Kevyn Adams

Jarmo Kekäläinen Marks A Merciful End to the Adams Era

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

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. 

Continue reading →

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

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

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. 

Continue reading →

Peterka Moves to Utah in a Wednesday Night Shocker

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

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. 

Continue reading →

An Adult in the Room: Kekäläinen Adds Experience to Buffalo’s Front Office

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Kevyn Adams has some company. The Sabres hired Jarmo Kekäläinen as Senior Advisor Friday, completing a move that had been rumored since the spring and adding an experienced voice to Adams’ staff. 

Kekäläinen will report to Adams as part of the larger front office structure, an arrangement that was expected if and when the Sabres found a suitable candidate for the role. Exactly what level of influence Kekäläinen will have is to be determined. It’s safe to assume he’ll be at the table when it comes to draft picks, trades and signings, but whether or not he’ll have any sort of veto power or notable influence on those decisions won’t come to light for some time. 

Considering what has been shown of the Sabres’ front office through reporting and team-produced content is a group where several opinions are heard on a subject and Adams puts value in hearing from multiple viewpoints on a player or acquisition. Kekäläinen ought to blend nicely into that operating procedure. He is a seasoned front office executive who is fresh off a decade at the helm of the Columbus Blue Jackets, his point of view will be unique to Buffalo’s management group. Only Jason Karmanos comes close to having a similar background to Kekäläinen. 

Continue reading →

Looking to Past Drafts for the Framework of a Trade for the Sabres First Round Pick

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

This is a crucial offseason for Kevyn Adams and the Buffalo Sabres. This isn’t exactly new information for anyone who followed along as Buffalo’s playoff drought reached 14 years. A year after Adams tossed around phrases like “win now” the Sabres roster doesn’t feel any closer to breaking that drought than they did in the spring of 2024. 

There is certainly an expectation that Adams will finally have the sort of offseason fans have been hoping to see from him in each of the last two years. An active, aggressive approach to bring in players who can move the needle has been glaringly absent in recent years and this may be Adams’ last chance to get it right. 

Buffalo currently holds the ninth selection in this year’s draft after sliding two spots as a result of the draft lottery. Even if they had held their original draft slot, the Sabres weren’t likely to land one of the top talents in this year’s draft. While there are a handful of intriguing prospects who will be available at pick nine, none jump off the page as the sort of must-have talent that could take Buffalo to the next level. Another good, but not great, first round prospect won’t move the needle much for the Sabres. Certainly not in the short term. The relative weakness of the draft class and the glaring need for help on Buffalo’s roster have left many hoping Adams will trade his first round pick for help this summer. 

Continue reading →

Sabres Make Front Office Addition with Eric Staal

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

It appears the dominos have begun to fall in the Sabres front office. The team announced Wednesday that Eric Staal has been hired as special assistant to the general manager, marking the first change in the team’s front office of the offseason. 

There was an expectation that some changes would hit the Sabres front office after yet another year without playoff hockey, but the hiring of Staal and additional reporting on Wednesday suggests Kevyn Adams will return as the team’s general manager. Whether or not the club adds anyone else around Adams remains to be seen. Some have suggested another hire may be imminent to fill some sort of senior advisor role or position with a similar title, but no announcements have been made at this time. Further to that point, Frank Seravalli reported that there is no clear indication that the Sabres will move forward with that plan. He also added a terrifying tidbit that Seth Appert, lauded mastermind of a 16% power play, may see his influence in roster decisions expand. 

Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 13.33 – Isles Win NHL Draft Lotto, Sabres to Pick 9

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

A pair of teams leapt up the draft order after the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery. The New York Islanders will be picking first overall while the Utah Hockey Club moved from 14th to fourth, locking in the San Jose Sharks at second overall (:20). The Sabres were bumped to ninth overall after two teams from behind them moved up. We walk through the lottery results and offer a few thoughts on the direction we’d go if we were in the GM chair with the Islanders (6:58). Then we tackle the Sabres options at ninth overall (15:53) The 2025 class isn’t exceptional after the first few picks, meaning there are a number of directions the Sabres could go with their selection (23:10). We touch on a few as we look ahead to next month’s draft and the rest of the offseason.

You can find The Instigator Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts:

iTunes
Spotify
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Pocket Casts

Continue reading →

A Steady Backup Should be High on Kevyn Adams’ To-Do List

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

There isn’t one cause for the Sabres’ failure to break their playoff drought this year. Buffalo’s special teams weren’t nearly good enough, the team failed to spend to the cap once again and goaltending didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. 

You can find several more areas that fell short for the Sabres this year, but the problems between the pipes are going to get plenty of attention this coming offseason. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s play regressed significantly this season, his goals saved above expected at 5-on-5 dropped from 10.8 last season to -3 this year per MoneyPuck. Hockey Reference clocks his GSAA at 10.1 last season and -17.6 this year. His counting stats also took a noticeable dive, going from a .910 SV% in 2023-24 to .888 this season. Luukkonen has been more erratic and leaky this year, showing many of the struggles which defined his early NHL play as opposed to the more controlled, commanding performance he enjoyed last season. 

James Reimer’s opportunities have been fairly limited until a recent string of starts. While his play has been steady in a backup role, his long-term outlook is limited at 37 years old. Whether Lindy Ruff lacked trust in Reimer, had too much faith in Luukkonen or he simply didn’t operate with a good rotation, it’s telling that Reimer has played as many games this month (five) as he did between December 21 and the end of February. Reimer was a far better insurance policy for the Sabres than they’ve had in recent years and he’s been a steady option (despite his lack of playing time) after Devon Levi proved he needed more AHL seasoning. However, Reimer’s has only played 17 games this year and would need to play the majority of this stretch run to get to 25. At his age, he’s not the sort of backup who could be relied on for over 30 starts, which is what the Sabres will need for 2025-26. 

Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast – Quick Hit Trade Deadline Recap

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Josh Norris was the big addition for the Sabres on deadline day and Kevyn Adams did a fair bit of work moving out Dylan Cozens and Henri Jokiharju and extending Jason Zucker. This episode is a quick rundown of Friday’s work by Adams, offering a brief breakdown of the Norris acquisition. In addition, this episode takes a look at a busy deadline around the league, highlighting the most notable deals made at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline.

You can find The Instigator Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts:

iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
iHeartRadio
TuneIn
Google Play

Continue reading →

Kevyn Adams Strikes a Hockey Deal for the Second-Straight Season

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Kevyn Adams had a productive deadline, pulling one of the more significant trades of the window for the second year in a row. Friday’s fireworks means that Buffalo’s swap won’t grab as many headlines as last year’s Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram trade, but swapping Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert and a second round pick for Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker is a significant shake up of the team’s core. 

Similar to 2024, Adams struck for a hockey trade to help reshape his roster. Cozens was a notable piece of Buffalo’s core, locked up long term and wore an A this season. Trading him is a significant decision that almost certainly is meant to strike a chord in the room in a massively disappointing season. On the ice, Norris will step right into Cozen’s role as the team’s second center. He’s a quality contributor on the power play and should be a big upgrade over Cozens with the man advantage. Norris’ 12 power play points outpace Cozens’ 4 points of power play production this year. For their careers, Norris has 60 points (33+27) with the man advantage compared to 42 (12+30) for Cozens. For a team that struggles on the power play, that’s a helpful addition. 

Norris’ injury history is the concern here. He has missed significant time with shoulder issues the last few years, though he is on pace for the highest games played total of his career this season. If the Sabres can keep him on the ice, they’ll be in good shape.

Continue reading →