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USA Hockey has made significant strides in recent years on the international stage - so much so that the mentality going into tournaments is not to just compete for a Gold medal, but to win.

But when it comes to the IIHF World Championship, set to be held this May in Denmark and Sweden, the United States has a bit of a Gold medal dry streak - which dates back to 1933.

The man tasked with building this year’s squad intends on changing that, and he’ll do so with everyone in the Predators organization cheering him on.

Preds Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty has been tapped to serve as GM of the 2025 U.S. Men’s National Team, a role he’s been rewarded with for the first time in his lifelong career in hockey, and he can’t wait to get started.

“I don't know how you could turn down an opportunity like this,” Kealty said a week after the announcement was made. “I’ve been involved with USA Hockey, and I played with some of their national teams and stuff like that when I was young, but to me, it's almost just like back then with how proud you are when you pull on that jersey. It’s the same type of feeling, so I’m super excited.”

The chance to represent one’s country internationally is one hockey players will do just about anything to make happen. The same goes for someone like Kealty on the management side, and the anticipation to potentially earn a medal with Team USA isn’t easy to put into words.

“There’s just a ton of pride, and you want to absolutely do everything you can to do the best job you can for USA Hockey and for your country,” Kealty said. “It's really great.”

Of course, just because Kealty has now been tasked with building this iteration of the U.S. Men’s National Team doesn’t excuse him from his “day job” with the Preds. So, how does he plan on making sure everything is taken care of on both sides of the ice?

“It’s time management, for sure,” Kealty said. “It's budgeting your time, setting aside a bit of time each day to kind of pick off a few things that you want to do. I've got various different people helping me, and everybody's enthusiastic to help as well. So, to lean on certain people and things like that, that’s a big help.”

The setting is unique too in the sense that Kealty doesn’t quite know which players will be available to him when the time comes.

Because the World Championship takes place in May, many of the top NHL teams will still be competing for a Stanley Cup. That, in turn, eliminates a number of the top American players who could be available to add to the roster, so Kealty has to be strategic at this juncture when it comes to not only evaluating who might be able and willing to join the club, but how they would fit into building the best team possible.

“Really what I've been trying to do is making sure I’m in touch with all the agents for different players, and just kind of getting a handle on what they think about their different players, what their mindset would be in terms of playing and what have you,” Kealty said. “I’m just trying to keep that communication up, because those agents are really the keys to a lot of these players, because they know their players better than I do.

“And on my end of things, you want to try to build the best team you can, so maybe it's not necessarily just the best collection of players that you can get your hands on. Certainly, talent is important, but you also want to try to build a team and think through different roles and whatnot. You want to pick the right guys so that maybe you can have some quick chemistry when you get over there, because it is a tight turnaround.”

Kealty is undoubtedly well prepared for the challenge thanks to his wealth of experience with the Preds.

After joining Nashville as an amateur scout prior to the 2001-02 season, Kealty was promoted to Director of Amateur Scouting and spent 11 seasons in the role before being elevated to his current position in 2018. During his time with the organization, the Predators have made the playoffs 16 times.

The support that comes from Nashville is a major reason why Kealty is able to take on a role such as this with his country, and he knows this is a recognition that reaches beyond just his chair alone.

“Getting those opportunities with the Preds puts me in a position to get this opportunity,” Kealty said. “If I don't have my position with the Preds and have the experience level that I have with the job that I have here, I don’t have the opportunity to do something like this. So certainly very thankful to the Preds and the organization, and thankful to have worked alongside [former Preds GM] David Poile for all those years. I think one of the great things is that they're all positive about it and they look at this as a great thing for the organization. So, it's always really nice to hear those things, and I hope I can represent the organization to the best of my ability with this job.”

With the tournament set to take place less than four months from now, Kealty’s work is already well underway. And once the roster is confirmed, he hopes to erase that longstanding record from 1933 that no one with USA Hockey wants to extend any further.

Perhaps Nashville’s assistant GM is just the person to lead the way to a reversal in fortune. He’s certainly ready to find out.

“I’m excited for the challenge of putting the team together, but secondarily, just the process of the interaction with different people, whether it's other people helping me or hiring staff, even interacting with the people in USA Hockey, there's great people there as well,” Kealty said. “Winning a Gold medal, that’s the goal. The U.S. wins at every level now… I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be our goal. I’m just just really excited about it. There’s a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too. And it'll be a really exciting few months ahead."