? he was going to give up five or he was going to give up none, one of the two. And now he’s been he’s settled in. He’s playing extremely well. Uh the Edmonton Oilers since going down 02 to the LA Kings are what 12-2 in the playoffs. Um you know, they are playing phenomenal hockey right now. So, and they’ve got home ice. That’s something they didn’t have last year. Um listen, Florida’s battle tested. They’ve been through this. This is their third straight run to the to the final. Um and and Florida might have added some pieces to make them better. This is going to be a whale of a series just because it’s you know nothing nothing is going like the storylines if if Florida goes up 3 nothing again which nobody expects you know what the story line’s going to be. Edmonton came back from 3 0 last year. If Florida’s down two to Does it matter? I mean it’s going to be exciting all the way. I don’t think we’re going to know who wins this series until that final whistle like last year. Game seven, it was two to one. They had 50 seconds left with nobody in the net. Down 2-1 and Edmonton, I don’t think touched the puck. So, you know, just one of those kind of deals uh where Florida was able to clamp down and get a win. Can they do it again? We’ll find out. What moment or maybe there’s a couple of moments stand out to you regarding the Panthers this season and what whatever their identity is, whatever their vibe is for 2014 2025 that you know obviously has to be different than last year. Even though it’s the same organization and they’re the defending champs, things change year to year and your identity changes. Even within a dynasty, your the yeartoyear uh identity changes. What to you makes this team’s identity for this season? Or maybe even you want to say because it is a long season. The season started, you know, forever ago, maybe of the postseason. What What has this team become that maybe it wasn’t when the season began? Well, they’re not fun to play against, right? We all know that. You see the way that the Panthers play. I mean, that’s what everybody aspires to that to to play playoff hockey is how the Panthers play it. And I I think that there’s going to be a lot of coaches and if has it probably already started um coaches and general managers watching film of the Panthers to try to replicate what they do because it works in the postseason, but it’s hard to play in the regular season because you don’t have you’re playing at the Wednesday night in Detroit. You you don’t have you know you may not be going full boore because it’s just a tough way to go and and Paulice understands that. That’s Wayne. He rarely got mad when the Panthers would lose. It was just one of those things where they they weren’t going through the motions during the regular season, but they didn’t put any weight into it. It was just let’s be healthy. Let we know the style of game we play. And you saw it a few times in the regular season. When the Panthers were motivated, they could play that. When they weren’t motivated, they’d probably lose four to two. Um, but since the start of the playoffs, that first game in Tampa Bay, when everybody was questioning Florida because they did not finish the regular season strong, right, a lot of the pundits were saying, “Oh boy, this is Tampa. Tampa’s going to and Florida just came out and and put a fist in Tampa’s jaw. Takes the first two games uh in, you know, at at Amaly in Tampa and they’re off and running. So, and you see it sometimes when the Panthers have closeout games, they kind of lose that edge because they know, hey, we’re up three nothing. We’re up 3-1, you know, and you don’t really see that style, but when they bring it, they bring it hard. What are your thoughts on Yarmmo Kalenan as the Sabres adviser? Actually, let me let’s stop there because you don’t know what the hell you know that’s that’s what just tell me about your experience covering Yarmmo Keolan and what kind of guy he is. He’s a terrific guy. Um got his made his bones in in scouting. He was I believe he was an agent um back in his earlier years uh working with European players. Um first Europeanborn GM in NHL history with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Uh worked very closely with John Davidson there. Um but yeah, his his he’s a terrific scout. He’s got a terrific eye for talent. Um, I think it, you know, things just ran their course in Columbus. Um, which is why he was looking for a job. I mean, that was just, you know, going to be a rebuild and they decided to go in a different direction. Sorry, I’m getting text messages here. I have to keep flipping. Um, you’re a busy fell. Yeah. Well, you know how it goes. Um, Yarmmo is a terrific hockey mind. Um, I I think he he really knows how to build things up and he’s going to be a great asset to Kevin Adams. I was really excited to see that, you know, and he’s got the experience. I mean, he he he did it for a long time in Columbus. Dealt with the business side of things, dealt with the scouting side of things. His brother, uh, Yari Heckan was was the Florida Panthers European head European scout for years. Um, in fact, he’s the guy that talked Dale Talon into drafting Sasha Barov second overall in 2013, which was uh, you know, that kind of worked out for the Panthers. So, um, Yarmmo Yarmmo is going to work out well, uh, working with Kevin Adams. Uh, you got Eric Stall, right, joining the organization as entry- level job for Eric, I think. Well, but but he can relate the players and he can work. I mean, I mean, look at the Florida Panthers front office. It’s all former GMs, uh, some upand cominging assistant GMs in that front office and some former players. uh Gregory Campbell, Roberto Lewango, uh Sean Thornton is on the business side for the Panthers, Brian McCabe. Um so you have a lot of former players in the Florida Panther front office with a bunch of Florida, you know, front office people. Um like uh from from Buffalo, I can’t think of his name. Uh longtime GM in the Rick Dudley. Rick Dud Oh, yeah. Is an assistant general manager. Well, I he he’s a senior adviser. What? So, and they all work together. So, if Kevin Adams is really bringing in these people to to help collaborate and help him, that’s great. And I don’t think Yarmmo is doing this just for a job. I think he’s coming in to to really kind of help mold things, work through the draft, work through free agency, and then when the season starts, the the the building of the roster. One of the things that Jonah Bronstein and I touched on was the concept and the belief from people I’ve spoken with. So, it wasn’t like we were just pulling this out of the air or wondering or just asking or mentioning it rhetorically, but through his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres, Kevin Adams has made it a point not to have people around who would be a threat to his existence as a general manager. And that’s not to say that this is ominous, but the surprise for me is that the Sabres actually brought in somebody who I mean, and maybe you could even say a Lou Lamarello or somebody who was like kind of like done like because maybe the G they’re just around as the senior adviser and that’s all they’re ever going to be. A Doug Mlan, you know, somebody like that. Whereas, right, Kellenan’s fresh off of being a general manager. He could be a general manager again. And so that was the surprise to me is and a pleasant surprise for Sabres fans who’ve been desperate for something like this. It was a pleasant surprise to me that somebody who was just a general manager as recently as last year is now in this role because you know this you could actually fathom this guy being the next general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. And and I think we see that in sports a lot where where guys don’t want don’t want to and that just shows that they’re insecure in their job position. Um it shows that the heat is on and if that’s the case, they’re out of there anyway because those jobs that that never works out. If you’re if you’re just bringing in yes men and yes, you know, just people to surround you and that is never going to work. It never it never has worked. So I think that’s a that’s a good first step because Yarmmo is a very smart hockey person. Again, has done the job for a long long time. Um, you know, he had Yarmmo had Bill Zitto as his assistant GM and he wasn’t afraid to let Bill do more things. He wasn’t afraid that Bill was going to take his job. If he did, then Bill would have never gotten, you know, good at those kind of things. And, you know, nobody wants to work for a guy like that. So, that’s why I’m saying Yarmmo’s not coming there to be a yes man. I don’t, you know, he could have gotten a job a job like this, right? Even here in Florida, Bill Zto probably would have hired Yarmmo if that’s if that’s what it took just to get back into the league. He’s coming with with the idea that it’s going to be I’m going to be a part of this and we’re going to build this together and that’s big. George, anything about him that I didn’t ask you about that you you think is germaine? Uh, you guys are probably going to get better coffee. You guys have pretty good coffee in Buffalo. I got to take that back. But but Yarmmo is a uh is a coffee connoisseur. He’s got the big gi, you know, the $10,000 coffee machine in his office. Uh, you know. All right. Ask Yarmmo when you see him. Hey, uh, can we get some coffee? And he’ll swoop you right up to the office. And All right, let’s do a good tip. I wish you wouldn’t have said that uh, publicly so that way I could keep that to myself. But uh, but this is where you get exclusive content, so I guess I can’t be too uh, upset about it. George, I know you got to get to the ballard. Is Tim Hortons a sponsor of yours? No. Oh, Tim Hortons is not a sponsor, but Tim Hortons is in the press box, I believe, at the uh Oh, very good. The old logo, too. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, you guys have Yeah, Buffalo’s got great You guys got it good, man. You got good press food. You’ve got the snacks upstairs in the press box. You got good coffee. You got it good. You got it cooking. Enjoy the final and um we’ll touch back uh we’ll touch base again. Uh but it’s great. It’s perfect timing. I was going to talk to you uh at some point regarding uh the final especially uh with it getting heated and busy. I thought not it’s a perfect time to reach out now and then the Ka lane news today like made it a no-brainer. So, thank you. I’m glad you did. I’m glad you did. It was good seeing you as always and uh thanks for having me. E thanks George. Oh, one last quick I’m sorry. I know I told you I’m No, no, I’m good. I’m good. You are at George Richards on Twitter and you joined in April 20 uh 2009 which is not right away. It’s but how did you get George Richards? Okay, so I originally when I signed up I was originally I had a blog at the Miami Herald called Onfrozen Pond. My original Twitter handle was on frozen pond but then I signed up and I got the George Richards. It was available. It was available. um or or I had to wait one day it was available and I took it and then I just switched the two accounts and so on frozen pond not a great story the great but you but it was an unfrozen pond mention which is should always be mentioned because it was a legendary NHL blog. Yeah where we used to have that’s where you know it was you know ripping on the Panthers for all their missteps. Yes, that was a lot stuff that I couldn’t get into the Miami Herald went on on Frozen Pond. And like here they go again with another $1 coupon for, you know, I loved it. Buy buy one get five free tickets only at the Panther game. George, uh enjoy the series. Uh good luck to Florida hockey now for the series. Generate a lot of traffic and uh we’ll be seeing you. Any plans to come up here? Uh, maybe in August. Okay, good. I hope I hope to be up in August. Come see you guys. Is it kind of like last year? Kind is it for an unspoken milestone or something that might Are you No. All right. Well, I’ll leave that. There’s nothing. Okay. And I’ll leave it at that. I’m sorry to be vague or cryptic, but is there is there a milestone I need to know about? We’ll we’ll discuss off off camera. All right. Send me a text. All right, man. George, thank you for this. Thank you, Timmy. Be good, brother. [Music] [Music]
George Richards covers the Florida Panthers and used to cover new Buffalo Sabres senior adviser Jarmo Kekalainen. So who better to join this episode of “Tim Graham And Friends” brought to you by CTBK? Tim and Jonah also dig into the latest Buffalo Bills updates.
