Cap Raeder first met Jarmo Kekalainen in the summer of 1987. That’s when Raeder, then the Clarkson University hockey coach, picked up the incoming freshman at Boston Logan International Airport.
They didn’t drive directly to Clarkson, a school nestled in New York’s northernmost reaches.
Raeder first had to go to his cabin in Vermont because he was playing in a local softball tournament that week.
Nearly four decades later, Raeder chuckled at that memory. His new left winger, a native of Finland, had no choice but to detour to Vermont with Raeder and his family to watch a sport he’d never seen.
Former Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen looks on during the second day of the 2023 NHL draft in Nashville, Tenn.
As it turned out, Kekalainen had lots of questions about softball. He wanted to learn the nuances. As their next two years unfolded together at Clarkson, Raeder didn’t initially see the makings of an NHL scout and general manager in Kekalainen. But he saw sparks of what would turn Kekalainen into a respected hockey mind and a leader in the sport.
“He was a good decision-maker on the ice,” Raeder said of Kekalainen, a left wing for Clarkson from 1987-89. “He was solid, and he thought through the game well. Coming from Europe and adjusting to the North American game, back in those days, was a pretty good test. If you could do that, you were pretty hockey savvy – and Jarmo, he’s tremendously motivated.”
That same curiosity, motivation and firm hand in making decisions became integral for Kekalainen as an NHL executive. He first served as director of player personnel with the Ottawa Senators, then as an NHL scouting director with the St. Louis Blues. He later became general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2013-24.
Now, Kekalainen takes on a key role in the Buffalo Sabres’ front office. Hired on May 30 by the Sabres, he will serve as senior advisor, reporting directly to general manager Kevyn Adams and filling what presumably will be a notable position that did not previously exist in the Sabres’ front-office structure.
Kekalainen has seen every level of the professional game as an administrator, and he’s experienced the highs and lows of being an NHL general manager.
Kekalainen is known within the NHL as a take-action leader who wields a competitive fire, whether it’s playing pickleball or helping a team launch above its competitive ceiling. He’s also regarded as an individual willing to be progressive, even by unorthodox means. It might involve studying the organizational development of a business that has nothing to do with hockey or taking on a television analyst role in his native Finland.
Kekalainen, 58, joins the Sabres at a decisive point. They seek their first playoff berth since 2011. They confront the perception that while the pieces are there for success, something is still missing. Kekalainen’s addition, still fresh, will also bring a necessary voice to the front office and to Adams’ brain trust.
“When you bring in somebody like Jarmo, who has a boatload of experience and, from what I understand, the people that have worked with him – he is not afraid to, when you’re asked, to give an opinion and an assessment,” said Ed Olczyk, a TNT commentator who played for 16 seasons in the NHL. “You want people around you that tell you what you need to know, and not what you want to hear, and that’s very healthy.”
Taking risks to produce success
A native of Tampere, Finland, Kekalainen played pro hockey from 1989-95, including 27 games with the Boston Bruins and 28 with the Ottawa Senators.
He retired in 1995 and became an executive with IFK Helsinki of the Finnish Elite League from 1995-99, then became Ottawa’s director of player personnel from 1999-2002. He was the St. Louis Blues’ assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting from 2002-10, then spent three seasons as general manager of Jokerit in the Finnish League before taking the job as Columbus’ general manager in February 2013.
Kekalainen was also reportedly a finalist to become the New York Islanders general manager this spring, a job that ultimately went to Mathieu Darche.
About a week after Darche’s May 23 hire, Kekalainen signed on with the Sabres.
“Jarmo evolves,” said John Davidson, a senior advisor and alternate governor with the Blue Jackets – and the person who hired Kekalainen as GM. “He understands that times change. He’s a person who really enjoys when times are changing. He wants to stay up and stay ahead of that change.
“He’s open-minded to every aspect of the sport. Analytics, scouting, and I know he’s close to companies in Finland that are world-class, who are really into those things and know how to gather information. He’s worked on that a lot, talking to NFL teams, to pro soccer teams. He’s one of those guys who wants to understand the future and looks at it closely.”
New Sabres senior advisor Jarmo Kekalainen made some bold trades during his 11 seasons as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Gary Wiepert, Associated PressKekalainen projected the future for the Blue Jackets and moved to make it happen. Columbus earned playoff berths in five of Kekalainen’s first seven seasons (2014, 2017-20). Winning came out of taking risks.
At the trade deadline in March 2019, he spearheaded major decisions, with a very real goal: Make a playoff run.
Columbus kept goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and winger Artemi Panarin – widely considered two significant pieces of trade-deadline bait, as they became free agents that summer and left the Blue Jackets. But he also acquired center Matt Duchene, left wing Ryan Dzingel, defenseman Adam McQuaid and goaltender Keith Kinkaid … for seven draft picks, including four first- or second-rounders.
The Blue Jackets swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2019 playoffs but lost to the Boston Bruins 4-2 in the second round; St. Louis defeated the Bruins to win the Stanley Cup that year.
“He pushed all the chips to the middle of the table,” said Jeff Rimer, a longtime NHL broadcaster who called Blue Jackets games for 20 years until his retirement in 2024. “He was aggressive, and it was the right thing to do, but they couldn’t beat Boston.”
Rimer also noted a trade by Kekalainen that initially drew criticism but paid dividends on both sides: Defenseman Seth Jones was traded to Chicago during the 2021 NHL draft for defenseman Adam Boqvist, the 12th overall pick in 2021 (which became forward Cole Sillinger), a second-round pick in 2021 and Chicago’s 2022 first-round pick.
Kekalainen signed Johnny Gaudreau as a free agent in July 2022, a splash move that shocked much of the NHL, as many expected the then-Calgary Flames star to go to an East Coast team.
Kekalainen and the Blue Jackets also made mistakes – notably Mike Babcock’s short stay as head coach. Hired in July 2023, Babcock resigned from the position two months later amid an NHL Players Association investigation into his violation of his players’ privacy by asking to see contents of their phones.
“The thing that went wrong was that maybe they should have been a little bit … and this is talking with other executives that knew Babcock from previous stops … that you had to stay on top of him,” said Rimer, who considers Kekalainen a friend.
“I understand what Jarmo wanted to do, and he wanted to think outside the box. They needed a new culture and someone to lead. Babcock was the guy, but things went off the rails early. But I guarantee you, had Babcock remained, the Blue Jackets would have been more successful.”
Risk, though, is a part of leadership.
“He’s a very motivated guy, and he is not afraid to take chances,” Rimer said.
Familiar refrain, new questions
A familiar refrain surrounds the Sabres, as it has for much of a postseason drought that is now 14 years long: The pieces are there, but …
Plenty of questions surround Kekalainen’s hire, too – questions the Sabres have yet to publicly answer. Neither Adams nor Kekalainen have yet to open up since he joined the organization.
Will Kekalainen be a sounding board for Adams? Will he have a say in the organizational decision-making? If so, how much? Will this be the move that gets the Sabres back to the playoffs?
“It’s an interesting business when you get into rebuilding,” said Davidson, the Blue Jackets’ senior advisor and alternate governor. “I’ve done it a number of times. People plant the trees, and others enjoy the shade. That’s the nature of the business. What I see with Buffalo, they’re trying to expand their front office to get even better, to continue the climb they’re trying to put forth.
“At the same time, it’s the nature of the business and of sports. People want things now. If you can be properly patient and understand the process, if you do that, you’re going to have a bigger payday at the end.”
Anson Carter, a studio analyst for TNT, raises another valid question: Who hired Kekalainen? Was it Adams? Or was it team owner Terry Pegula?
“If it’s ownership’s idea, it could make things a little awkward, as you’re the sitting general manager, thinking that the guy that’s taking over for you (someday) could be looking over your shoulder,” said Carter, who played in the NHL from 1994-2007. “Or, if it’s Adams’ idea, then it’s great. It’s another set of eyes to help you make decisions.”
In fact, Pegula and Sabres COO Pete Guelli formulated the idea of expanding the front office and empowered Adams to interview candidates and hire for the position.
Having a senior advisor in a front office is hardly new to the NHL, either. Several organizations have them, including the Los Angeles Kings (Marc Bergevin), Pittsburgh Penguins (Doug Wilson) and Florida Panthers (Rick Dudley and Paul Fenton).
“The job is just too big for one person or a small group,” Carter said. “You’re looking at a lot of young managers that are now taking over in the big chair, all over the league.
“It’s important to have good, experienced people sitting around your hockey roundtable, as you’re making decisions. Jarmo should certainly help, in that regard.”
However, given the Sabres’ recent streak of futility, Kekalainen could be the necessary voice in the room for Adams and the team’s decision-makers.
“Kevyn is a smart guy,” said Rimer, the longtime Blue Jackets broadcaster. “He’s perceptive. Was he ready for the general manager’s job when he got it? That’s up for interpretation. The Pegulas saw an ex-hockey player, a Stanley Cup champion who could learn on the job. Now, this is where Jarmo can come in and take a role.”
Rimer also describes Kekalainen’s focus. Rimer just knew that even in their conversations, the wheels were turning in the executive’s mind. He was in two places at once.
“He wasn’t being disrespectful to me in any way, shape or form,” Rimer said. “The conversation flowed. But there was something that was on his mind, and he was … singularly focused. He was on a mission in those moments.”
Raeder saw that when he worked with the Kings in the early 1990s and Kekalainen was with the Senators. The two caught each other’s attention in passing at one point, but said little more than hello to each other. At that moment, even years ago as a front-office employee, Kekalainen was locked in.
Many, now, are sure that Kekalainen will bring that focus, that energy – and even that inquisitiveness from years ago, evident during a summer softball tournament in northern Vermont – to the Sabres.
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