Monthly Archives: June 2016

P.K. Subban moves from Montreal to the Music City in shocking trade

30 Thursday Jun 2016

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Two summers ago, the Montreal Canadiens showed defenseman P.K. Subban the money, signing him to an eight-year $72 million deal. Wednesday, the Habs showed him the door.

Damn, what happened?

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

Either the Canadiens front office lost its mind or lost its patience and dealt fan-favorite Subban, the 2013 Norris Trophy winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, straight-up for All-Star D-man Shea Weber.

Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin maintained that the swap of the 27-year-old Subban for the 30-year-old Weber will help the Canadiens move from a non-playoff-appearing 38-38-6 team to an eventual Stanley Cup contender.

“We completed today an important transaction which I am convinced will make the Canadiens a better team,” the general manager said.”In Shea Weber, we get a top rated NHL defenseman with tremendous leadership, and a player who will improve our defensive group as well as our power play for many years to come. Shea Weber led all NHL defensemen last season with 14 power play goals. He is a complete rearguard with impressive size and a powerful shot. P.K. Subban is a special and very talented player. He provided the Canadiens organization with strong performances on the ice and generous commitment in the community. I wish him the best of luck with the Predators.”

Hmmm, so much to decode here. But you don’t need to

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

be Luther, President Barack Obama’s fictional anger translator from “Key & Peele,” to know that Bergevin’s statement was a stinging Gordie Howe backhand aimed right at Subban.

In praising Weber, Bergevin took not-so-veiled digs at Subban’s leadership qualities,

his ability to play well with others, and his overall game on the blue line.

It’s no secret that Subban’s flamboyant, high-risk playing style drove Canadiens Head Coach Michel Therrien nuts at times. And there were rumblings of discontent among some Habs players with Subban this season.

And, of course, the trade is the latest chapter in the Great P.K. Subban Debate. Several members of the hockey establishment argue that his game is more style than substance and some old school hockey heads complain that he’s too colorful a personality.

Subban supporters say his swashbuckling playing style and larger-than-life personality have been good for the game. They argue that he’s been disrespected by the hockey intelligentsia for not fitting the cookie-cutter mold of what an NHLer should be. Some question whether race is a factor.

Subban’s been on the receiving end of several high-profile snubs. Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock, when he coached the Gold Medal-winning Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, played Subban for only 11 minutes – all in one game.

This year, Hockey Canada didn’t include him om the roster for the Canadian squad that will compete in the World Cup of Hockey in September.

Subban’s Canadiens teammates passed him over last season to be the team’s nominee for the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy – presented to the player who exhibits leadership on and off the ice and has contributed to the community – despite the fact that he pledged $10 million to Montreal’s Children’s Hospital, the biggest philanthropic commitment by any athlete in Canadian history.

Subban seemed to take Wednesday’s trade in the same fluid stride he’s taken the previous slights. He told Nashville reporters via conference call Wednesday that “Right now, I’m going to a team that wants me” He added that he felt “a whole lot closer” to winning a Stanley Cup with Nashville than he did in Montreal.

“On the business side of things, the Montreal Canadiens paid me a lot of money two years ago to do what I do for a living,” he said. “At the end of the day I just wanted to come in and do my job. But obviously right now I’m going to a team that wants me and the Montreal Canadiens felt that they had to take it down a different path.”

Some key 2015-16 statistics don’t show much space between Weber and Subban. Weber was ninth among NHL defensemen in scoring with 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points in 78 games. He was third on the Predators in scoring.

Subban  was 12th among  the league’s defensemen, matching Weber’s 51 points on 6 goals and 45 assists in an injury-plagued 68 games. He was Montreal’s fourth-leading scorer last season.

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Weber, touted as the more defensively responsible blue liner, had a plus-minus rating of minus-7. Subban was a plus-4.

Weber averaged 25:12 minutes per game and 29.9 shifts per game. Subban logged an average of 26:21 minutes per game and 28.3 shifts per game.

Weber was the more effective power play scorer – Bergevin’s main point – with 14 goals compared to Subban’s 2 in 2015-16. Neither player had a game-winning goal last season.

Subban and Weber have one other thing in common. Neither has been able in recent seasons to get their teams over the hump to the Stanley Cup Final.

Needless to say, the trade hasn’t gone down well with hockey fans in and out of Montreal. A New York Post headline read “P.K. Subban Trade is Canadiens Purging NHL’s Biggest Persona.”

The Montreal Gazette quotes fans calling the trade “Ridiculous,” “insane,” “a disgrace.” Welcome to Montreal, Shea Weber.

With Subban in the fold,  the Predators are taking a different approach that the team hopes will lead to a Stanley Cup. Nashville historically was a defense-first team under Head Coach Barry Trotz.

Trotz was replaced two seasons ago by Peter Laviolette, who likes his defenseman to be able to move the puck quickly out of their zone and initiate offense – either through pinpoint passes or skating.

Though Laviolette is a no-nonsense coach in the Therrien mold, Subban should thrive in Laviolette’s system.

“In P.K., when people might talk about him, it’ll be his skating, the fact that he can transport the puck himself, the fact that he can distribute the puck, he’s constantly in motion,” Laviolette said. “He has worn a letter in the National Hockey League, was being considered for captain of the Montreal Canadiens, so there’s leadership quality there as well.”

In addition to his skating ability and 100-mph-plus slap shot from the point, Subban brings something to the Predators that the franchise has never had – star power, someone who can put butts in seats.

Though Subban was enormously  popular among fans in Montreal he was never the face of the franchise, not with all-world goaltender Carey Price and U.S.-born team captain Max Pacioretty there.

He’s poised to be The Man in Nashville.

“P.K. Subban is an elite offensive defenseman with tremendous skill and contagious energy that makes the Nashville Predators a better team now and into the future,” said Nashville GM David Poile. “Superstar defensemen of his caliber are a rare commodity, and we are thrilled to add him to the organization.”

David Amber survives, thrives in major ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ makeover

29 Wednesday Jun 2016

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Canada’s long national nightmare ended earlier this week when broadcasting giant Rogers Sportsnet acknowledged that it made a huge – and costly – mistake when it totally revamped “Hockey Night in Canada,” the True North’s equivalent of “Monday Night Football” during its Howard Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith, and Frank Gifford  heyday.

David Amber will anchor the late Saturday NHL games on "Hockey Night in Canada" in 2016-17.

David Amber will anchor the late Saturday NHL games on “Hockey Night in Canada” in 2016-17.

Admitting that it made a blunder that contributed to a ratings slide, Rogers yanked the anchor chair from under in-studio host George Stroumboulopoulos, a talk show host hired in 2013-14 to help HNIC become more hip and edgy with skinny ties and a more urbane attitude.

Apparently it didn’t sell in Saskatoon. So Rogers went back to the future and recalled folksy former HNIC anchor Ron MacLean  – the man who Stroumboulopoulos replaced – from broadcasting Siberia to rescue a television franchise that Rogers obtained in a $5.2 billion, 12-year deal with the National Hockey League.

Another move that Rogers made was promoting David Amber, a former ESPN sportscaster and HNIC contributor, to host of “Hockey Night in Canada’s” late games on Saturday, in essence making him the co-face of the venerable broadcast with MacLean.

Amber is perhaps the dean of a growing group of black hockey broadcasters that includes former NHL players Kevin Weekes, Anson Carter and Jamal Mayers. Amber, a Toronto native, handled pre-game, between-period, and post-game duties for HNIC. For the 2016-17 season, he’ll sit in the big chair and provide the narrative for the late games.

Hockey Night in Canada hosts David Amber (L) and Ron MacLean (R). (CNW Group/Sportsnet)

Hockey Night in Canada hosts David Amber (L) and Ron MacLean (R). (CNW Group/Sportsnet)

“The exposure from ‘Hockey Night,’ I’ve certainly had a significant amount of minority faces – mostly black, but even Indian and Asian – say they’re happy to see (that hockey’s) not so homogeneous the way it was maybe 10 years ago; that there are people of color coming in and being able to lend a voice and face to the sport,” Amber told me in 2014. “It has been a slow transition, absolutely, but there are going to be a lot of new young guys coming up now.”

He told me that his rise as a hockey broadcaster coincides with  the growing number of minority players in hockey and the impact they’re having in the NHL.

“When you look at the guys who’ve made it now, these are impact players whether it’s (Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne) Simmonds, we know what (Colorado Avalanche’s Jarome) Iginla’s been able to do over his career,(Pittsburgh Penguins’) Trevor Daley,” Amber said. “Because the position of the players has increased and the position of some of the media members has increased from a minority standpoint, I think success breeds success and visibility breeds more visibility and I think that’s a good thing.”

Good luck with the new role on “Hockey Night in Canada,” David. Stay away from the skinny ties.

 

 

 

Trudy Daley, mom of Pens’ Trevor Daley, passes away after seeing son hoist Cup

28 Tuesday Jun 2016

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Trudy Daley got to experience every hockey mom’s dream.

She saw her son, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley, hoist the Stanley Cup triumphantly over his head after the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1 and won the championship series in six games.

Trevor Daley’s team won the Cup earlier this month. Trudy Daley lost her life last Tuesday at the age of 51, succumbing to cancer.

“Everyone who knew Trudy, knew her big personality and great love for life. She had a sense of humor which was a little warped at times but kept people laughing,” read her obituary posted on Toronto’s McDougall & Brown Funeral Home website. “She was a fierce friend, that always had your back no matter what. She was there when you needed her.”

Trudy Daley (right) holds a photo of her son, defenseman Trevor Daley, from his playing days with the Dallas Stars (Photo/Damon Kwame Mason).

Trudy Daley (right) holds a photo of her son, defenseman Trevor Daley, from his playing days with the Dallas Stars (Photo/Damon Kwame Mason).

She passed with her dying wish fulfilled, seeing her son carrying the Cup. He didn’t play in the Stanley Cup Final because of an ankle injury.

But he was on the ice in full gear following the Pens’ Game 6 win and was the first player team captain Sidney Crosby handed the Cup to after he received it from National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman .

“He had told me that he went and seen his mom in between series and stuff, she wasn’t doing well, she wanted to see him with the Cup. That was important to her,” Crosby said. “I think that kind of stuck with me after he told me that.”

The Cup-hoisting moment was as much Trudy’s as it was Trevor’s.

There’s no mom like a hockey mom – a woman who helps tie a young pee wee player’s skates; freezes herself to the bone watching her bantam player practice at midnight; logs hundreds of thousands of miles in the beat-up family car transporting her travel team player;  and is a non-judgmental listening post and crying shoulder for the major junior player who aspires to play in the NHL.

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Trudy Daley did that and more. She and her son had to navigate issues of race in what’s still a predominantly white sport. She didn’t sugar-coat the evils of racism to her son nor would she allow bigotry to be used as a crutch or obstacle that could prevent him from achieving his career goals.

“What his father and I stressed to him was that we know who your are,” she told author Cecil Harris in his seminal book “Breaking The Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey.” “But when you go out on that street you’re just another black kid. That’s how you’ll be treated. They’ll stereotype you. But think less about what certain people think about you and think more about who you really are.”

She is survived by her husband, Trevor Daley Sr., and their three children, Trevor, Tereen, Nicholas; six grand children, Deja, Trevor, Dekye, Malaya, Emery and Nicky along with her brother and sisters and countless friends.

Hockey has lost a great mom. Rest in peace, Trudy Daley.

The 2016 NHL Draft, a diversity recap

27 Monday Jun 2016

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Once the whirlwind of the two-day, seven-round 2016 National Hockey League Draft was complete, five players of color or minority ethnic heritage were selected, including the Number One overall pick.

Here’s a Color of Hockey snapshot of the five player chosen.

The Toronto Maple Leafs surprised no one and took forward Auston Matthews with the first pick. You want diversity? Matthews is it. The son of a Mexican mother and a California dad, Matthews began playing hockey in Arizona, a state that is slowly gaining a reputation for the sport beyond the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

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“I think it’s been great not only for Arizona, but the whole southwestern region,” said of his selection. “It’s continuing to grow, and it’s just cool to be a part of it.”

Matthews is supposed to be The Next One, a can’t miss superstar a la Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, and Sidney Crosby.

That’s a heavy burden for a 18-year-old to carry, especially in the hockey pressure-cooker that is Toronto. But at 6-foot-2, 216 pounds, Matthews can shoulder the load.

He already has pro hockey experience, having played last season for the ZSC Lions in Switzerland’s top league.  He scored 24 goals and 22 assists in 36 games regular season games for the Lions and had 3 assists in four playoff games.

Matthews also played for the United States in 2015-16, tallying 7 goals and 4 assists in 7 games of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship and 6 goals and 3 assists in the IIHF World Championship.

The Detroit Red Wings took right wing Givani Smith of the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm in the draft’s second round with the 46th overall pick. The 6-foot-1, 216-pound forward was second on the Storm in scoring in 2015-16 with 23 goals and 19 assists in 65 regular season games.

Detroit Red Wings 2016 draftee Givani Smith (center) patterns his game after Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Detroit Red Wings 2016 draftee Givani Smith (center) patterns his game after Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Smith said his game is similar to the way rugged Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds plays.

“The way he plays his game, he a force on the ice,” Smith said. “He scores goals right in front of the net, and that’s where I like to score. He’s a good skater, he finishes checks, and he’s not scared to fight.”

Right wing Cliff Pu of the OHL’s London Knights didn’t have to go far to check out the facilities and offices of the team that drafted him. He was taken by the Buffalo Sabres, host of this year’s draft, in the third round with the 69th overall pick.

On a London Knights team filled with stars, forward Cliff Pu's all-around game impressed the Buffalo Sabres (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

On a London Knights team filled with stars, forward Cliff Pu’s all-around game impressed the Buffalo Sabres (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

On a star-studded team Knights team, Pu scored 12 goals and 19 assists in 63 regular season games. However, the 6-foot-1, 185-forward was a scoring machine in the OHL playoffs with 8 goals and 5 assists in 18 games.

Pu said he’s proud to be drafted by the Sabres, but he’s even prouder of his parents who moved to Canada from China. Pu’s father, Jun, arrived when he was 25. His wife joined him a year later.

“Coming over from a different country isn’t easy, and he came over with a few hundred bucks in his pocket,” Cliff Pu told reporters. “I’m really proud of him.”

The Sabres have been one of the NHL’s more aggressive teams when it comes to drafting or signing minority players. They drafted right wing Justin Bailey – second round, 52nd overall – and right wing Nick Baptiste – third round, 69th overall – in 2013. The organization  signed left wing Evan Rodrigues, a former Boston University star, in 2015.

The Maple Leafs nabbed U.S.-born defenseman James “J.D.” Greenway in the draft’s third round with the 72nd overall pick.  A member of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, the 18-year-old 6-foot-4, 205-pound New York native had 5 goals and 23 assists in 68 games for the U.S. National Under-18 team.

Toronto Maple Leafs draftee James Greenway will play for U of Wisconsin this winter..

Toronto Maple Leafs draftee James Greenway will play for U of Wisconsin this winter..

Greenway is the newest member of the NHL Draft’s black brothers brotherhood. His older brother, Jordan Greenway, was a second-round, 50th overall pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2015.

In addition, there’s the Smith brothers – Givani, who was drafted earlier on Saturday, and Gemel, a 2012 Dallas Stars fourth round pick,  the 104th overall.

And the Jones boys – Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, first round, 4th overall in 2013 by the Nashville Predators; defenseman Caleb Jones, fourth round, 117th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015.

And, of course, there’s the Subban clan  – defenseman P.K, Montreal Canadiens, second round, 43rd overall in 2007; goaltender Malcolm,  Boston Bruins, first round, 24th overall in 2012; and defenseman Jordan, Vancouver Canucks, fourth round, 115th overall in 2013.

Peterborough Petes center Jonathan Ang admitted that he didn’t actually hear his name called when the Florida Panthers took him in the fourth round with the 94th overall pick. He was taking a bathroom break at the time.

But that didn’t diminish the thrill of being picked or the history he likely made. Ang is probably the first player of Malaysian heritage to be drafted by an NHL team.

Florida Panthers draftee Jonathan Ang (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Florida Panthers draftee Jonathan Ang (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

He finished fourth on the OHL  Petes in scoring in 2015-16 with 21 goals and 28 assists in 68 games.

The 5-11, 160-pound Ang led the Petes in playoff scoring, tallying 3 goals and 6 assists in seven games with one playoff game-winning goal.

Jonathan Ang uses men’s room, gets drafted by Florida Panthers

25 Saturday Jun 2016

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J.D. Greenway heads the Toronto Maple Leafs way in 2016 NHL Draft

25 Saturday Jun 2016

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J.D. Greenway, a man-child of a defenseman, was grabbed by the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday with the third round with the 72nd overall pick in the 2016 National Hockey League Draft.

International Scouting Services listed  the 6-foot-4, 204-pound 18-year-old as the tenth-best available defenseman in the draft, calling him a quality package of size, speed, athleticism.

“He can play a finesse game despite his large from and he can play a physical game as well,” wrote ISS scout Phil Myre, a former NHL goalie. “Putting it all together consistently has been his biggest challenge. If he ever does, he’ll be a top player.”

SBNation’s college hockey site said Greenway “can be a punishing physical force to opponents, especially along the boards.”

“He’d going to get under the skin of the opposition an make life difficult for them,” SBNation reported. “He also has the ability to step up and make a big hit if he catches an opponent not looking in the neutral zone.”

 

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A member of the USA Hockey National Team Development ProgramUnder-18 squad that competes against United States Hockey League, collegiate, and international teams, Greenway scored 5 goals and 23 assists in 64 games.

The Potsdam, N.Y., native is continuing a family draft tradition. His brother, Boston University left wing Jordan Greenway, was chosen by the Minnesota Wild last year in the second round with the 50th overall pick.

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Like his brother, J.D. is going the NCAA Division I route before turning pro. He’s committed to play for the University of Wisconsin.

Still, the Greenway brothers could end up as teammates this year. Both are among 42 players invited to USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp July 30-Aug. 7 in Plymouth, Michigan.

The players are auditioning for spots on the 2017 U.S. team that will compete in the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship tournament in Helsinki this winter.

 

Cliff Pu shuffles off to Buffalo Sabres in 2016 NHL Draft

25 Saturday Jun 2016

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Givani Smith is Motown-bound as Detroit Red Wings draft pick

25 Saturday Jun 2016

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It takes a village to raise a hockey player, and it looked like Givani Smith brought the entirety of his to the 2016 National Hockey League Draft.

Smith, a forward for the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, sat patiently through the first night of the draft soaking in the atmosphere with his parents, siblings, cousins, current and former coaches, and families that he lived with as he climbed the hockey ladder away from his Toronto home.

Saturday, they all  15-20 of them erupted in joy inside Buffalo’s First Niagara Center when the Detroit Red Wings took Smith in the second round with the 46th overall pick in the draft.

Guelph Storm forward Givani Smith is all smiles after the Detroit Red Wings chose him in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft.

Guelph Storm forward Givani Smith is all smiles after the Detroit Red Wings chose him in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft.

“It’s so surreal right now. I’m excited and I think I’ll be a good fit here,” Smith said. “I play a mean game, play in guys face, play hard. I like to use my body and wear defensemen down.”

Smith, a right wing, was ranked as the 54th-best North American skater by Central Scouting. He’s following in the skates of his older brother, center Gemel Smith, who was drafted by the Dallas Stars in 2012 in the fourth round with the 104th overall pick.

Givani  tallied 23 goals, 19 assists, and 146 penalty minutes in 65 games for Guelph in 2015-16.

Givani Smth's physical game and soft scoring hands made him attractive to the Detroit Red Wings(Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Givani Smth’s physical game and soft scoring hands made him attractive to the Detroit Red Wings(Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

“I like to model myself after Wayne Simmonds,” Givani Smth said. “He’s a force on the ice, he scores goals in front of the net, and that’s where I score goals.”

Gemel had 13 goals, 13 assists, and 24 penalty minutes in 65 games for the Texas Stars, Dallas’ American Hockey League farm team.

Big brother Gemel has offered some sage advice to Givani ahead of June’s draft: “Don’t believe the hype – good or bad.”

Trevor Daley gets Stanley Cup first in tribute to the player and his ailing mom

14 Tuesday Jun 2016

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Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley didn’t play a minute in the Stanley Cup Final series against the San Jose Sharks.

Traded to Pittsburgh by Chicago, Trevor Daley wins the Stanley Cup.

Traded to Pittsburgh by Chicago, Trevor Daley wins the Stanley Cup.

But after National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman gave Penguins captain Sidney Crosby the Cup for vanquishing the Sharks Sunday, Crosby handed the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America to Daley  for a short skate.

Why? Because he earned it.

Crosby’s classy pass was a testament to Daley’s 2015-16 season and a career of perseverance and performance. He endured a season in which he was traded twice, skated with a heavy heart from his mother’s battle with cancer, and suffered a broken left ankle against the Tampa Bay Lightning that knocked him out of the playoffs.

But the moment that he hoisted that 34.5-pound Cup, all of Daley’s physical pain and personal heartache seemed to evaporate, knowing that his ailing mother, Trudy, would see him hold the trophy that they both desperately wanted to win.

“Daley has played such a long time. Hadn’t really even had a chance,” Crosby said following the Penguins’ 3-1 Cup-clinching victory over the Sharks. “He had been through some different playoffs, but getting hurt at the time he did, knowing how important it was, he had told me that he went and seen his mom in between series and stuff, she wasn’t doing well, she wanted to see him with the Cup. That was important to her.”

“I think that kind of stuck with me after he told me that,” Crosby added. “We were motivated to get it for him, even though he had to watch.”

Daley, 32, appreciated the gesture. He told Sportsnet that Crosby is “a great hockey player, but he’s an even better person.”

“What much more can you say about that guy? ” Daley told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. “He’s just as good of a person as he is a hockey player, probably even better. He’s a special guy.”

There are currently 2,476 names inscribed on the Stanley Cup. Five of them belong to black players: goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Eldon “Pokey” Reddick from the Edmonton Oilers’  five championships in the 1980s and 90s; goalie Ray Emery and defensemen Johnny Oduya and Dustin Byfuglien from the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Cup-winning teams in 2013 and 2015.

Now comes Daley. He started the 2015-16 season with a Stanley Cup run in mind, though not with the Penguins. The Stars traded the veteran defenseman to the defending champion Blackhawks.

But Daley, for some inexplicable reason, wasn’t a good fit in Chicago and the Blackhawks shipped him to Pittsburgh after only 29 regular season games. He quickly meshed with a  Penguins offensively talented roster that features Crosby,  center Evgeni Malkin and right wing Phil Kessel.

Oh what a night. Trevor Daley (right) savors Stanley Cup victory with actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.(Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).

Oh what a night. Trevor Daley (right) savors Stanley Cup victory with actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.(Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).

Daley tallied 6 goals and 16 assists in 53 regular season games for Pittsburgh and 1 goal and 5 assists in 15 post-season contests before injuring his ankle. He was second among the team’s defensive corps in regular season scoring  with 22 points and second in time on ice, averaging 20:27 minutes per game.

Prior to 2015-16, Daley was a mainstay in Dallas, the team that chose him in the second round with  the 43rd overall pick of the 2002 NHL Draft. He appeared in 756 games from 2003-04 to 2014-15, ranking him eighth all-time in games played for the franchise.

He played major junior hockey for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League under head coach and general manager John Vanbiesbrouck, a former NHL All-Star goaltender.

Daley experienced hockey’s hurtful side when he learned that Vanbiesbrouck, a 2007 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, had called him the N-word. Daley temporarily left the Greyhounds on the advice of his agent, hockey legend Bobby Orr, and met with OHL Commissioner Dave Branch.

Vanbiesbrouck resigned from the Greyhounds after he admitted using the word, saying  “It’s a mistake and consequences have to be paid by me.”

“I told Trev this is an old wound with me,” Vanbiesbrouck told The Sault Star. “I grew up with it. I’m as sorry as anybody that it’s stuck with me.”

Trudy and Trevor Daley, Sr., had prepared their son for such unpleasantness.

“What his father and I stressed to him was that we know who your are,” Trudy told author Cecil Harris for his excellent book “Breaking The Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey.” “But when you go out on that street you’re just another black kid. That’s how you’ll be treated. They’ll stereotype you. But think less about what certain people think about you and think more about who you really are.”

Words that Daley has apparently lived by throughout his professional career. He has a reputation as a class act; a first-on-the-ice, last-off-the-ice, locker room character guy – long-hand hockey lingo for a leader.

When the Stars traded Daley last July, Mike Heika of Texas’ SportsDay called him “one of the best guys in the room and he is a very underrated leader.”

The Penguins agreed. When Daley went down with the ankle injury, Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan called him “an important player on our team.”

“He’s a hard guy to replace,” the coach said. “He plays a lot of minutes. He plays in key situations…when you lose someone like Trevor that plays important minutes for us, it makes it that much tougher.”

But like Daley, the Penguins persevered and performed. And Daley got to hoist the Stanley Cup for mom.