MANALAPAN, Fla. — Here’s Jarmo Kekalainen, back in familiar territory, more than two years removed from his last visit to the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa as an NHL general manager, at the helm of arguably the best team he’s ever presided over, and feeling thankful for all of it.
“I love this job,” he says near the end of our 20-minute conversation on Sunday. “I never even considered this a job; it’s a lifestyle. Hockey’s been my lifestyle ever since I put the skates on for the first time, so it’s a great opportunity to be with colleagues, get some dinner, relax a little bit, have some good ideas around the game.
"They call us the gatekeepers of the game, and we’re getting together to make the game better if we can. It’s in great shape, so I don’t think there’s going to be too many tweaks. But if we can make it even marginally better, I think it’s mission accomplished. But at the same time, we get to enjoy some warm weather and camaraderie and tell some stories and jokes and relax a little.”
Just a little, though.
Because for the first time in far too long, barring a catastrophic collapse over the final 15 games of the season, the most serious business of the year awaits Kekalainen’s Buffalo Sabres. They last made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011 — two years before Kekalainen was named general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and 12 years before he was relieved of that job — but they’re steamrolling their way there now.
Kekalainen joined the team as senior adviser to former general manager Kevyn Adams last May because he saw talent and potential in the Sabres that he felt was bound to be realized. He took over for Adams halfway through December determined to end the ridiculous delay in that process.
Kekalainen’s initial message to the players, as relayed to Spittin’ Chiclets by superstar Tage Thompson, was a warning he felt he had to deliver after watching the Sabres stumble out to the 29th-best record in the league through the first 30 games of the season.
“I felt like we got outworked, and that should never happen,” the 59-year-old said. “I think that’s unacceptable with the talent level that we have, and I think that’s probably the biggest part of our start.
“Sometimes it can be pinpointed to one thing in the lineup, and a lot of times the goaltender gets blamed for it. But I think our goaltending was good at the beginning of the season. It gave us a chance every night. We just did not play well enough, did not compete hard enough, did not work hard enough, and that resulted in some losses that shouldn’t have happened.”
The wins that followed began coming in succession over Adams’ three last games in position, but they haven’t stopped since Kekalainen addressed the players.
Still, if the Sabres have rattled off an NHL-high 27 wins over the last 35 games — collecting at least nine more points than any other team in the league over the same span — it’s the players who have driven the standards set by the GM and head coach Lindy Ruff.
“It doesn’t matter what the coach says and what the manager says if they don’t buy in and lead by example,” Kekalainen says. “They drive the standard on how we do things on and off the ice, how we carry ourselves in the hotels when we travel. There’s never any compromise on that no matter what time of day it is, whether everybody’s watching or nobody’s watching. And it has to start from the leaders. And I think that’s where everybody has to buy-in.
"You come from a trade, or you come as a free agent, or a young guy from the minors, you need to see the high standard of the leaders every day and you’ll have no choice but to buy in and do the same things. I think that’s the most important part. Obviously, coaches are important, and they set the standard and the requirement for the daily work, but unless you get those leaders to buy in it’s hard for the coaches. That’s been the focus is making sure that we have the type of leaders that are showing the example every day and driving people to go with them.”
Rasmus Dahlin, 25, has blossomed into his captaincy.
He’s been well supported by Thompson (who leads the Sabres in scoring with 34 goals and 70 points), Alex Tuch (who’s been as dangerous as he’s been versatile, with 28 goals, 29 assists, and a plus-17 rating), and Mattias Samuelsson (who has 36 points and is a team-high plus-31). And everyone else has followed, giving the Sabres the offensive depth to outscore anyone and the defence and goaltending that’s convinced Kekalainen he could be closer to fulfilling a lifelong dream than ever before.
If he didn’t believe the Sabres could win the Cup, he’d have not taken grand-slam swings at the trade deadline.
Not that Kekalainen would confirm rumours he went hard after St. Louis Blues centre Robert Thomas.
As for reports that Kekalainen completed a trade for Thomas’ hulking teammate, Colton Parayko, who ultimately decided not to waive his no-movement clause to join the Sabres, there was no denying them.
Nor was he hiding his discontent for how that situation played out publicly.
“I’m just talking in general, it’s always disappointing if any information that should be confidential within the organization leaks out,” Kekalainen said. “A lot of times, there’s a lot of people involved outside the two organizations — it could be agents, could be doctors, could be a lot of different people — and in today’s world, with social media, stuff can get out before we’ve even made a trade call.
"It’s disappointing. I take it very seriously. I know St. Louis did some investigating within their own group, and I always tell our group that it’s bad career planning if you’re going to leak confidential information, and I think it’s extremely important and professional to keep things tight.”
Still, the ripple effect, though perhaps not as strong as it would’ve been had the Parayko deal gone through, was confidence bolstered for his team.
Smacking a few singles helped, too, with depth defenders Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn, depth centre Sam Carrick, and experienced winger Tanner Pearson acquired for a cluster of mid-level prospects and picks.
“The one thing as manager that I wanted to show the group,” said Kekalainen, “was that they earned the right of us doing everything we can to help them.”
A big part of that meant keeping Tuch, a pending unrestricted free agent Kekalainen said he wants to sign before July 1.
“He’s a very valuable player for us in many different ways — not only scoring, but penalty killing and defensive situations and size — and he’s a great teammate and great pro,” he added. “We just need to get a contract done.”
Kekalainen wouldn’t comment on whether any progress has been made on that file, but he had no hesitation expressing his belief the Sabres are ready for what comes next.
They’ve won four of the five games since the trade deadline and left him feeling confident they’ll continue to work at a brand that can win come spring.
“I think that we’re a deep team, whether it’s on defence or on the forward side. Our goaltending’s been good,” Kekalainen said. “We definitely have enough skill. We have enough guys that can score. We have a really good back end. We have the physicality.
"Guys have shown now that they have each other’s backs and that they’ll push back if that’s the type of game our opponents want to play in trying to push us out of our comfort zone with different styles. I think we’ve responded well.”
It's reinvigorated a great hockey market, eliciting a massive response from a fan base that’s long been starved to see the Sabres reassert themselves as a playoff team, let alone a contender.
“It’s incredible,” Kekalainen said. “It’s such a passionate fan base. I think we’ve sold out 11 games in a row now. Every game from now on in is sold out. It’s amazing. This is what you dream about always as a manager is the fans are excited, the city’s excited.
"They have the Sabres logo on the border bridge of fans coming from Canada to Buffalo. They had the Sabres logo on the official billboards that say ‘USA,’ and that’s fun. You can see it on the streets; people are wearing our gear, our merchandise, and the flags are flying on houses, apartments, and cars.
“Now we have to just keep earning their respect. That’s what it’s all about. With our play, we have now earned their respect to this point, and they’re excited, but we’ve got to keep earning it every night.”
