For years, the joke about the Sabres wasn’t the roster. It was who was running the show.
That joke is officially dead.
Buffalo hired John Davidson as a senior advisor Monday, and on its face, that’s a depth hire. It’s not a trade, it’s not a free-agent signing, it’s a 73-year-old executive taking an advisory role. But look at what it actually builds. Jarmo Kekälainen runs the front office. Marc Bergevin, a former Canadiens GM, sits beside him as associate GM. Lindy Ruff, a Stanley Cup-winning voice behind the bench. And now Davidson, a Hockey Hall of Famer who has spent 18 seasons as a president of hockey operations across three franchises, in the room too.
That’s not a front office anymore. That’s a roster of people who’ve actually won before.
Buffalo has spent over a decade rolling its eyes at how this organization was run. Bad drafts, no plan, no continuity. That reputation didn’t come from nowhere. So when a front office starts stacking respected, credentialed hockey minds on top of each other, that’s worth more attention than a middling free-agent add would get anywhere else.
The Davidson-Kekälainen connection isn’t a coincidence hire. Davidson brought Kekälainen to Columbus back in 2013, making him the NHL’s first European general manager. The two of them then ran the most successful stretch in Blue Jackets history together, four straight playoff appearances and a franchise-record 108 points in 2016-17. This is a partnership with a track record, reuniting in Buffalo.
“John and I have a strong working relationship that we have developed over many years,” Kekälainen said. “His experience leading multiple organizations, combined with his player evaluation skills and relationships around the NHL make him a great fit for this role.”
Davidson’s resume speaks for itself beyond the suits, too. A first-round pick of the Blues in 1973, he played a decade in net before becoming one of the sport’s most respected broadcasters, a path that earned him the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award and a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
None of this replaces winning games. Buffalo still has to prove last year’s breakout wasn’t a fluke, and a senior advisor doesn’t score goals or block shots. But sustained success in this league gets built by people who’ve actually done it before, not by hope. For the first time in longer than anyone wants to admit, the Sabres’ front office looks like a group built to last, not a group fans have to make excuses for.
That alone is worth the headline.
