Daneyko on Spaulding: "Everything Pointed Towards Bill" | FEATURE

Ken Daneyko had a unique summer. After the Devils season ended, he did get his vacation time, traveling to Greece with his wife Margaret and spending time with his family, but unlike other summers, he found himself back in a broadcast booth.
In searching for the new play-by-play voice for the Devils on MSG Networks after Steve Cangialosi stepped aside after 11 years, Daneyko, Cangi's color commentator for the past eight years played an integral role in the latter stages of the audition process. Dano was prepared for the changes, having known for quite some time before it was made public of Cangialosi's decision. Halfway through last season, it became clear to Mr. Devil that a search would be on during the summer months.
"Change can be difficult, for our passionate fans and for any fans in the National Hockey League. But then all of a sudden when they then heard [Spaulding] everybody said wow, he's got a good voice. I mean, he really does. He's a guy that's going to grow with the team, you know, a young guy and it's refreshing for me, from the standpoint."

The process involved a plethora of candidates, looking to become the voice of the Devils. Some Daneyko knew, others, like the man who secured the job, he didn't. The audition process had been narrowed down to roughly six candidates when Daneyko was brought it. Together, they would call a Devils game from the 2021-22 season, three periods, including an overtime winner.
"I wanted [MSG Networks] to get the right guy first and foremost," Daneyko recalls of the process. "Like it's not easy when you're doing auditions in the summer of a game you already called for me to get fired up. But everybody knows I'm pretty intense. So, I was really fired up like I was at the game. I wanted to make sure I gave [the candidates] the best opportunity not just to go through the motions. But this is one of the 32 jobs, dream jobs, a dream job for a lot of these guys."
Bill Spaulding was the last of the finalists to audition, Daneyko remembers. Spaulding's audition took place on a Monday, following three days the previous week where other candidates auditioned with Daneyko. Despite having been a part of the process, 'calling' the game five times in three days the previous week, he wasn't going to take his own foot off the gas.
"Bill came in and I wanted to make sure we gave it our best and just didn't see it through the last audition kind of attitude, like not giving him the opportunity. You know, as soon as he started even in the preamble, I got Roland [Dratch] my producer for many, many years to portal and we all kind of went Wow, he's got it."

After every audition, Daneyko was asked for his personal feedback, where he would share his thoughts on chemistry, comfortability, and how relaxed he felt with certain candidates, noting that this is a person he will be beside in the booth for 'hopefully a lot of years' not just calling games, which Daneyko said, of course, is the most important, but also the team chemistry, much like you'd find on a successful hockey team.
"Everything points towards Bill,
" Daneyko shared. "It's like an actor or an actress getting a role. And sometimes it's the lesser name, and you go, that's the person. I think all of us sort of felt that at the time."
It was Bill's crisp pipes, Daneyko recalls being excited about. It was the same type of reaction that he felt Devils fans experienced hearing Spaulding for the first time in the

Devils fans will get their first true glimpse of Spaulding and Daneyko when they gear up with two preseason games at Prudential Center, refining that chemistry for the home opener on Oct. 15, against Detroit.
"He's fired up. It's, going be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to the first few games and obviously, you're right, the transition might take a little time for us to be as comfortable and smooth as we'd like to, but I don't think it's going to take very long."