Jarmo Kekäläinen

Jarmo Kekäläinen (born July 7, 1966 in Tampere, Finland) is a retired professional hockey player who briefly played in the NHL with the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. Currently he is an Assistant General Manager and Director of Amateur Scouting for the St. Louis Blues until June 30 2010. After that Kekälainen began a new duty in the Finnish Elite League as a GM for team Jokerit.

Playing career
Kekäläinen began his hockey career in his native Finland. He played for 4 years in Finland with a number of teams and also played for Finland in the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. Kekäläinen then played for the Clarkson Golden Knights for 3 years, establishing himself as a strong hockey player and gaining interest from professional teams. In his second year with the Knights he scored 44 points in 31 games and was named to the ECAC Hockey League first all star team. In his third year with the Knights he scored 18 points in 8 games before signing with the Boston Bruins. Kekäläinen played parts of 2 seasons with the Bruins before going back to Finland, where he played for another 2 years. For the 1993-1994 season Kekäläinen came back to North America when he signed with the Ottawa Senators. He played briefly with the Senators that season, playing in 28 games. The Following season Kekäläinen played in Sweden before retiring in 1995.

Front office work
Immediately after retirement Kekäläinen became involved with front office work in many capacities. He was General Manager of IFK Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League from 1995 to 1999. At the same time Kekäläinen also worked in several capacites with the Ottawa Senators. After he left Finland in 1999 Kekäläinen became director of Player Personnel of the Senators until 2002. While with the Senators he helped in picking future NHL stars Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, and Ray Emery. In 2002 Kekäläinen joined the St. Louis Blues as Assistant GM and Director of Amateur Scouting.

Awards

 * 1989: ECAC First All-Star Team