Sharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis

Jeff Kealty was naturally disappointed when he was not named the next general manager of the Nashville Predators earlier this year after spending a quarter-century, half of his life, with the organization. But the team’s decision to go in another direction didn’t automatically cause him to look for employment elsewhere.

Instead, what made Kealty consider a change was the chance to work alongside Mike Grier, his former teammate at Boston University, for a San Jose Sharks team that appears to be just entering its competitive window.

“I would have had no plans of moving on if it wasn’t for the right opportunity,” Kealty said. “I just felt that when this came along, it was the right opportunity, and I’m excited about it.”

Kealty was named a Sharks assistant general manager last week, joining Tom Holy and Joe Will as GM Grier’s top lieutenants. Per the Sharks, Kealty will oversee the team’s professional scouting staff and work closely with Grier on all aspects of hockey operations.

Kealty, 50, also knows Sharks senior advisor Tim Burke and was the general manager of the 2025 U.S. men’s national team, coached by San Jose bench boss Ryan Warsofsky, that captured the gold medal at the IIHF World Championship in Sweden. All three are Massachusetts natives.

“That familiarity certainly makes things easier,” Kealty said. “It just really felt like the right place and the right time for me. Really difficult to leave Nashville, but this just felt like too big an opportunity to pass on.”

The addition of Kealty in such a role signals a subtle change in direction for the Sharks’ front office.

Grier spent the first few seasons of his tenure in San Jose building a foundation for the future, adding to the scouting and player development staffs while also swapping veterans and their contracts for prospects and draft picks.

Now with a younger roster and the prospect cupboards mostly full, the organization can focus more on the present, helping the big club compete on a daily and long-term basis.

“A lot of the seeds have been planted,” Kealty said. “To get to any elite level, everybody’s got to do their job well. The amateur staff still has to continue to draft well, the (pro side) has to do their part with trades and signings and those sorts of things, the coaches have to do their job. Everybody’s got to do their part.

“But I think with where things are, there’s no question that the pro personnel aspect is going to be key, and I think it’s a great challenge.”

Kealty was once a promising player himself.

Listed at 6-foot-4 and over 200 pounds, Kealty, a left-shot defenseman, was a first-round pick of the Quebec Nordiques in 1994. That same year, Kealty, a native of Newton, Mass., began his collegiate career at BU, where he, Grier, and several others helped the Terriers win the national championship in 1995.

Kealty was named BU’s most improved player after the 1997-98 season. The next year, after he was traded to the Predators, he began his promising professional career with the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s top minor league affiliate.

But concussion issues early in his second season, in 1998-99, ended Kealty’s playing career, forcing him to retire at 23. Just two years later, he started working with the Predators as a part-time amateur scout.

Over the next 25 years, Kealty worked his way up to become the Predators’ head of amateur scouting before he was named the team’s director of scouting and an assistant GM.

“I’ve really only been in the one place, and it’s something I’m proud of,” Kealty said. “But it’s also the part that makes it exciting to kind of have a new challenge (with the Sharks). But my years in Nashville, I have nothing but fantastic memories, and it’ll always be a special part of my life for sure.”

Kealty interviewed for the Predators’ GM job this spring after Barry Trotz announced in February that he was stepping down from the position. But following a lengthy wait, the Predators on June 2 named Chris MacFarland, the Colorado Avalanche’s GM, as their president of hockey operations and general manager.

MacFarland and Kealty worked together through last month’s NHL draft. After the frenzy of free agency died down, Grier reached out to MacFarland for permission to speak with Kealty about joining the Sharks.

“Chris McFarland was a fantastic hire for the National Predators organization. He’s going to do great things there,” Kealty said. “I never looked at it like ‘OK, I didn’t get the job. I’ve got to move on or anything like that. I just think that this opportunity came about, and it was just too good an opportunity not to take a chance at and experience some different things.”

Kealty also mentioned in May that even if he was not named the Predators’ GM, he would like to remain as the team’s director of scouting. Still, he liked what Grier and the Sharks had built to that point and the potential to be a part of something special.

“Most people make multiple changes in their careers. I hadn’t made any yet,” Kealty said. “This was good timing for me … I think that a lot of the groundwork has been laid through the draft and what have you with all these great players. But now the challenge is to kind of round out the team and put the touches on it, so to speak.”

As a longtime scout, Kealty already has some familiarity with most NHL players. Along with certain measurable attributes, the qualities he looks for in a player are hockey sense and competitiveness.

“I always feel like if you go back to those two traits, that you find a player that can figure it out, so to speak,” Kealty said, “and not only find a place on the team but also continue to get better if you have those traits. So for me, there’s a lot of different things that you look at, but if you want to boil it down, I’m a big believer in those two attributes right there.”