Daley savors day with Stanley Cup, eyes future with Red Wings

STOUFFVILLE, Ontario -- Trevor Daley spent his day with the Stanley Cup on Wednesday, looking back on two championship seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and ahead to playing with the Detroit Red Wings in 2017-18.
The defenseman, who signed a three-year contract reportedly worth $9.53 million with the Red Wings on July 1, is still amazed by what the Penguins accomplished during his two seasons in Pittsburgh.

"It's crazy to me," Daley said at the Stouffville Sports Complex, site of the Toronto Professional Hockey School, a hockey camp for players aged 6-16 he attended as a minor hockey player. "It just showed what type of team we had. We had a resilient team, a great group of guys. It was a special run."
Daley, who played his first 11 NHL seasons with the Dallas Stars and 29 games with the Chicago Blackhawks before being traded to Pittsburgh on Dec. 14, 2015, hopes his championship experience can help the Red Wings, a young team trying to get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after failing to qualify for the first time in 25 seasons.
"It was a great run in Pittsburgh and I'm looking forward to trying to do the same in Detroit," Daley said.
In addition to visiting the school, Daley was greeted by firemen from Stouffville, which is about 45 minutes from his hometown of Toronto. He admitted he might have been the second biggest celebrity in town Wednesday.

"The Cup is crazy in terms of the attention it gets," Daley said. "It's a lot of hard work to win it but whenever you get to bring it out and show it off, it's a show-stopper. It's fun to show people how hard you've worked to get it, and for the kids, it's always good to let them know that their hard work can pay off someday."
Martin Ross, the head director of the school for 29 years, was touched that Daley, 33, took some time to share the Cup with the campers.
"We really appreciate him remembering the camp and remembering his times here and bringing it here to share with the kids," Ross said. "This was an experience these kids will probably never get in their lives again. I think it will hit them 10 or 15 years from now. I don't think they realize how cool this is right now. They're people who get their picture with the Cup at the Hall of Fame but nobody gets their picture with the Cup on the ice in their equipment with a Stanley Cup champion."
Daley had five points (one goal, four assists) while averaging 19:06 of ice time in 21 playoff games to help the Penguins overcome the loss of defenseman Kris Letang, who missed the postseason recovering from neck surgery.
Back when Daley attended his camp, Ross said he stood out right away as an elite player.
"His skating ability is something that I don't think you can even teach," Ross said. "His lateral movement and the way he could skate was just on a different level from everybody else."
Daley has played 894 regular-season games and 71 playoff games in 13 NHL seasons. Ross said none of it would have happened without him.
"I tell everybody I'm the main reason he's in the NHL because at a young age, I told him modeling was not going to be an option, and he took that advice and decided to work hard on his hockey instead of his modeling career," Ross said.
When told of his old instructor laying claim to his success, Daley could not help but laugh.
"You can tell him I think he's crazy," Daley said.