In July, the Blues announced that Kelly\u2019s contract would not be renewed<\/a>. Business CEO Chris Zimmerman said it was a mutual decision made by the team and FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, which carries the broadcasts.<\/p>\n The club is changing to a simulcast and will be using the radio broadcast team of Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale for both TV and radio moving forward, leaving Kelly without a job.<\/p>\n The fan backlash directed at an organization that has prided itself on tradition was swift and significant.<\/p>\n Kelly, 65, moved to St. Louis with his family from Ottawa in the late 1960s, when his father, Dan, became the Blues\u2019 full-time radio announcer. Dan had a Hall of Fame career with the Blues, and his son followed in his footsteps.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife and I thought that I would finish my career here in St. Louis,\u201d Kelly said in his first interview since his dismissal. \u201cI\u2019ve been asked a lot in the last four or five years, \u2018How long do you want to announce?\u2019 My answer has been, \u2018As long as I have a great passion for calling games and a love for the job, I want to keep going.\u2019 I still have that passion. The fact that it didn\u2019t end in St. Louis is a bit of a curveball obviously, but that\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n John Kelly did his first public interview Thursday following his departure from the Blues in July. (Jeremy Rutherford \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n It all changed on July 9, when Kelly and his wife, Jennifer, were vacationing in Perdido Key, between the cities of Pensacola, Fla., and Orange Beach, Ala. It was a final little getaway before the start of Blues training camp in September.<\/p>\n Being behind the microphone for season No. 22 wasn\u2019t a guarantee because Kelly worked 2024-25 on a one-year contract. But multiple industry sources said that FanDuel Sports Network had been working on new deals for Kelly and color analyst Jamie Rivers a month earlier.<\/p>\n So when a phone call came on July 8, while the Kellys were on a golf course, requesting that he jump on a 10 a.m. video call from Florida the following day, he was naturally excited.<\/p>\n \u201cI was under the impression that I would return,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, on that call, Kelly learned that the Blues were going in a different direction. He didn\u2019t want to get into specifics about the conversation out of respect to the other parties, but acknowledged the words hit him hard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt broke my heart,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI was crushed. My wife was actually listening on the Zoom call, and she was crushed. Anyone would be. I\u2019ve had such a long connection to the Blues and the city through my dad\u2019s work. So when I got that Zoom call, you can imagine how shocked I was.\u201d<\/p>\n There was shock \u2014 perhaps even anger \u2014 but as the Kellys cut short their trip to Florida and returned home to St. Louis the following day, he took an understanding approach to the setback.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Blues and FanDuel Sports Network certainly had that right to make that decision, and I respect that,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t happy about it, but I respect it. A lot of people have been replaced or fired or contracts not renewed. It\u2019s never happened to me before, but it\u2019s happened to a lot better people than me. They didn\u2019t renew my contract. \u2018OK, I\u2019ll move on, that\u2019s the way it is.’\u201d<\/p>\n In July, Zimmerman said that parting ways with Kelly was not a cost-cutting move by the organization.<\/p>\n Asked if he thought it was, Kelly replied, \u201cYou can call it whatever you want: cost-cutting or rebranding or whatever. The facts are, they had the right to do that and they did it.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the decision would become public on July 10, Kelly phoned his three children: Grace, who lives in New York; Megan, in Boston; Patrick, in St. Louis. He waited until each returned home from work that day before making the call.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest thing for my wife and I in the hours right after we were told was telling the kids,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThey were heartbroken. Like any kid, they\u2019re proud of their parents, and the jobs they have.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly\u2019s mother, Fran, the 88-year-old widow of Dan, was on vacation in Canada when it happened. The family decided to wait until she returned home 10 days later to notify her of the news.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was better off coming from me,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI knew that she would be very hurt, but I had already known that I had a chance at the Kings\u2019 job. I tried to focus on the positive with her, and because of that, I think she accepted the news a little bit easier. \u2018Hey mom, I\u2019m not happy about it, a lot of great things happened here, but Jennifer and I are really excited to perhaps get this Kings job.’\u201d<\/p>\n The timing of Kelly\u2019s exit with the Blues was difficult because by July, many of the vacant broadcasting jobs in the NHL had been filled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timing surprised me, but again, it was within the Blues\u2019 rights to do something like that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut yeah, it surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, following the retirement of Hockey Hall of Famer Nick Nickson after 40 years in L.A., the Kings had an opening.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was speculation that I was going to retire, and that\u2019s the furthest thing from my mind,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cRight away, I started the process of looking for a new job. Then about a month later, I got an offer and we worked it out and here I am today with what I consider one of the premier jobs in the NHL, working for the Kings and FanDuel Sports Network.\u201d<\/p>\n Going live in 3\u2026 2\u2026 1\u2026 \ud83d\udcfa<\/p>\n Announcing our @FanDuelSN_West<\/a> broadcast team and schedule for the 2025-26 season! More info \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n Tune in info \ud83d\udcfa\ud83d\udcf2 https:\/\/t.co\/B6zJyUitpb<\/a> \u2014 LA Kings (@LAKings) September 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Kellys will leave for L.A. on Friday. They\u2019ll live in Manhattan Beach, where he\u2019ll have a 1 1\/2-mile walk to the Kings\u2019 practice facility. He knows just one player personally on the roster: former Blue Joel Edmundson.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited for a new challenge,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be very comfortable because of the people I\u2019m working with. And I\u2019ve thought about this a lot: I\u2019ve been an NHL announcer for 37 years. This is the first time that a team has told me that they didn\u2019t want me. I think that\u2019s a pretty good run.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now because of this great opportunity with the Kings, I have a job as an NHL broadcaster for 38 years in a row. Even though this decision was made, I still never doubted that I could do the job and I\u2019ve got confidence that I can still be a good announcer in the NHL. It hasn\u2019t deterred me.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Kelly has been humbled by the reaction from Blues fans. It began on July 10 and hasn\u2019t stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cThe support that I\u2019ve gotten from Blues fans, people in the organization, people in the business, it\u2019s blown me away,\u201d he said. \u201cI had hundreds of texts and calls, which were so great. I read some social media and it was really positive toward me and I really appreciated that. To me, it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a coach or a player or a broadcaster, you want people to like what you do and I\u2019m no different. Not everyone is going to like what I do, I get that, but to hear so many positive comments feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the announcement, Kelly didn\u2019t go out to many restaurants or play much golf, but after his annual three-week trip to his cottage in Canada, he\u2019s ventured out more lately.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have come up to me and said, \u2018Hey, JK, thanks for all you did and good luck to you!’\u201d he said. \u201cThe thing I would say to Blues fans, even though I am the son of a man who I think is the greatest hockey announcer ever, I never felt that I was entitled to have a job in hockey with the Blues, or any team for that matter. I\u2019ve always felt it was a privilege to work in the NHL and for the St. Louis Blues and I still feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly said it\u2019s odd to think that he\u2019s not the Blues\u2019 broadcaster anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Thank you, St. Louis. pic.twitter.com\/Y4qteWG5u3<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_9341-scaled-e1757616710416.jpg\")
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Full release \ud83d\udcf0\ud83d\udcf2 https:\/\/t.co\/RSLE3inQZf<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/0VQpstLzN3<\/a><\/p>\n