- Jeff Kealty left the Predators after 25 years to take the Sharks assistant GM job
- He interviewed to run Nashville in May before the job went to Chris MacFarland
- Read below for Kealty on the Roman Josi draft call that defined his run
Jeff Kealty spent half his life inside one NHL organization. This summer he walked out of it.
The Sharks hired Kealty as an assistant general manager on July 17, closing a 25-year run in Nashville that started with a scouting job in 2001. He laid out the decision to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean and did not dress it up.
“Twenty-five years . . . that’s half my life,” Kealty said.
The 50-year-old interviewed for the Predators’ general manager opening in May. Chris MacFarland got the job in June, and Kealty called him the right hire. Nashville would have kept him on staff.
Daugherty asked him why he left anyway.
“I could stay and keep doing what I’m doing and be comfortable,” Kealty said. “I absolutely love the Predators organization. But if there was a time to do it, I think this was the time.”
What Nashville is actually losing is a draft table. Kealty ran his first one in 2008, and the pick that defined it came on day two.
He was asked about the players he is proudest of finding, and he went straight to a Swiss defenseman nobody else was in a hurry to take.
“I really, really pushed for (Roman Josi). We had him high on our list, probably 15th or 16th or something like that,” Kealty said. “When he was still there in the second round, we traded up for him . . . Now all these years later, you see what he’s become.”
Josi went 38th overall and turned into a captain, a Norris Trophy winner and the face of the franchise. The rest of Kealty’s record is stacked in the middle rounds too, with Juuse Saros, Viktor Arvidsson and Alex Carrier all coming out of the fourth.
Watch Kealty break down what turned out to be his final draft class in Nashville:
Longtime Swedish scout Lucas Bergman told Daugherty what the room felt like with Kealty running it.
“He gave everyone a chance to speak, but you also knew you had to come prepared,” Bergman said. “He was almost like an older brother. You never wanted to disappoint him.”
MacFarland has already rebuilt the room above and around that chair, adding Rob Blake, Jamie Langenbrunner and Vukie Mpofu. The Predators have not named a replacement to run scouting, and last week they posted an opening for a director of hockey research and development.
In San Jose, Kealty takes over pro scouting and works next to Mike Grier, his old Boston University teammate. We covered that hire when it landed in July.
Kealty admitted he will keep half an eye on the prospects he left behind, naming Matthew Wood, Brady Martin and Ryker Lee. His parting line was about effort rather than regret.
“I’ll work my tail off no matter where my feet are,” Kealty said.
