John Kelly will serve as the L.A. Kings’ lead play-by-play broadcaster on their FanDuel Sports Network telecasts, filling the vacancy created by Hall of Fame announcer Nick Nickson’s retirement, the team announced on Thursday.
Kelly, 65, most recently served as the longtime play-by-play broadcaster for the St. Louis Blues, rejoining the franchise after the 2004-05 NHL lockout. The son of legendary Blues announcer Dan Kelly, John initially joined his father in the booth for a Nov. 17, 1988 game against the Philadelphia Flyers and became part of the St. Louis broadcast team for the 1989-90 season.
Kelly has also broadcast games for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche. In July, the Blues and FanDuel decided not to renew his contract and ended his long affiliation with the club.
Jim Fox will return as the Kings’ lead analyst on FanDuel, which will televise and stream 68 games in the regular season plus two preseason games. But, for the first time, Fox has chosen to cut back on his schedule, with former Kings players Ray Ferraro, Tony Granato and Jarret Stoll filling in on an unannounced number of broadcasts.
Also, Josh Schaefer will call a select number of games on TV — perhaps 10 to 12 — instead of Kelly, and Schaefer will also be the Kings’ radio voice alongside analyst Daryl Evans. The Kings will end their TV/radio simulcast and have separate crews, with an undetermined number of games broadcast on ESPN LA 710.
Going live in 3… 2… 1… 📺
Announcing our @FanDuelSN_West broadcast team and schedule for the 2025-26 season! More info 👇
Tune in info 📺📲 https://t.co/B6zJyUitpb
Full release 📰📲 https://t.co/RSLE3inQZf pic.twitter.com/0VQpstLzN3
— LA Kings (@LAKings) September 11, 2025
“We are thrilled to have such a strong, diverse and enthusiastic team of talent for L.A. Kings telecasts on FanDuel Sports Network,” Kings president Luc Robitaille said in a statement. “The L.A. Kings have always taken great pride in serving our fans with the best team of broadcasters in our sport, and this crew will certainly deliver the level of quality our fans have come to expect each season.”
Nickson ended his 44-year career broadcasting Kings games after the team lost in the playoffs to the Edmonton Oilers. He served as an analyst to Hall of Famer Bob Miller and then took over as the team’s chief radio announcer, calling both of their Stanley Cup-clinching games in 2012 and 2014. Nickson returned to television for the 2023-24 season, replacing Alex Faust in the play-by-play role.
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