ST. LOUIS – John Kelly, the longtime voice of St. Louis Blues TV broadcasts, is heading west to take on play-by-play duties with the Los Angeles Kings next season.
The Blues announced in July that Kelly would not return to Bally Sports Midwest for the 2025-26 season, ending his nearly 20-year run as the team’s lead TV play-by-play broadcaster. The move came as a surprise to Kelly and Blues fans alike.
As Kelly departs, the Blues will shift to a simulcast model, airing the 101 ESPN radio call from Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale on their regional TV broadcasts, starting this fall.
Kelly joined FOX 2 Sports Director Martin Kilcoyne for a one-on-one interview on Sports Final to discuss his departure from the Blues and transition to the Kings broadcast booth.
On the LA Kings job
“I’m really blessed to to land a job. The Kings are obviously one of the more high-profile teams in the NHL and they have had a great lineage of broadcasters that have have called their games. Three Hall-of-Fame announcers have called Kings games play by play, so certainly big shows to fill, but from a professional perspective, I’m blessed that FanDuel Sports Network and the Kings have given me this opportunity. And personally, my wife and I are really excited about going to LA and becoming Hollywood people.”
On not returning to the Blues
“When it happened, it was July 9th, and quite honestly, I was shocked. I didn’t see it coming. And I was certainly disappointed because I grew up a Blues fan. My dad was here 21 years. My brother called games here. My late uncle called games here. So I had a great time for 21 years, but they made a decision to go from two broadcast teams to one.”
“And in a game of musical chairs, I didn’t have a chair. And again, that was their right and right from that date on July 9th, instead of focusing on the negative, I focused on the positive, which was 21 great years, and the way I was treated by the coaches, [General Manager] Doug Armstrong, our great crew at FanDuel Sports Network.”
“But really more than that, I focused on getting another job. Some people speculated, even some casual friends of mine, and my wife said, ‘Oh, John’s retiring.’ Well, I wasn’t planning on retiring, and I don’t want to retire. So my focus was really on getting another job and that’s what I did from July 9th on.”
On handling his departure
“Well, it did hurt. Anyone that is told that they’re not wanted. It’s is going to be hurtful. But again, I look at the big picture. Twenty-one great years and even going back further than that, I’ve been lucky enough to be an NHL broadcaster for 37 years and this is the first time that this has happened to me.”
“So you know what? I look at it big picture. I think it’s a pretty good run and I’ve never been told that I wasn’t coming back until this summer, but at the same time, I’m going to continue my career as an NHL broadcaster with my next opportunity. So it’s going to be 38 years in a row working in the NHL. So all I can say is I’m very blessed.”
On Blues and hockey fan support
“I think when you’re a public figure, whether you’re a a player or a coach, GM or a broadcaster, you want everybody to to like you and like your work. And I’m no different. But not everyone is going to like your work. But the other point that I’ve gotten on social media from the fans has been overwhelming. But just as important, so many people in the hockey world, friends of mine, the broadcasting community, have reached out and been so supportive.”
“It really was overwhelming for me to get the only job that was available this summer, and that was the Kings job. And it’s such a great job with the history of their broadcasters, the size of their market, and things like that. I’m just fortunate. I try to work as hard as I can, treat people well, and hopefully, people say, ‘Good things come to good people.’ Hopefully that applies to me.”
On his Blues experience
“I come to St. Louis [in 2005], there’s a lockout, and then they finished last in the NHL. But slowly but surely, they drafted the likes of [T.J.] Oshie and [David] Perron and [David] Backes and they got better and better. And quite honestly, I think some of the teams that that they had that lost in the first or second round [of playoffs] in ’14 and ’15, in ’16 they went to the third round, those teams were perhaps as good or better as the team that won [the 2019 Stanley Cup]. So really as a broadcaster, looking back big-picture, it was really cool to be around a team for 21 years to see it come from the basement to become a top team for 10-12 years in a row and ultimately win [the Stanley Cup] in 2019.”