Kenneth Stephen Daneyko (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockeydefenceman. He played his entire career with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), winning three Stanley Cup championships with the team. He has been nicknamed "Mr. Devil" by Devils fans, as he currently holds both the franchise record for games played as a Devil with 1,283 games and in penalty minutes with 2,516. Daneyko now provides colour analysis alongside Bill Spaulding during broadcasts of Devils games on MSG Sportsnet.
Daneyko was born on April 17, 1964, in Windsor, Ontario,[1] and spent his first seven years there.[2] He was the youngest of four children born into their immigrant family. His father immigrated from Germany and his mother immigrated from Ukraine.[3] His family moved from Windsor to Edmonton, Alberta when he was seven years old.[4] In Edmonton, he grew up alongside future NHLer Mark Messier, who, despite being four years older than him, he described as "very influential" on his career.[5][6]
Playing career
Amateur
Daneyko played Bantam AA hockey for the Great Falls Americans before being encouraged to leave Edmonton to play Junior hockey at the age of 15. He left with his father's permission without telling his mother, as she had opposed the move.[3][7] Daneyko spent one season with the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and scored one goal and 20 assists in his rookie season. After his one-year stint with the Terriers, Daneyko joined the Spokane Flyers in the Western Hockey League.[7] He played 88 games for the Flyers before joining the Seattle Breakers in December 1981 when the WHL suspended the Spokane franchise.[8] He began to gain attention from National Hockey League (NHL) scouts while in Seattle, which rose his rankings for the 1982 NHL entry draft. While he was originally ranked 67th among all draft-eligible players in February 1982, he finished the season as one of the best prospects in junior hockey.[9] Daneyko was subsequently drafted in the first round, 18th overall, by the New Jersey Devils in the 1982 NHL entry draft.[10]
Professional
Daneyko participated in the Devils' 1982 training camp before being returned to the Seattle Breakers.[11] He scored 17 goals and 43 assists for the Breakers in the 1982-83 season. Although his points total pleased the Devils' coaching staff, they were concerned about the quality of coaching he would receive if he returned to the Breakers for his final year of junior hockey. Their concerns were so serious that Devils General Manager and coach Billy MacMillan considered keeping Daneyko at the NHL level rather than returning him. However, following his trade to the Kamloops Junior Oilers of the WHL, the Devils felt comfortable reassigning him if necessary.[12] At the Devils 1983 training camp, Daneyko was paired with veteran defenceman Phil Russell[13] and they remained together to start the 1983–84 season.[14] He subsequently made his NHL debut on October 6 against the New York Rangers,[15] and scored his first NHL goal on October 30 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.[16] By the end of October, he ranked sixth in rookie scoring with five points through 11 games.[17] However, he fractured his fibula during a game against the Hartford Whalers in early November and missed over two months of game play. Once he recovered in February, he was reassigned to the Kamloops Junior Oilers of the WHL for the remainder of the season.[18] Upon rejoining the Kamloops Junior Oilers, Daneyko helped the team qualify for the 1984 Memorial Cup.[19]
Daneyko was reassigned to the Devils American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Maine Mariners, to start the 1984-85 season.[20] He later described his season in Maine as beneficial for his overall development, stating: "I learned a lot about the mental aspects of the game and kept developing physically. I play a physical game and I sometimes got caught out of position a lot. Now I know they want me to move the puck as quickly as possible."[21]
During the 1985 offseason, Daneyko joined Paul Messier in West Germany and spent a month attending the training camp of Adler Mannheim.[21] He also participated in four exhibition games with Mannheim. However, as he did not receive permission to do so from the Devils organisation or the NHL, he was suspended for one game and fined $500.[22] After serving his suspension, Daneyko played in only one game for the Devils before being demoted to the AHL on November 9.[23] Daneyko finished the regular season with no goals and 10 assists. He signed a two-year contract extension with the Devils on June 6, 1986.[24]
Daneyko circa 2005/2006
While Daneyko began the 1997–98 season with the Devils, his play was affected by personal issues.[25] After missing three games due to these issues, Daneyko went public with his alcoholism problem in early November.[26][27] He became the first player to voluntarily enter the NHL's voluntary Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program and subsequently missed 45 games.[28] Although he had been released from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Clinic at the end of December, Daneyko trained privately with the team's trainers until February 3. He officially returned to the Devils lineup on February 25 for their game against the Florida Panthers.[29] Daneyko won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2000 in recognition of his "perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey."[30]
Along with Scott Stevens, he was part of a Devils defensive core that won the Stanley Cup three times, in 1995, 2000 and 2003. From the team's first playoff game while in New Jersey, in 1988, Daneyko played in every playoff game until game four of the 2003 quarterfinals. He also was scratched in the first six games of the 2003 finals, but, looking for a spark, coach Pat Burns inserted Daneyko into the lineup for game seven, replacing Oleg Tverdovsky. Daneyko took the ice for the final shift of the Devils' game seven victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, which clinched their third Stanley Cup victory, in 2003.[citation needed]
Following his retirement, Daneyko joined the Devils' broadcasts on MSGSN as a studio analyst. He spent eight years in this role before being promoted to the Devils' in-game analyst in September 2014.[31]
Legacy and honours
The Devils retired his uniform number on March 24, 2006. He was the second Devil to receive the honour, after Scott Stevens, although both were retired in the same year.[32]
↑ Shea, Kevin (September 10, 2003). "Stanley Cup journal". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 10, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
↑ Malinowski, Mark (April 11, 2010). "Ken Daneyko". The Hockey News. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Canada 
