Kevyn Adams was named the ninth general manager in Buffalo Sabres franchise history on June 16, 2020. The 2025-26 season will mark his sixth as general manager and 11th overall with the franchise.

A native of Clarence, New York, Adams originally joined the Sabres’ organization in 2009 as player development coach, a role he held for two seasons before serving as an assistant coach during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 campaigns.

Beginning in 2013, Adams was instrumental in building The Academy of Hockey program at LECOM Harborcenter from its inception while also serving as president of the Buffalo Jr. Sabres. He was elevated to general manager of LECOM Harborcenter in January 2019. In September of 2019, Adams was named the Sabres’ vice president of business administration. In that role, he oversaw the day-to-day business operations of the team throughout the 2019-20 season.

Prior to his time with the Sabres and LECOM Harborcenter, Adams had a Hall-of-Fame playing career at Miami (OH) University and was a first-round pick of the Boston Bruins in the 1993 NHL Draft. Adams spent 11 seasons playing in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks. He was an alternate captain on the Hurricanes team that captured the Stanley Cup in 2006.

Adams received his bachelor’s degree in 1996 from Miami (OH) University and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix in 2014. As a player, he was very active with the NHLPA and, following his career, worked with O2K Worldwide Management Group in player development and player scouting.

Jarmo Kekalainen was named senior advisor for the Buffalo Sabres on May 30, 2025. The 2025-26 season will mark his first in the role and 28th working in an NHL front office.

A native of Kuopio, Finland, Kekalainen spent parts of 12 seasons as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2013 to 2024, becoming the first European-born general manager in NHL history. During his tenure, Columbus reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times, set a franchise record with 50 wins and 108 points in 2016-17, and captured the organization’s first playoff series win with a first-round sweep of Tampa Bay in 2019.

Prior to his time in Columbus, Kekalainen held executive roles with the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators, serving in positions that included assistant general manager, director of amateur scouting, director of player personnel, and European scout. With St. Louis, he oversaw seven draft classes that produced 32 NHL players, including 12 who went on to play more than 500 NHL games. He also spent three years as general manager of Jokerit in Finland’s top professional league and worked with the Finnish national team program.

Kekalainen played collegiately at Clarkson University and professionally in Finland and Sweden before transitioning into management.

Jason Karmanos enters his fourth full season with the Sabres in 2024-25 after being named the team’s associate general
manager on April 14, 2021.

In his role, Karmanos serves as the general manager of the AHL’s Rochester Americans and oversees the Sabres’ scouting,
player development and analytics departments.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Karmanos previously spent six seasons (2014-20) with the Pittsburgh
Penguins, serving as assistant general manager from 2017-20. He was the club’s vice president of hockey operations from
2014-17.

Karmanos started his career in the NHL as a member Carolina Hurricanes’ front office from 1998-13, serving as assistant
general manager for 13 of those seasons.

Karmanos has been part of three Stanley Cup championships over his 25-year career working as a hockey executive in the NHL. He won with Carolina in
2006 and with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, and he has his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup to mark each occasion.

Before becoming a hockey executive, Karmanos played four seasons (1992-96) of college hockey at Harvard. He also competed as a member of team
USA at the 1994 World Junior Championship along with Sabres’ GM Kevyn Adams. After graduation, Karmanos attended training camp with the Pittsburgh Penguins and started the 1996-97 season with the Raleigh IceCaps of the ECHL. His playing career was cut short just a couple months later due to an eye injury.

Prior to joining the Hurricanes’ front office, Karmanos spent two years working in Boston for the investment banking firm Robertson, Stephens and
Company. Karmanos currently lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Christy, and their four daughters.

Jerry Forton enters his first season as the Sabres’ assistant general manager, and his 12th season with Buffalo overall, in
2024-25. He was promoted to assistant general manager on June 11, 2024.

Prior to his promotion, Forton served as Buffalo’s director of amateur scouting from 2020 to 2024. He previously spent three
seasons in Buffalo as the team’s director of collegiate scouting and two seasons as assistant director of scouting. Preceding
that, Forton served as an amateur scout for the Sabres during the 2014-15 season and as an assistant coach during the
2013-14 campaign.

Before joining the Sabres organization, Forton spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Harvard University (2011 to
2013), two seasons as an assistant coach at UMass-Lowell (2009 to 2011), and 14 seasons as an assistant coach at
Niagara University (1995 to 2009).

During his tenure at Niagara, Forton helped transform the Purple Eagles from a first-year Division III varsity program in 1996-97 to an NCAA Division I
tournament team in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Niagara’s 1999-2000 team finished with a 30-8-1record and reached the NCAA semifinals. Niagara won
four conference regular-season championships and four tournament titles in Forton’s time there. The Purple Eagles ranked among the nation’s top 20 in
six of their 11 Division I seasons.

A 1987 graduate of University of Buffalo (UB) where he played both varsity soccer and hockey from 1983-87. He was inducted into the UB Hall of Fame
for both sports in 1997. He also graduated from UB law school in 1989. He served as a player agent for two years shortly thereafter.

Mark Jakubowski is in his 20th year with the Sabres and currently serves as the club’s assistant general manager.

His responsibilities include salary cap analysis, contract research relating to player negotiations and arbitrations, managing
player transfers, team roster administration, and all matters relating to compliance with the NHL Collective Bargaining
Agreement and other NHL agreements. Jakubowski also assists with the American Hockey League hockey operations of the
team’s minor league affiliate, the Rochester Americans.

Sam Ventura enters his fourth full season with the Sabres after being named the team’s Vice President of Hockey Research
and Strategy prior to the start of the 2021 season.

He spent the previous six seasons as a part of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ front office and captured two Stanley Cups with
the team (2016 and 2017). Ventura served as the Penguins’ director of hockey research from 2017 to 2020 prior to being
promoted to director of hockey operations and hockey research during the 2020 offseason. He joined the Penguins as a team
consultant in 2015.

Ventura attended Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned a bachelor’s in computational finance and statistics, a
master’s in statistics and a doctorate in statistics and served as an assistant coach for the men’s hockey team.