Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen Joins the Show | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen Joins the Show | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Good morning, Jeremy and Joe on WGR. Welcoming in New Buffalo Sabres general manager Yarmmo Kakalinan. He joins us in the Western Hotline Sabres and Flyers tomorrow night to uh open up this uh this new era. Yarmo, good morning. It’s it’s Jeremy and Joe. Thanks for taking some time today. >> My pleasure. Thanks for having me. >> So Yarmmo, when you when you get the job, do you text all the other GMs or do they they text you? Like how do you how do you fire up the lines of communication again? Just like hey if you’ve got anything you need uh I’m you know I’m I’m running things. Do you get texts or do you send the text and calls? >> I think a little bit of both and there’s a text chain among the GMs information is shared on. So I got added to that quickly and and got some phone call as well. Made some phone calls and um you know back back in the action. >> This might be a question. I don’t know if you can answer this. Who’s the administrator of the GM text chain that that sends somebody out and puts somebody in? Is there one GM that set that up 10 years ago that’s got it or who’s in charge of that? >> No, it seems like uh there’s always somebody that’s active that does it. I don’t think anybody’s in charge of it, but it happened quickly. So, I uh have to uh buy a beer to the uh the person that added me quickly. >> All right. You’re So, you’re back you’re back on the text chain and uh in charge. It’s uh it’s day two on the job. You know, yesterday you had said like today was day one. Uh day two on the job. How quickly do you do you feel like you’ll be getting your hands kind of in there on on what the Buffalo Sabres will start to look like moving forward? >> Well, I have a pretty good idea because I’ve spent most of the fall with the team watching team live, whether it was at home. I’ve been on the road trips. I’ve been watching practices. So, that was my intention the whole time. I wanted to get to know the team before I could give any any good advice in my role that I had there uh going into the season. So, I have a pretty good head start on everything. And and I’ll keep evaluating because I think that um team is in a good spot right now having won three in a row and and um you know, I I think that and I’ve said this many times that we have all kinds of skill and talent on the team. We just have to get more consistent and more competitive and and uh good things will happen. You said yesterday you absolutely think the team has a chance to make the playoffs this year. You know, that could be a little bit about the team. Is it also a reflection of how you feel like the division and the conference have looked so far? >> Yeah, it’s very tight. You can see it when you uh put together a little bit of a streak and all of a sudden you jump three, four spots in the standings and and it goes the other way too. So that’s why you can’t have any losing streaks because the the standings are so tight and the more teams you have to jump, the harder it gets. And but there’s a lot of hockey left. I mean, we play 82 games in the regular season and and um we got lots of time to uh to uh make headway here and and but one day at a time. We don’t want to look too far ahead and definitely don’t want to look back. We just want to concentrate what can we do today to get better. >> While while it is one day at a time, I want to ask you one thing about, you know, this team, if you you believe they could make the playoffs, what do you think making it would mean if you were able to get there? because, you know, your comments about the 14-year playoff drought and how that’s that’s not something that’s tied to you and your decisions. I think a lot of people would understand that. The release of that, the the ability to actually permanently bury it and maybe just kind of show up in the playoffs once again. Do you feel like there would be value just as the person that runs the team in what that would allow you to do? >> Oh, first of all, you got to make the playoffs to have a chance to win the cup and that’s the ultimate goal. So that’s what I said yesterday too that the the goal can’t just be the uh making the playoffs and be happy with it. And I also said that, you know, we made the playoffs five times in 10 seasons that I was in Columbus and and you were happy for seven to 14 days. If you lost in the first round and you were you were unhappy again and and then if if when we went to the second round, you were a little bit happier longer, you know, that would be 28 days maximum if you lost in the second round like we did. So, you know, it’s it’s misery until you go all the way. And and um I also said that I’d be most disappointed if we went to the final and lost in the in in the final because that’s when you could really taste it and be so close. You could sense it. But, um it would be the ultimate disappointment to to fall short that that time. But, you got to make the playoffs to have that chance to to uh go all the way. So, I think it would mean a lot for everybody, the fans, the team, the guys on the team in particular, they they are committed. They they want to make the playoffs to have that chance to to have that experience and so do I. So, we’re going to work our tails off the rest of the way and and take it one day at a time and and uh that’s the goal. Yarmmo, do you sense at all that whether around the league on the player level, coach le level level, organizational level that the franchise has a credibility problem that you need to come in and improve? Do you get that sense at all? >> Well, I think winning brings credibility and and respect and that’s something that we have to earn and and the same applies to that and one one day at a time by working hard and everybody I think everybody around the league um realizes the talent’s there. We just got to get the results and then the respect will uh will come with it. >> Yarmokina with us on the West Her hotline. You mentioned you see talent on this roster. You’ve been around for the majority of the fall. The team was dealing with injuries a lot through that. Do you see talent on this team that is that you’re wanting to see realized more? Is it more about just the work or do you feel like there is more to be had with players that maybe were drafted high? Um, not to name names, but guys that would be seen as having talent that maybe aren’t getting the exact results you’d want. >> Um, I think there’s a little bit of both. There’s been some guys that have played maybe a little bit better than I thought. Some guys maybe could play a little bit better. I think everybody can always improve. And that’s why I want to have that mindset of what can we do today to get better. Whether it’s on the individual level or or at a team level, we can always improve. There’s always you should never get complacent and thinking that okay, I’ve made it. I’ve this is the level that I want to be and I think every day you should come to the rink as a professional hockey player thinking that what can I do today to get better but um you know we we have a lot of talent. I think I said yesterday also that we’ve lost some games that we’re expected to win because we got outworked and that’s unacceptable to me. Um I think you should approach every game with the with the professional pride that you’re going to get the most out of you whether it’s on the individual level or at a team level. and not you’re not going to always be feeling it as a skilled player. There there are times when when you just don’t don’t get the skill to come out the right way, but those are the days when you got to grind it out where you really have to work at it and and um you know get the points through your u work ethic, your your competitiveness and doesn’t always have to be pretty, but but you have to have to grind and there are a lot of teams that might have less talent than we do, but they work their tails off. So, if we’re ever going to take them lightly, which we never should anybody. We can’t afford to do that, um, then they’re going to stick it stick it to you and and make you pay and and um that’s that’s unacceptable to me. We cannot get outworked. >> Talking with Yarmmo Keoline and Sabres GM on the Western Hotline, Yarmmo, is there a timeline on evaluation for Lindy Roth, the coaches, you know, yesterday you said everything would be evaluated. Do you have any sort of idea like timeline for how that might go down? No, I mean I I’ve I’ve worked with the coaching staff there and being in the room and seen how hard they work. They’re great people. They’re, you know, as I said, Lindy’s uh resume speaks for itself. He’s been in the league for a long, long time, has had great success. He’s still as passionate as ever about hockey and and he’s there early every morning studying tape, interacting with the players, communicating. He’s uh he’s a great coach. We have a great staff. They’re working their tails off getting ready for Thursday now and and keeping the streak alive. So I I’m there to support them and and evaluate them and that’s my job and and that’s an answer that I would give uh in situation whether I you know went anywhere in the hockey world you know you you have to come in and evaluate the situation and and make decisions and that’s what I’m doing and and this is day two as you mentioned. >> Do you expect like they’ll finish the year in this time frame? I’m not speculating anything like that. I’m just going to repeat that Lindy’s a great coach and I really enjoyed working with him. >> How about your lessons you took away from your time in Columbus? You know, you had a lot of time there in Columbus and you know, maybe a year away, two years away from the job, you start to think about the job that you did and what you might do differently. Is there anything you took away from that time, your first time as a GM? >> Oh, there’s a lot of lessons. That’s that’s what I how I want to approach life in general is that that you make mistakes, you learn from them, you move on and and there there are certain things that that I probably do differently. I don’t want to get into into that. Those are my internal uh development things that that I I want to learn the lessons and be be a better general manager. And I’m sure that I I had some great lessons that’s going to make me better the second time around. >> You you talked yesterday a lot about the playoffs and chasing a Stanley Cup. I wonder from your time in Columbus how you view or how you look back on when the team went all in and won a round, traded draft picks away. I guess how do you look back on that season in Columbus? Cuz that was certainly something that I think people around the league took note of and I’m sure Columbus fans would also say that was some of the best time that they’ve had as fans of that team. So, I don’t know like is it positives and negatives maybe to when you go all in or are very aggressive like that? >> Well, I I believe that if you have a core that you think that you have a chance to win the cup, you have to go all in and and that’s what we did. And we knew that the time was nearing. Um time was getting up with some of the the upcoming free agents that were going to leave the organization. So, we decided to go all in instead of trading those guys for just futures and and moving the the uh the clock uh with with our building. So, we got all those draft picks back when we had to go through a rebuild. So, I I don’t think that we sacrificed the future of the organization. It just happened that um we played Tampa Bay first round, were able to beat him, and then we had to play Boston, who I think was second or third in the uh regular season in the league. Um five times uh we made the playoffs and four times we had to play the eventual Stanley Cup winner in the first round and then Boston uh who we lost to in the second round that year, 2019, they went to the Stanley Cup final, lost in game seven. So yeah, we didn’t have the easiest route, but that’s that’s the way it’s going to always be that you going to have to beat the best teams in the league to win the cup. And and as I said, whether you lose in the first round or second round, it doesn’t really feel any better. It might feel a little bit better being longer in the playoffs, but but it’s still a disappointment. But um you know I’ I’d do it again if we were in the same situation with the Buffalo Sabres and you believe that you have a core that has a chance to win the cup, load it up and go for it. Yarm, with regard to Alex Tuck, you know, you’re talking about that situation in Columbus expiring contracts on some veterans. In this case, would you view the deadline, the trade deadline as kind of a bit of a unofficial deadline on to get something done with him? because at that point you start to worry about if the player would leave and you know all the speculation about whether or not you can let a player walk to free agency without getting anything in return. Do you feel like there’s uh an unofficial deadline to get a deal with him done that is the trade deadline? >> Well, we’re going to have internal conversations about that, but we’ve made it clear that we want to sign Alex Tuck and we like the player. We like the person. He’s he’s a good teammate. He’s a great pro and and he’s had a lot of success in Buffalo and and hopefully he’ll feel the same way and want to continue and and um we can come up with a contract soon. >> The marketplace changing a lot with the cap rising Yarmmo probably is a lot different than or at least a little bit different from when you were in Columbus. The coming years with the cap going up a lot. Do you see that as making your job easier in situations like that or in general the fact that there will be more cap space or is the fact that more teams will have more space even make it harder in some regard? >> Yeah. And the salaries go up with with the cap space. So, you know, usually uh makes the situation similar. But the thing about spending to the cap that that I uh like to talk about a little bit, it’s not just about spending to the cap that’s going to make your team real good. I think you always have to keep flexibility, too, because there’s going to be opportunities during the season that you want to make sure that you have that room and you have that flexibility to make the team better. If you just think about spending to the cap, then you have to go dollar for dollar with the with any trade that might be in front of you. So, it isn’t always smart to to spend right to the cap from the start and not leave any flexibility for your for your team to make the moves that you nec uh you could potentially make. So, I I think there’s a little bit of you got to always think about the flexibility. You you have to think about uh what might be ahead of you there to uh to make the team better and then um when you have a chance to make it better, then you can spend to the cap when you have that flexibility and rule. One thing you mentioned yesterday like that you have all the resources to do it and the cap is one element of it. Uh structure of NHL contracts is also it some teams don’t like to frontload contracts because of the way that that works. Uh have you been given assurance that however it needs to be done. Let’s say you’re in a bidding war for a free agent. The structure of the contract is not something that would uh get you out of that game. No, it’s not going to be uh we’ve had those internal conversations, but but again, you have to think of the flexibility of of the uh of the team moving moving to the future. If you uh lock your contracts in certain way, they might limit you from from making other moves. So, it’s not just about not willing to do some kind of structure or pay upfront or or or uh you know, whatever the uh situation may be. It’s about keeping that flexibility um for the team to have the opportunity to make it better when when another um opportunity presents itself in in form of trade or or a free agent or whatever it may be. But uh that those are the things that we have to think about as management, not necessarily are we willing to pay or or give the money up front. >> Yarmmo Keolin, couple more quick ones. Yarmmo if you could. Um just a general thought of if it’s a scouting report or what you’ve seen from Ukapanin. >> He’s a talented goalie. He’s u he’s had some injuries and and had a tough start this year because of he wasn’t healthy through the training camp and didn’t get a lot of repetition uh through the exhibition season, but he’s played some good games and he’s he’s going to be a important part of us moving uh forward here. Do you have any preference uh or would you leave it up to the coaches of whether Tage Thompson is a center or a winger? >> I leave those type of situations to the uh decisions to the coaches. I’m in the coach’s office and and I like to nudge a little bit if if you want to call it that where I give my opinion and then let them coach. >> Yarm Keolin on the Western Hotline. Yarm, thanks very much for the time and uh best of luck going forward. >> Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. >> News Sabers GM Yarmmo Kolanian on the West her hotline. You have any thoughts you want to throw our way? 80305501885502550. Thanks to the Sabres and thanks to Yarmal for taking some time on a uh Wednesday morning ahead of a must-win game. I didn’t I didn’t tell him it was a must-win. >> You did not. >> I did not. >> He did not. >> He’s He’s not been listening enough probably to know, you know, that I have this curse. Maybe he’ said maybe he would have asked if I I not say that. We should have asked him if tomorrow was a must-win game. I had that written down and forgot. He would not commit to Lindy being the coach for the rest of the season. If you missed that. >> Yeah. I mean, I wanted to ask a timeline. >> Yep. >> And I whatever. I don’t think it’s crazy to not commit. What if they lose 12 in a row? You know, what if something goes south? >> Fair. >> Like you don’t want to, >> you know, sometimes that can be framed as he wouldn’t commit. And you know, will you commit to Alex Tuck will get signed? Well, you know, there’s a lot of things that have to happen, but sure, you could say, you could you could commit. You could say, yeah, we’re going to see how this thing finishes out, right? >> Who knows if he has a coaching idea. I I do ultimately get to the very basic litmus test of they have to fire people for people to take this seriously. And like that’s not rooting for people to lose their jobs. It’s just people have stayed in this organization for very long that just keep staying through coach and GM changes. And if a GM comes in and has full autonomy, some of those people just naturally would go. >> It just has to happen. If it doesn’t happen, then it’s going to be hard to buy a regime change. And then what we’re we’re talking about is like, all right, a different decision maker at the top. And that’s really all that’s changed, >> right? >> But a regime, >> which is a big change. It is a big >> is like the biggest change you really they you could imagine them making, >> right? And without like saying I want to kick Lindy to the curb or that I want everybody fired. Like I would have more belief that Kalinan has full autonomy, right or wrong, if there were more changes that came. If no other changes come, he might of course through his autonomy be choosing to not make any changes. But as an outsider, you know, he’s talking we have all these internal conversations. A lot of stuff happens internally. What do we do? What do fans do? We read what they say. We read what they do and we kind of make our own judgments and perception becomes reality. So the reality is Krueger staff coaches staying again >> would kind of would would call into question the whole like everybody just wants to keep these people. So without even saying I I know who these people are or want them fired or care, it’s just normal operating procedures in the NHL and in pro sports would be >> more front office staffing moves would happen. >> Yeah. So there you go. 8030550885502550 and eventually player movement, right? like there are probably guys that Kevin Adams valued higher than the league did that now Yarmmo Kalinan would come in and say um why do I need Payton Krebs this badly around because the previous GM might have thought well he’s part of the EL trade >> biggest trade I made he’s a piece of it so >> he’s tied to the fold trying to make that work >> he’s tied to no one >> he’s he’s tied to no one at this point so whether that’s Yeah, Quinn or whether that is I mean it could be whoever whoever Adams would have added over the years that would have been seen as his biggest acquisitions. I think you can now start thinking about differently, especially the ones that did not live up to expectation, which, you know, to different degrees. Like Quinn and Krebs are the first two that come to mind for me for that because one’s a top 10 pick and the other was the top prospect in an organization, another NHL organization. And neither one of them are difference makers really at all for you. And before GM might have thought, I want to make that work. And now if I’m a guy coming in and I’m just looking at the bare bones of everything, like what do I want to keep around? I want to make sure I keep T around and Dene around and you might want to keep Tuck around. Mloud’s a good player. And then once I start getting down the list of your Quins and Krebs, I’m going I have no ties to these guys at all. Why do I need to keep them around? >> Yeah, >> I’ll trade them for peanuts because for me it doesn’t look bad. the previous GM trades Jack Quinn for a third round pick and it’s wow you went from drafting that dude in the top 10 to you traded him for almost nothing right whereas now it’s just yeah traded him for almost nothing cuz I don’t care >> right to make a a comparison if I don’t think Brandon Bean is leaving town or losing his job at all but if he just stepped away and a new GM came in and like took Keon Coleman and traded him for a sixth >> it wouldn’t be different than Bean doing that so yeah like draft picks and trading them for less than you spent right A regime change can often bring that 80305501885502550. Your question about TAGE. I liked his answer. I let the coaches do that, but I might tell them what I think. >> Yeah. >> And I’m glad he didn’t kind of back away from that because you run the team. And right, this is another thing here like where you want to talk about top down. The Bills have a structure where the GM and the coach are kind of viewed as separate but equal reporting to the owner. If the GM hires the coach and you know he GMs are always a little bit nervous to say I tell a coach what to do. A coach coaches, right? >> Yep. >> But I’m going to get a coach that aligns with what I think and I’m going to tell that coach and I think Tade should be at center because like hey Josh Norris if he’s ever healthy again he’s a good center and let’s give ourselves two good centers instead of you know those two on the same top line. whatever, like a vision, the idea of being aligned, having a normal normal kind of hierarchy would be nice instead of what the Savers have kind of done the last however many years, which is what band-aids. Take this off, put this in, take that this can kind of be a a not a house cleaning because they’re not tanking. They’re not going to the bottom. It doesn’t seem, but you could get this full change mid-season like, “All right, we’re going to do this thing and who’s out there that we can hire?” Paul in Buffalo before the break. Hey Paul, good morning. >> Hey guys, great interview. You asked all the right questions and let me say this to the to the listening audience. There’s not another radio station in America who would ever spend an entire morning drive on a hockey team. Not the Detroit uh market, not Pittsburgh, not any market in this country. And it is it is such a credit to what a hockey town this is that we can spend three and a half hours on a morning show when we have you know the most exciting football franchise in the sport and we’re talking about the worst franchise in a far lesser sport all day because this is just a passionate hockey market. So Yano Kalinan when when you’re asked about the drought and and you say it’s not on you the whole thing you miss a huge opportunity. You missed a huge opportunity to say with conviction it is on us. The drought is on me. The drought is on Rasmus Dalene. The drought is on Paige Thompson. It is on Alex Tuck. They’re going to embrace it and they’re going to break it because making the playoffs is not an embedded goal towards winning the Stanley Cup for the Buffalo Sabres right now. It is a goal in and of itself in a gosh darn important one. Second point, until Ralph Krueger’s coaching staff is fired, fair or unfair, just or unjust, this is the real world, which is neither fair nor just until Ralph Krueger’s coaching staff is fired. No one believes you have full autonomy, Armo Kalinan. No one believes you have full resources. Period. Stop. That’s not debatable. It’s a fact. You have to fire Ralph Krueger’s coaches. That’s the end of it. Once you do, a large swath of the fan base will come back overnight. You don’t need to go on a 10ame winning streak. You need to make us think you’re serious. And because we all love you, we will come back in droves. That’s what it’s like. That’s how much you have us over a barrel. 15 years of misery. And I cannot wait to come back. Just fire the people who drive us insane. Thank you guys. Great interview. Let’s go Sabres. Beat the hell out of Trevor Zager. It’s Thursday night rat. Miss Daly, I forgot to say this. Dene, have your head on a swivel and your eyes open. You know their lounge lizard coach Rick Tocket. And for God’s sakes, put on a tie, Rick Tocket. You look like garbage out there. He’s a dirt ball. He’s going to come after you. So have your eyes open, Dolly. Have your head on a swivel and be ready to put an elbow into Ziggress’s jaw, guys. Have a great show. Goodbye. >> Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Paul. Uh Dene uh got ejected for hitting Zagress from behind last game, so maybe that’s the thought there. Uh there could be retribution. There probably won’t be. Um >> I He didn’t necessarily say the drought’s not on me. >> You said you didn’t say that specifically. >> You went back and found McDermott saying I we own that. >> McDermott and Bean. I mean, McDermott said that more specifically, but that was their overall tone when they were both introduced in their press conferences eight years ago. >> Yeah. >> And it’s not just never has really been that way for the Sabres. And it’s not necessarily meaningful to whether they will break the drought, but listen, you got a fan base that kind of like Paul said is dying to come back and just dying to be invested in it. >> And you want to feel like that your suffering over the last 14 years isn’t ignored, isn’t that the team doesn’t pretend like it doesn’t exist, cuz it does. and everything around the reaction from fans in the building that players have had a tough time understanding at different times to how GMs and coaches are talked about. Like everything around the team comes with that context. So, anything that looks like pretending that it doesn’t exist just never sits right with me. And I agree. Like I think I think if they made their slogan for a season break the drought, it would go over well with fans instead of is it sharpen your sword still or something? >> I don’t know. >> I don’t know. >> Like if they made their season slogan break the drought, I don’t think they’d ever do that because I mean they should. If they made it just get in, >> just get in. >> Just get in. Like people would get on board with that. Shirts for five. We we we wouldn’t been doing that for the last five years. Just get in, >> right? >> Just get in. We’ll worry about the next steps after the next steps. Yeah. I I have a similar thought about this. Like we’re late for a break, so I’ll >> I don’t really think Yarma was that bad, by the way, with the draw questions. No, but it just it wasn’t the tone I was looking for. >> Sure. I mean, there’s there’s stuff that we hope a guy would say. He could say what he wants and you know you could be kind of aligned and just dreaming of it being a little bit

Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Sabres General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen for a chat about his plans for the future of the Buffalo Sabres. The guys discuss his approach to the Alex Tuch contract situation, whether he has any limitations in the hockey department, Lindy Ruff’s future as head coach, and much more!

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