Jarmo Kekäläinen

Jarmo Kekäläinen
Kekäläinen (right) in 2012
Born	(1966-07-03) July 3, 1966 Tampere, Finland
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shot	Right
Played for	Ilves Boston Bruins KalPa Tappara Ottawa Senators Västerås IK
National team	Finland
NHL draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1985–1995

Jarmo Kekäläinen (born July 3, 1966) is a Finnish professional ice hockey executive and former player who briefly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. Since his retirement, Kekäläinen has served as an executive, most notably as the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2013 to 2024.

Playing career

Kekäläinen began his hockey career in his native Finland, playing for four years in Finland with a number of teams as well as for Finland in the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. Kekäläinen then played for the Clarkson Golden Knights for three years, establishing himself and gaining interest from professional teams. In his second year with the Knights, he scored 44 points in 31 games and was named to the ECAC Hockey League first all star team. In his third year with the Knights, he scored 18 points in eight games before signing with the Boston Bruins. Kekäläinen played parts of two seasons with the Bruins before returning to Finland, where he played for another two years. For the 1993-1994 season, Kekäläinen went back to North America, where he signed with the Ottawa Senators. He played briefly with the Senators that season, playing in 28 games. The following season, Kekäläinen played in Sweden before retiring in 1995 because of knee problems which were caused by injuries.

Executive career

Immediately after retirement Kekäläinen became involved with front office work in many capacities. He was general manager of IFK Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League from 1995 to 1999, during which time IFK won one Kanada-malja and finished as the runner-up to TPS the following year. During this time with IFK, Kekäläinen also worked in several capacities with the Ottawa Senators. After he left Finland in 1999 Kekäläinen became director of player personnel for the Senators until 2002. While with the Senators he helped in selecting future NHL stars Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, and Ray Emery. In 2002 Kekäläinen joined the St. Louis Blues as assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting, where he helped draft much of the core of the team in the early 2010s, including defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and forwards T. J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund, David Perron, and David Backes. After being passed over for the Blues' general manager job for Doug Armstrong, Kekäläinen returned to Finland to take the general manager job with Jokerit.

While with Jokerit, Kekäläinen had an unwritten escape clause with ownership that permitted him to leave if he was offered a general manager job in the NHL. That opportunity came on February 13, 2013, when after Scott Howson was fired the previous day, the Columbus Blue Jackets' president of hockey operations John Davidson, under whom Kekäläinen had worked while with the Blues, hired Kekäläinen to be the new general manager of the Blue Jackets. As a result, Kekäläinen became the first European general manager in the National Hockey League.

On April 28, 2021 Kekäläinen was named assistant general manager of Finland's national team for the 2022 Olympic Games.

On February 15, 2024, Kekäläinen was fired by the Blue Jackets after a 16–26–10 start to the season, as the Blue Jackets looked for a "fresh perspective as [they] move forward".

Personal life

Kekäläinen has a bachelor's degree in management from Clarkson, and graduated with a M.Sc. (Econ.) in marketing from the University of Tampere in 2000. He was selected as the alumnus of the year in 2018. Kekäläinen has a wife and two daughters.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1983–84	KalPa	FIN.2		23	0	1	1	2		—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	KalPa	FIN.2		35	10	7	17	6		—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Ilves	FIN U20		9	12	6	18	4		3	0	1	1	0
1985–86	Ilves	SM-l		29	6	6	12	8		—	—	—	—	—
1986–87	Ilves	FIN U20		12	12	10	22	16		4	0	3	3	6
1986–87	Ilves	SM-l		42	3	4	7	4		—	—	—	—	—
1987–88	Clarkson University	ECAC		32	7	11	18	38		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	Clarkson University	ECAC		31	19	25	44	47		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Boston Bruins	NHL		11	2	2	4	8		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Maine Mariners	AHL		18	5	11	16	6		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	Boston Bruins	NHL		16	2	1	3	6		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	Maine Mariners	AHL		11	2	4	6	4		1	0	1	1	0
1991–92	KalPa	SM-l		24	2	8	10	24		—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	Tappara	SM-l		47	15	12	27	34		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	Ottawa Senators	NHL		28	1	5	6	14		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	PEI Senators	AHL		18	6	6	12	18		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	SC Rapperswil–Jona	SUI.2		—	—	—	—	—		1	0	0	0	0
1994–95	Västerås IK	SEL		32	2	6	8	32		1	0	0	0	0
SM-l totals				142	26	30	56	70		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				55	5	8	13	28		—	—	—	—	—
AHL totals				47	13	21	34	28		1	0	1	1	0

International

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1986	Finland	WJC		7	4	3	7	2
1991	Finland	CC		6	0	1	1	0
Senior totals				6	0	1	1	0

Awards and honors

Award	Year
All-ECAC Hockey First Team	1988–89

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• St. Louis Blues profile