{"id":5113,"date":"2026-07-21T23:09:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5113"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:09:48","slug":"sharks-hiring-of-jeff-kealty-signals-a-subtle-change-in-teams-emphasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5113","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2019s decision to go in another direction didn\u2019t automatically cause him to look for employment elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Read more Pleasanton Vice Mayor Jeff Nibert stepping down at the end of the year<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have had no plans of moving on if it wasn\u2019t for the right opportunity,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cI just felt that when this came along, it was the right opportunity, and I\u2019m excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kealty was named a Sharks assistant general manager last week, joining Tom Holy and Joe Will as GM Grier\u2019s top lieutenants. Per the Sharks, Kealty will oversee the team\u2019s professional scouting staff and work closely with Grier on all aspects of hockey operations.<\/p>\n

Kealty, 50, also knows Sharks senior advisor Tim Burke and was the general manager of the 2025 U.S. men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat familiarity certainly makes things easier,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The addition of Kealty in such a role signals a subtle change in direction for the Sharks\u2019 front office.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the seeds have been planted,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cTo get to any elite level, everybody\u2019s 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\u2019s got to do their part.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think with where things are, there\u2019s no question that the pro personnel aspect is going to be key, and I think it\u2019s a great challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kealty was once a promising player himself.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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Kealty was named BU\u2019s 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\u2019s top minor league affiliate.<\/p>\n

But concussion issues early in his second season, in 1998-99, ended Kealty\u2019s playing career, forcing him to retire at 23. Just two years later, he started working with the Predators as a part-time amateur scout.<\/p>\n

Over the next 25 years, Kealty worked his way up to become the Predators\u2019 head of amateur scouting before he was named the team\u2019s director of scouting and an assistant GM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really only been in the one place, and it\u2019s something I\u2019m proud of,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cBut it\u2019s 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\u2019ll always be a special part of my life for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kealty interviewed for the Predators\u2019 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\u2019s GM, as their president of hockey operations and general manager.<\/p>\n

MacFarland and Kealty worked together through last month\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris McFarland was a fantastic hire for the National Predators organization. He\u2019s going to do great things there,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cI never looked at it like \u2018OK, I didn\u2019t get the job. I\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kealty also mentioned in May that even if he was not named the Predators\u2019 GM, he would like to remain as the team\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people make multiple changes in their careers. I hadn\u2019t made any yet,\u201d Kealty said. \u201cThis was good timing for me \u2026 \u00a0I 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always feel like if you go back to those two traits, that you find a player that can figure it out, so to speak,\u201d Kealty said, \u201cand not only find a place on the team but also continue to get better if you have those traits. So for me, there\u2019s a lot of different things that you look at, but if you want to boil it down, I\u2019m a big believer in those two attributes right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Earthquakes hope to ride World Cup fever into resumed MLS season<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Jose Sharks hired former Nashville Predators exec as an assistant general manager last week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5113\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"San Jose Sharks hired former Nashville Predators exec as an assistant general manager last week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5113\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T23:09:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Sharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T23:09:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113\"},\"wordCount\":1094,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4d20e68dc7e7f68207d4ba4427a54ba1.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5113\",\"name\":\"Sharks’ hiring of Jeff Kealty signals a subtle change in team’s emphasis - 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