BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Sabres on Friday hired former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen to serve as a senior adviser, adding a wealth of experience to general manager Kevyn Adams’ front-office staff.
Kekalainen will report to Adams in a newly created role in which he’ll be involved in all areas of the hockey department, the team announced. The 58-year-old from Finland has been out of the NHL since being fired by the Blue Jackets in February 2024 following an 11-year term as GM — the league’s first European-born person to hold the title.
His hiring addresses growing criticism Adams has faced in having little experience overseeing the Sabres since taking over the job as a first-time GM after Jason Botterill was abruptly fired in June 2020. Adams, who is from the Buffalo-area, is a former player who had brief experience as an agent and assistant coach, and was working in the Sabres business department upon being hired as GM as part of a series of ownership's cost-cutting moves in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
The Sabres are in the midst of an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought, with Adams on the hot seat entering the final year of his contract.
Amid questions regarding his job security in Buffalo, Adams placed an emphasis on upgrading his staff by saying “we’ll take a look at everything,” during his season-ending address to the media last month. The Sabres' season was undone by a 13-game skid in December, which Adams has since second-guessed himself as to whether he should have made a move to upgrade his roster.
In a statement released by the team on Friday, Adams said Kekalainen quickly established himself as a prime candidate for the job of senior adviser during his search process.
“From his extensive history in scouting, his long tenure as an NHL general manager and his vast experience at the international and European pro levels, Jarmo has a remarkable resume and a long history of success in this league,” Adams said. “I couldn’t be more excited to add another significant piece to our front office as we continue the process of adding to our staff.”
During his tenure in Columbus, Kekalainen oversaw the most successful stretch in Blue Jackets history. The span included the team finishing with 43 or more wins four times, including a franchise record 50 in 2016-17, and qualifying for the playoffs five times, after doing so only once in its first 12 seasons of existence.
“We are aligned in our philosophies and share the same core beliefs on how to build a winning team,” Kekalainen said. “I’m eager to help in any area I can, and think I can offer a fresh perspective to supplement the staff already in place as we look to improve our roster this offseason.”
Kekalainen’s addition comes after the Sabres hired former NHL forward — and former Adams teammate — Eric Staal in the role of special assistant to the GM. The Sabres front office currently features three assistant GMs in Jason Karmanos, Mark Jakubowski and Jerry Forton.
Following a brief NHL playing career in the early 1990s split between Boston and Ottawa, Kekalainen made the transition to scouting, and eventually took on front-office roles with the Senators and St. Louis Blues.
He also has experience at the international level in serving as assistant GM of Finland’s national team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where the nation won a bronze medal, and 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
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FILE - Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen looks on during the second day of the NHL hockey draft, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta.
People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
