Introducing John Kelly!
Kelly, a second-generation broadcaster who has called NHL action since 1989 for the St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche, joins the Kings broadcast crew following Hall of Famer Nick Nickson’s retirement. Kelly will work alongside Josh Schaefer, the team's primary radio play-by-play broadcaster, in splitting the games on FanDuel Sports Network, with Kelly taking on the bulk of the action. Kelly will work closely with lead analyst Jim Fox as well as analysts Tony Granato, Ray Ferraro and Jarret Stoll, who will each work games this season as the television analyst.
Kelly is in the process of relocating to Southern California and is expected to be here for training camp next week. I had the chance to chat with John around the big announcement and he's excited to be joining the Kings organization! More from Kelly below -
On his excitement in joining the Kings as the team’s new lead play-by-play announcer
I'm very grateful to Luc Robitaille, Mike Altieri and FanDuel Sports Network to give me this incredible opportunity, really for a few reasons. One, my wife and I are really excited to spend the hockey season in Southern California and all of the advantages it offers and on a professional side, as Kings fans know, they have had just an incredible group of announcers in their history. They've had three, Hall of Fame announcers who have come through there including Nick, so the bar has been set really high there and I know that. I come in with a lot of respect for [Hall of Famers] Jiggs, Bob and Nick, the job they've done, and Kings fans expect a high-quality broadcast. I'm really excited to try to do the best job I can. I'm excited about broadcasting games for the Kings, a team that has averaged over 100 points over the last four seasons and has played high-level hockey. I can't wait to get started.
On stepping in for Nick Nickson, a Hall of Famer and an icon
They are big shoes, but all I can focus on is doing the best job that I can and hopefully I can get to know the fans quickly and the players and coaches and bring an exciting and informative broadcast to Kings fans, because that's what they've become accustomed to. Personally, I'm the son of a Hall of Fame announcer - Dan Kelly - who passed away in 1989 and after he passed away, I came to St.Louis for awhile and took over from him, so I have a little bit of experience in trying to fill big shoes, but having said that, it's something that I don't take lightly and I'm going to work as hard as I can to do the best job possible.
On his relationships with his new color analysts
Jim Fox and Daryl Evans have been there a long time as well, I've gotten to know them well. I'll lean on those guys a lot, especially Jim, who's been around [the Kings] forever. I also got to know Tony Granato very well when I was in Colorado. He was an assistant coach there and a head coach, and of course, his family is awesome in the hockey world. Even though I don't know many of the players and really the coaching staff, it's going to be a lot more comfortable for me in the broadcast booth knowing those guys as well as I do. As Kings fans know, Jim's been around for a long time and Nick was a broadcaster for 40 years, so I got to know him as well as Jim and Daryl and I got to know Tony. So it's going to be more comfortable from that perspective that I do know those guys for sure.
On his style of broadcasting and how he wants to call games for Kings fans
I try to be as prepared as I can and I'm really big about talking to the coaches and trying to get the insights of what they're thinking and not necessarily the game plan, but the trends their looking for. I also like getting anecdotes from the players and personalizing the players to the fans, talking about their families or their parents or how they got into hockey. I leave the X's and O's to the experts, the color analyst, and I like to try to get those stories integrated into the broadcast. As far as calling the game, I'm really big on trying to get the color analyst involved as much as possible and I just try to be as entertaining as possible. We're trying to entertain the fans and at the same time inform the fans. For those two or three hours, we want Kings fans to enjoy the experience and that's our job as broadcasters, is to have them enjoy the experience and hopefully have their team win."
On a unique setup this season with multiple personalities calling different games
Yeah, you know, it's really uncharted territory for me. Personally, I've always worked with one color analyst the entire season, but I'm excited, I really am. I think it's going to keep things fresh and interesting and I hope the fans will enjoy the different announcers and the different announcing teams. I think it's going to be exciting. Again, I know these guys really well and I'm not worried about chemistry or things like that. I just think that it's going to be - especially with a couple of former kings llike Tony and and Ray - I think Kings fans are going to really enjoy having those guys in the mix, as well as Jim, who's been with the club forever.
