Ken Daneyko

Lore & Background

Daneyko was born in Windsor, Ontario, the youngest of four children in an immigrant family from Ukraine. When he was seven, his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up alongside future NHLer Mark Messier, whom he described as very influential on his career. He left Edmonton at age 15 to play junior hockey, first with the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, then with the Spokane Flyers and Seattle Breakers of the Western Hockey League. The New Jersey Devils selected him in the first round, 18th overall, of the 1982 NHL entry draft.

Daneyko made his NHL debut on October 6 against the New York Rangers and scored his first goal on October 30 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He fractured his fibula in early November and missed over two months, then was reassigned to the Kamloops Junior Oilers for the remainder of the season. He spent part of the 1984-85 season with the Devils' AHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners, which he later said benefited his development. During the 1985 offseason, he attended the training camp of Adler Mannheim in West Germany without permission from the Devils or the NHL, resulting in a one-game suspension and a $500 fine.

Daneyko's ironman streak of 388 consecutive games ended on March 29, 1994, due to a shoulder injury. He played in his 800th career NHL game on October 18, 1996. In early November 1997, he went public with his alcoholism problem, becoming the first player to voluntarily enter the NHL's Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program, missing 45 games. He returned to the lineup on February 25, 1998, and won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2000.

Reader's Guide

Daneyko's significance lies in his complete identification with the New Jersey Devils franchise. He played every game of his NHL career with the team, a loyalty reflected in his nickname 'Mr. Devil' from fans. He holds the franchise records for games played (1,283) and penalty minutes (2,516). Alongside Scott Stevens, he formed part of a defensive core that won the Stanley Cup three times, in 1995, 2000, and 2003.

In the 2003 finals, after being scratched for the first six games, coach Pat Burns inserted Daneyko into the lineup for game seven, and he took the ice for the final shift of the Devils' victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Devils retired his uniform number on March 24, 2006, making him the second Devil to receive that honour. After retiring, he joined the Devils' broadcasts on MSGSN as a studio analyst, later becoming the in-game analyst in September 2014. He was inducted into the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.