Buffalo Sabres

Jarmo Kekäläinen Marks A Merciful End to the Adams Era

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The Kevyn Adams era came to a much anticipated end on Monday when the Buffalo Sabres relieved him of his duties as general manager and named Jarmo Kekäläinen as his replacement. 

Adams’ tenure should have ended at least eight months earlier, though a case could be made that he shouldn’t have seen the summer of 2024, either. Regardless, the Sabres finally moved on from their deeply unpopular GM in favor of a candidate whose resume is probably the strongest the Sabres have had at the position since (minimally) Darcy Regier. Adams’ lack of experience became a major talking point as the Sabres floundered, particularly over the last two seasons as the team languished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. 

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An Uncanny and Unusual String of Ailments Threatens to Derail Buffalo’s Season

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The Sabres needed a lot of things to go right in order to make the playoffs this season. Reliable goaltending. A competent power play. Stouter defense thanks to offseason additions. And, a healthy lineup. 

Buffalo’s health issues started in training camp, keeping the likes of Zach Benson and Michael Kesselring out of the lineup to open the season. It took about 50 minutes of game one for Josh Norris to wind up on the shelf with a long-term and Justin Danforth went down shortly after. Now, the team is managing the absence of four key forwards and a leave of absence of their captain and best player. 

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Winning Picks Abound With the Lululemon x Fanatics NHL Collection

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Last month, I got a look at some of the newest items in Lululemon’s NHL apparel line. The Lululemon and NHL collaboration, in partnership with Fanatics has dropped a range of apparel for all 32 NHL teams in both men’s and women’s styles. 

Both myself and Mrs. 2ITB picked up a few items, including the Everywhere Belt Bag, the College Cobalt Soft Jersey Half Zip Pullover, the Vapor License to Train Hoodie, the Heathered Core Ultralight Hoodie and the Heathered Core Ultra Light Long Scuba Oversized Half Zip. (Would it kill Lululemon to shorten the names of some of these items?) We’ve had the pleasure of wearing them for a couple of weeks and here are the pros and cons of the NHL x Lululemon line. 

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Double Minors: Assessing the Sabres After 10 Games

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In many ways the first 10 games of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons have been a mirror image for the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres opened 0-3 in October of 2024 before scraping together a few wins, landing at 4-5-1 after 10 games. This year, the Sabres dropped their first three games but sit at 4-4-2 after 10. Both runs even featured convincing wins over the defending Stanley Cup champions (5-2 last year and 3-0 this year).

Yet, things feel more optimistic after the first 10 games this year. Maybe it’s just because we have the gift of hindsight to inform our view of this iteration of the Sabres. Don’t forget, after opening 1-4-1, the Sabres bounced back into the playoff race by the end of November, holding an 11-9-1 record after beating the Sharks on November 23. They wouldn’t win again until December 23, mercifully ending the 13 game losing streak that sunk the season. October 2025 has been promising, with a more potent power play and reliable goaltending improving the narrative around the team. 

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Sabres Stay Proactive Shuffling Goalies Ahead of Opener

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Of the number of things that need to go right for the Sabres to break their playoff drought this season, goaltending is the most vital. 

So, when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was held out of the start of camp and then left his lone preseason appearance with an injury, you wouldn’t blame anyone for expressing their concern with the positon. 

It’s been a game of musical chairs in the crease for the Sabres this preseason. Alexandar Georgiev was signed just ahead of training camp as an insurance policy for Luukkonen only to be waived on Tuesday after the Sabres claimed Colten Ellis off waivers from the Blues. Meanwhile, Devon Levi got two brief looks before being sent to Rochester and Alex Lyon is poised to inherit the starter’s job while Luukkonen recovers. 

Swapping Ellis and Georgiev is an interesting and telling decision by the Sabres. Their acquisition of each also speaks to their commitment to Levi’s ongoing development. 

Kevyn Adams was proactive in his initial pursuit of Georgiev. With Luukkonen on the shelf to start camp, and with Scott Ratzlaff and Topias Leinonen as the only organizational options beyond Levi, Georgiev represented a high floor option to insulate Buffalo’s goaltending stable as they waited for Luukkonen to heal up. While Georgiev’s recent track record wasn’t confidence inspiring, he was one of the few goalies remaining on the market with an NHL resume. His signing at least offered some form of short-term insurance, eliminating any potential risk of a first-year pro being the next recall. 

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Two in the Mailbox: Tuch, Byram and Would You Take a New Owner?

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The mailbag is back for the dog days of summer. This version runs down a host of topics ranging from an arena update to the sustainability of the roster. As this is a longer one, I’ll spare you any sort of protracted introduction and get right to the questions.

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Double Minors: Draft Day Musings

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Bowen Byram may have been the favorite to be the first player moved by Kevyn Adams but the defender is still a Sabre as we creep up on the first round of the NHL Draft. 

The available information still suggests that Byram will be moved, even with Elliotte Friedman’s report on Friday’s 32 Thoughts that the market may have softened. Acquiring Michael Kesselring in the JJ Peterka trade provides a capable partner for Owen Power, something fans and the team have been desperate to see for some time. The way the season ended, with Byram playing mostly third pair minutes while Mattias Samuelsson slotted in next to Rasmus Dahlin, pointed to a divorce between the Sabres and Byram. Especially after his blazing start to the year as Dahlin’s partner. 

Bringing in a (likely) top four defenseman for Peterka creates opportunity for Adams as he shops Byram. I think there was probably some expectation that Byram could be flipped for a right handed defenseman, and that’s probably still on the table if the Sabres feel they need to find someone more reliable (on the ice and in the training room) than Samuelsson to play with Dahlin. However, the current defense corps is structured in a way that I would lean towards expecting to see a forward as the primary return for Byram as opposed to another defenseman.

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Peterka Moves to Utah in a Wednesday Night Shocker

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Kevyn Adams made his first significant offseason move, trading JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan. Peterka moves to Utah with a five year, $38.5 million extension in his back pocket while the Sabres land the potential partner for Owen Power they have been seeking. 

The trade return for the Sabres is underwhelming. There’s no way around it. Peterka is a young, productive forward with team control and he was traded with an extension in place. Peterka’s value should have been sky high after 50 and 68 point seasons that both sniffed the 30-goal plateau. To only pull a middle-pair defender and a bottom six forward leaves an awful lot of value on the table. 

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2ITB Sabres Mock Offseason – Chris’ Version

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

After Tyler took his turn in the Mock GM chair, I’m trying my hand at the exercise, laying out my vision for an offseason that might just break Buffalo’s playoff drought.

Our aim with these mock rosters is to remain somewhere in the vicinity of reality (read: no trades for Connor McDavid) in terms of the deals we swung both via trade and free agency. Some latitude was necessary for the sake of conversation, for example, pursuing trades including players with no trade protection. But overall, the hope was to put together an offseason plan that was realistic.

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2ITB Sabres Mock Offseason – Tyler’s Version

Tyler RoederLeave a comment

As the calendar gets closer to the NHL Draft on June 27 I figure it’s now or never to put together a 2025-26 Sabres Mock Offseason. The Panthers have wrapped up a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final victory over the Oilers, and while the Panthers are busy parading the Cup around South Florida the rest of the league has begun the offseason in earnest.

Teams have begun to make trades, sign their pending free agents, and in some cases grant players permission to speak to other teams, but Kevyn Adams has not yet begun the heavy lifting required to take the Sabres from two seasons of regression in the standings to playoff contender.

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