The Kamloops Blazers have promoted Aaron Keller as the team’s new Director of Player Personnel, replacing Robbie Sandland who took a job with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Kamloops native will oversee the Blazers’ scouting staff, WHL Prospects Draft, and 50-man player list.

“I love skilled players, I love smart players, and the end of the day, character is obviously super important and what we want to bring in to be a Blazer,” Keller told NL Sports.

“The extremely lucky part for me is I’m coming into a great organization. Robbie Sandland has left an awesome scouting crew, and [I’m looking forward to] getting to work with Shaun Clouston, Tim O’Donovan, and the rest of the coaching staff.”

Keller had been working as a Development Coach with the Blazers since returning to Kamloops in 2017. He was also Technical Director of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association for the past four years.

During a four season playing career with the Blazers between 1992 and 1996, Keller won two Memorial Cup in 1994 and 1995. He then went on to 17 seasons pro hockey career in Japan, which included appearances in eight World Championships for Team Japan.

After retiring as a player, Keller spent three seasons as an Assistant Coach with the Oji Eagles in Japan where he was responsible for scouting and recruiting prospects.

“If you know Aaron, you’ll know why,” Head Coach and GM, Shaun Clouston, said. “We know him really well. A very analytical mind. He’s very good at evaluating team play and individual play.”

“He’s been in hockey his entire life. He’s been a professional player, a professional coach We really like his evaluation and assessment of different players and we just felt he was gong to be terrific with the job.”

Sandland, a Nanaimo native, leaves the Blazers after five seasons as Director of Player Personnel. He also served as Assistant General Manager in 2022-23. The Blazers won four B.C. Division Titles during that period.

“Being a part of the Blazers organization has been a tremendous honour,” Sandland said. “Five years ago when Tom Gaglardi and Matt Bardsley gave me the opportunity to join the Blazers I knew I was going to a great program and a storied franchise. What I didn’t know was how much being a Blazer would come to mean to me.”

“There just aren’t enough words to express it. My time here has been filled with so many wonderful people and I’m grateful to all of them for sharing their time, energy, expertise and passion with me.”

Sandland’s primarily responsibility with the Penguins will be to scout amateur players in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.

Wednesday morning, the Blazers also announced the promotion of BC Scout, Scott Blakeney to Senior Head Scout for B.C.. They also hired Brad Davis as Head Scout for Manitoba. Davis was with the Portland Winterhawks for the past 16 seasons.

Blakeney is back for his a fifth season with the Blazers as is Jason Pashelka who is the team’s Head Scout for Alberta.

The Blazers are gearing up for 2023 training camp, which gets underway with registration this Thursday, Aug. 31. On-ice sessions take place from Friday, Sept. 1, until Mon. Sept. 4.

– With files from Jon Keen