Several candidates have interviewed or will soon be interviewed for the Islanders vacant general manager position including Ken Holland, Marc Bergevin, Mathieu Darche, and Kate Madigan. There’s at least one more candidate for the spot as Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that former Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen is also expected to interview for the job this week.
Kekalainen was one of the NHL’s more longer-tenured GMs until last spring when he was let go after spending parts of a dozen seasons running the Blue Jackets. Over that time, Columbus made the playoffs only five times and only once did they make it past the first round. Having said that, a large chunk of the Blue Jackets’ current core was either acquired or drafted by Kekalainen.
The 58-year-old also has spent time working with Ottawa and St. Louis before joining Columbus. With the Sens, he started out as a European scout before becoming their Director of Player Personnel in 1999. Three years later, he joined the Blues as their top amateur scout before moving to an assistant GM role three years after that.
As far as candidates go, Kekalainen is certainly one of the most experienced options available. He also has plenty of familiarity with the division from his time with Columbus and would have seen or scouted most of New York’s current roster. On the flip side, missing the playoffs in each of the last four years with the Blue Jackets might hurt his candidacy to replace outgoing GM Lou Lamoriello.
Staple also touches on how Lamoriello might be impacting the team’s efforts to replace him. He relays that owner Scott Malkin is actually hoping to keep the 82-year-old past the end of his contract on June 30th in an advisory role. While the belief is that Lamoriello would act as an advisor to Malkin and not the new GM, his continued presence could act as a deterrent to potential candidates who might be unnerved at the prospect of shaking up the roster that Lamoriello built while Lamoriello still has some involvement with the team.
To that end, Staple notes that the search is not running as fluidly as it first seemed though it’s unclear how much is tied to Lamoriello’s potential advisory role. Holland appeared to be their top choice but he’s interviewing for the same role in Los Angeles and may prefer to remain on the West Coast. Staple suggests the door isn’t entirely closed on Holland getting the job if he doesn’t join the Kings but at the moment, it’s unlikely he’d take the role.
For now, Kekalainen joins Darche and Bergevin as those expected to formally interview for the job in the coming days so if one of those emerge as the successful candidate, the search will be over. Otherwise, they might have to start widening their search to find their next general manager.
Why? Bergevin is even better than Jarmo.
This is why this team will never improve beyond an also ran team. We don’t renew the old Gm’s contract because we want to go in a different direction, yet we want to retain him as an advisor. Well which is it? Grandpa Lou is clearly a dinosaur in this league and has been for sometime now, but we still want his input and advice? He’s ruined this team. His hey day was clearly with the Devils, so move on from him. And Jarmo isn’t a much better choice. Why is it so hard to admit a mistake and find younger people with fresh ideas, and who are closer to how and what the league is in today’s game. This ownership is clearly here for the financial gains, and not the product they present. I’ve been an Islander fan since “72 but it is getting harder and harder to watch what was once a proud franchise get dragged down by owners that really don’t care as long as UBS Arena is full of fans willing to pay to watch this pathetic team never improve.
How can you part ways with Lou Lamoriello to put Jarmo KK, who has done the Blue Jackets Circus, in place?
I feel the GM bag empty, really empty.