It turns out a GM change wasn’t the only front office move the Sabres are making this week. New GM Jarmo Kekalainen has made his first big change as the team announced that associate GM Jason Karmanos has been relieved of his duties.
The 51-year-old has been involved with an NHL team for the better part of three decades now. Karmanos started his career in Carolina as an assistant GM in 1998 while his father was the principal owner of the team. He remained in that role until 2013.
After a year out of the league, Karmanos resurfaced in Pittsburgh’s front office under GM Jim Rutherford, with whom he worked in Carolina. It wasn’t long before he became an assistant GM there as well, a title he held until being let go in October 2020.
Later that season, now-former Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams brought Karmanos in with a more prominent role as associate GM and GM of AHL Rochester. However, he remained based out of Pittsburgh, often working remotely. At this point, no replacement has been named for either role so in the interim, either Kekalainen or assistants Mark Jakubowski or Jerry Forton will shoulder the extra responsibilities.
The guy never did anything to earn or keep a job. Has only worked under people he has known. He won’t get a job going forward, unless Rutherford or Ron Francis hires him. Horribly unqualified for any position in professional sports.
Be mad at your Dad, not him. Boo hoo
You know nothing about his abilities. Stop being so ignorant
He had a multi-meaning nickname as a young adult – Cooter!! Bestowed by none other than Brendan Shanahan.
Who hires people they don’t know?
A collective cry comes out from the Nepo-baby hive everywhere!
It’s just a new GM shaping his own front office. Nothing more.
So he only had a career because of daddy and daddy’s friend? The NHL is such a nepotistic circle jerk.
Do a little research on him, he’s been very successful in hockey management and actually played hockey, does he have a billionaire dad? Yeah he does, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good at his job. If he wasn’t any good he wouldn’t have had as long and successful career as he’s had. TRUE nepo baby’s don’t last long at their job if they don’t do anything. Don’t be so bitter dude.
Sup, Jason?
So good at his job he couldn’t even move to Buffalo to do it? lmao found Jason’s burner account.
Of course nepo babies last long. Donald Jr. has been a nepo baby his whole life.
Chip says research him. Ok, what do we know about the guy? The son of the owner, he almost certainly was groomed as future team president in Carolina (as usual for the sons of the owner) so he would have been involved in business decisions early on. He was unceremoniously fired in Carolina and Pittsburgh. The open question is what he did he learn on the job over the years?
In Buffalo, he was involved in player development and helped run the AHL team. Not relocating from Pittsburgh is no big deal, since travel distances are short between Pitt, Buffalo, and Rochester but it does mean he was likely isolated in office politics.
Karmanos went to Harvard and played hockey there, played on the American World Junior team, played with Kevyn Adams, and spent 1 year in the ECHL, and then immediately hired as Asst GM and VP. So he clearly had zero experience in 1998 and was a nepobaby then, but would have gained experience over the years.
In Pittsburgh, he was in charge of player dev, scouting, a sort of Rutherford go-fer, and the AHL team. So basically the same stuff that he was doing in Buffalo except the go-fer for Adams part.
What is my conclusion? Karmanos was probably fine at the business ops part and maybe underqualified on the scouting and player dev parts. But if he just hired good people and managed them properly, he would be fine, since that is what most managers do. He was a personal pal of Kevyn Adams. Those guys never survive management shakeups in any workplace.
Jarmo is good at scouting and probably will hire someone from Columbus for this anyways, so Karmanos is completely redundant.
Marc Bergevin? Seriously, that was the best option?