Fitting honor for a Devils trailblazer

NEWARK – The late Dr. John J. McMullen was the Devils’ first owner and, under his leadership, a struggling franchise in Kansas City and Colorado finally found success in New Jersey. For that, he became the first inductee into the franchise’s Ring of Honor on Friday night at Prudential Center in a pregame ceremony prior to the Devils hosting the Maple Leafs.

“He was a doer,” said Claude Lemieux, a member of two of the Devils three Stanley Cup winners. “He wanted to win.”

So it’s fitting that behind the Devils’ three Cup banners at The Rock, there is now a permanent display to honor McMullen. The white background, lined with green and red, the Devils’ original colors, shows an “82,” representing the year McMullen purchased the then-Colorado Rockies and moved them to the Meadowlands, a portrait of McMullen and his full name.

The 20-minute pregame ceremony included a six-minute tribute video narrated by former Devils’ play-by-play announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick that highlighted the growth of youth hockey in New Jersey once the state had a professional hockey team. Emrick wondered “what if” McMullen had never completed the purchase, which, he added, “changed” the NHL.

Lemieux was among 12 former players who joined McMullen’s widow, Jacqueline, and their children on the ice for the ceremony. That included the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Patrik Elias, still working out on his own to test whether his surgically repaired knee will allow him to play this season. Elias, in a suit rather than a Devils’ jersey like the other former players, including Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, drew a huge ovation and chants of “Patty, Patty.”

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To those who played for or worked with McMullen, who sold the team in 2000 after it won its second of three Stanley Cups and passed away at the age of 87 in 2005, he was so much more than just an owner.

“We had a special relationship,” said Ken Daneyko, the Devils’ first-ever draft choice as he was selected 18th overall in 1982, a member of all three Cup winners before retiring in 2003 and now the team’s television analyst. “He was like a second father to me. That was just the kind of man he was. He cared about you not only as a player but as a person and he treated my family and myself like gold.”

“I think this is special because of not only the professional relationship but the personal relationship,” said Lou Lamoriello, hired as the Devils president in 1987 and now the Maple Leafs general manager. “The friendship we had after he sold the team, it was strong, yet never talking about hockey. That’s something special to me. I have a lot of things to be thankful of, personally and professionally, because of John McMullen.”

Both Daneyko and Lamoriello, who earned a “Looooo” ovation, were on the ice to honor McMullen.

Daneyko, Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens are the four Devils to have had their jerseys retired. Along with Elias and Lamoriello, they are all natural candidates as future inductees of the Ring of Honor.

But Daneyko said he’d like to see some of his former teammates without retired jerseys recognized. Possibilities among that group include Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Sergei Brylin, John MacLean and Bruce Driver, though there are certainly other potential candidates.

Lamoriello said the ceremony held special meaning to him because of his relationship with McMullen.

“It allows you to internalize all the great experiences that you’ve shared with those people,” Lamoriello said. “Sometimes, you look at ceremonies and you really don’t know the people so it’s a little different. [For this], you’re able to just smile to yourself and people say the things that they say and you know that they’re true.”

Daneyko went through a well-publicized battle with alcohol addiction as a player until Lamoriello and McMullen helped him successfully go through rehab.

“Everybody knows I went through some ups and downs off the ice,” Daneyko said. “But 'Dr. Mac' never wavered. He took a liking to me as a kid. He liked what I brought to the team as far as my rambunctiousness. He didn’t always like the rambunctiousness off the ice but I think he saw a little bit of a young Dr. McMullen when he saw me as a kid. I’m very grateful for the support he gave me.”

Email: grossa@northjersey.com