Jarmo Kekalainen has taken the helm of a hockey team whose previous general manager made a long list of bad decisions. But Kevyn Adams may have broken the Buffalo Sabres' playoff drought if he implemented one important and underrated aspect into the organization.
The same goes for every front office executive the Sabres have had dating back to when the drought began in 2011-12, when Darcy Regier was in control. Regier lasted until 2013, before Tim Murray replaced him. Murray drafted surefire talent like Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, but the Sabres were still stuck in their losing ways.
Jason Botterill came along after the Sabres moved on from Murray and drafted a franchise cornerstone in Rasmus Dahlin. Even with Dahlin, Eichel, and Reinhart in town, the Sabres kept on losing. Kevyn Adams came in when Botterill was ousted, built a strong prospect pool, and a solid, young core. Even then, the Sabres never broke their playoff spell. There was a bigger issue at play than just who was in charge of the front office.
Meanwhile, Jarmo Kekalainen built the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets into a contender through nearly that entire time frame.
Jarmo Kekalainen did one thing the last four Buffalo Sabres general managers couldn't
Kekalainen brought talent to Columbus just like Regier, Murray, Botterill, and Adams did for Buffalo. But Kekalainen also knew he wasn't taking the Blue Jackets anywhere unless he instilled a winning culture for a franchise that, at the time, earned just a single playoff berth in its history.
Kekalainen established what he wanted his team to look like and hired the right coach for the job. John Tortorella came to Columbus two years after the Blue Jackets hired Kekalainen. Tortorella is one of the toughest coaches out there, establishing an accountability-first mentality, a strong work ethic in his players, and a hard-nosed, blue-collar environment.
While we probably won't see a Tortorella-Kekalainen reunion in Buffalo, Kekalainen showed that by hiring a coach equipped to hold players to a higher standard regardless of their situation, a losing culture can be turned into a winning one. That point was proven between 2017 and 2020, when Kekalainen's teams earned four straight playoff appearances under Tortorella.
Nobody has held the Buffalo Sabres to the same high standard
Since the 2012-13 season, the Sabres have had a carousel of coaches. They moved on from Lindy Ruff in 2013 when the playoff drought was in its second season, and had six coaches in the interim before they ultimately hired Ruff for a second stint.
The overall dysfunction it led to is why the Sabres are closing in on a 15-year playoff drought. They have brought in talent, and there have been franchise cornerstones throughout these last 15 seasons like Eichel, Reinhart, Thompson, and Dahlin. But not a single general manager had hired the right personnel in place to hold the Sabres to high enough of a standard to institute a culture change.
That's what separates Jarmo Kekalainen from every general manager the Sabres have had since this playoff drought began. He has done it once already with bringing in John Tortorella and a staff that turned around a losing franchise like the Blue Jackets. If Kekalainen is going to be successful in Buffalo, he can start by immediately changing the culture.