After a long tenure with the Buffalo Sabres after his playing days ended, Kevyn Adams was let go from his GM position on Dec. 15, 2025. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Still looking to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2011, the Buffalo Sabres parted ways with GM Kevyn Adams on Monday.
Jarmo Kekalainen, who was hired by the team as a senior advisor last May, now steps into the general manager’s role. The 59-year-old native of Kuopio, Finland previously served as the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets for just over 11 years, and became the NHL’s first-ever European GM when he was hired in Columbus back in 2013.
When Adams, 51, moved into Buffalo’s GM chair in June of 2020, the Sabres were already nine years removed from the post-season. With 68 points in 69 games before the 2019-20 campaign was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffalo sat 13th in the Eastern Conference, three points shy of qualifying for the NHL’s 24-team summer ‘bubble’ playoffs.
Terry and Kim Pegula purchased the Sabres in 2011. In November of 2013, they moved on from longtime GM Darcy Regier. He had run the team since 1997 and overseen its lone run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999, as well as delivering a Presidents’ Trophy in 2006-07.
Tim Murray then guided the ship for the next 2.5 years, drafting Sam Reinhart second overall in 2014 and Jack Eichel at No. 2 in 2015. But Alex Nylander was a miss at No. 8 in 2016 and the Sabres failed to gain ground in the standings. After last-place finishes during a rebuilding phase in his first two years, Buffalo moved up to 23rd in 2015-16 and regressed to 26th before Murray was let go in April of 2017.
Jason Botterill, now the GM of the Seattle Kraken, oversaw the next three seasons. He acquired some key players when he picked up goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the second round in 2017, defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson in 2018 and center Dylan Cozens at No. 7 in 2019. But still, there was minimal upward movement in the standings. The Sabres finished 31st (last), 27th and 25th under Botterill’s watch.
All the while, Adams had been working in various roles with the Sabres. The right-shot center retired from playing in 2008, after 540 NHL games with six different teams. In 2009, he came to Buffalo as a development coach, then spent several seasons deeply involved with the team’s youth hockey program, the Buffalo Jr. Sabres. Eventually, he moved into the team’s business operations side while building a strong relationship with the Pegulas.
When Adams succeeded Botterill in the GM chair in 2020, the move was framed as a cost-cutting measure amid the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. At the same time, many jobs within the organization were eliminated entirely.
With no front-office experience, Adams was regarded with skepticism by the Sabres’ savvy fanbase. During his tenure, he gave them few reasons to reconsider. The high-water mark was a 20th place finish in 2022-23, just one point out of a playoff spot. But the Sabres then backslid from 91 points to 84 in 2023-24 and 79 in 2024-25.
This season, despite just having wrapped up a six-game road trip with three-straight wins out west, the Sabres are currently tied with the Blue Jackets for last place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 14-14-4. But because the Eastern Conference is so tightly packed, they’re not completely out of the post-season mix — just six points away from a wild-card spot.
Kekalainen’s hiring in May looked like a signal that the Pegulas might be ready to move on from Adams if their hockey team didn’t get off to a good start. That notion was reinforced by Terry Pegula’s statement on Monday.
“The hiring of Jarmo was the result of an extensive search process in which Jarmo stood out as our top choice for the senior advisor position,” Pegula said. “Jarmo has distinguished himself over the last eight months, and his experience, professionalism, and drive speaks for itself. I am looking forward to him leading our organization to the next level.”
In addition to the Sabres’ inability to gain ground in the standings, Adams’ time in Buffalo will be remembered for the players who thrived after he traded them away.
That trend began under Botterill. He made the 2018 deal that sent an unhappy Ryan O’Reilly to the St. Louis Blues, where he promptly won a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy.
Adams quickly found himself at odds with Jack Eichel, who wanted to deal with a neck issue with a surgical procedure that didn’t pass muster with the Sabres’ medical team. Both sides dug in before Eichel was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights in November of 2021, and underwent the procedure of his choice. He went on to win a Stanley Cup in 2023, finished fifth in Hart Trophy balloting in 2024-25 and his currently ninth in NHL scoring with 41 points in 31 games — a career-best pace of 108 points over a full 82 games.
In the summer of 2022, Adams traded Sam Reinhart to the Florida Panthers for a first-round draft pick and goaltender Devon Levi. A consistent 20-goal scorer with Buffalo, Reinhart jumped to 33 goals and 82 points in his first year in Florida, then exploded for 57 goals in 2023-24 — and has been a crucial part of the Panthers’ back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.
Not every deal was a dud: the 2024 swap that brought back defenseman Bowen Byram in exchange for Casey Mittelstadt was solid, and Ryan McLeod has taken a step forward since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2024.
But the 2025 deadline deal that sent Dylan Cozens to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a package headlined by Josh Norris hasn’t paid off yet. Cozens has 40 points in 52 games with his new team, but the change of scenery hasn’t altered Norris’s tendency to find himself on the injured list. He has played just nine games for Buffalo but when he is in the lineup, he’s productive — with 10 points in those nine games.
Ultimately, Adams will remembered as an out-of-the-box hire who wasn’t able to improve on the results of the two GMs who came before him. He leaves with a record of 178-196-42.
In Kekalainen, the Sabres are getting an experienced general manager with a steady hand who took the Blue Jackets from a club that made the playoffs once in their first 12 years of existence to a squad that made the playoffs four straight years during his tenure. They also pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time when they swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2019 post-season.
During Kekalainen’s time in Columbus, the team’s record was 409-362-97. And while the small market made it difficult for the Blue Jackets to retain players, Kekalainen took some big swings in trades. His draft list includes 2025 Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski, and he shocked the hockey world when he was able to sign Johnny Gaudreau as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2022.
Adams is the first NHL general manager to be fired during the 2025-26 season. Remarkably, no in-season coaching changes have been made yet, after nine teams started the year with new bench bosses.
The Kekalainen regime will officially begin on Thursday, when the Buffalo Sabres host the Philadelphia Flyers.