Fresh off their fifth-straight win, the Sabres continued to make more news Saturday night as they have reportedly hired Marc Bergevin to serve as associate general manager, according to David Pagnotta.
The Sabres announced earlier in the day that they had parted ways with Jason Karmanos who had served as associate general manager under former Sabres general manger Kevyn Adams since 2021. New general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen has seemingly wasted little time in remaking the Sabres front office in his own image.
Bergevin, 60, has been serving in a senior advisor capacity in the Los Angeles Kings organization since 2022, and had previously been employed as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens from 2012 to 2021. The Sabres have now moved on from a GM and AGM combination with no previous general manager experience (Kevyn Adams and Jason Karmanos) to a combination in Kekäläinen and Bergevin with more than 20 years of general manager experience.
Bergevin’s experience with the Montreal Canadiens includes a Cinderella-like run to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2021 covid playoffs. The influx of proven leadership into the Sabres management structure lends credence to Kekäläinen’s claim that owner Terry Pegula has given him total control of the hockey department after years of speculation that Pegula has kept financial reins on the team while insisting on his own hand-picked selections like the underqualified Adams. The addition of Bergevin is undoubtedly an upgrade in their management structure which has been bereft of experienced general manager experience in the past
On the ice, the Sabres won their fifth-straight game on Saturday as they defeated the New York Islanders to move their record to 16-14-4 in a tightly contested Eastern Conference. Goaltender Alex Lyon continues his run of exceptional play and has now won five games in a row dating back to December 9th, with tonight’s .941 save percentage performance the latest feather in his cap.
The Sabres need to get to a two-goalie rotation from the three-headed goalie monster they currently employ as Kekäläinen has mentioned, and while Lyon would no doubt be the most coveted of the Sabres goalies in a trade from other teams’ perspective, he is without a doubt the Sabres’ number one option at this point. Kekäläinen will need to decide whether to move on from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who has three years left on his deal after this season at $4.75m per season, or whether to find a new home for Colten Ellis whom the team claimed off waivers earlier this year.
This will be the first real on-ice decision that Kekäläinen has to make as general manager, and a crucial one at that.
We’ll see if there’s any indication as to the Sabres plan in net moving forward tomorrow when the Sabres will face the New Jersey Devils. Assuming the Sabres do not play Lyon back-to-back, whichever goalie the Sabres chose may tip their hand as to their plan moving forward.
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