Lost Rookies: 1984-85 OPC Ken Daneyko

  Ken Daneyko is not the typical player I would feature on a Lost Rookies post.  While it did take OPC six seasons before they included him in a set, Daneyko played 20 seasons in the NHL, all with the New Jersey Devils.  So there are plenty of card of Daneyko in a  Devils uniform around, although his 1989-90 OPC rookie was a dreaded warm-up shot.
  The early pictures of a baby-faced Ken Daneyko quite surprised me.  For some reason, I always assumed Ken Daneyko was born as a balding stubbly grizzled faced middle-aged man.  It was also a suggestion made by gregory, who also runs a blog that features quite a bit of hockey.  So with that motivation, here we go with the Lost Rookie of Ken Daneyko.
  One of the interesting things about Daneyko is that he started with the club in the Mickey Mouse years and lasted until the Devils were 3x Stanley Cup champs.  Daneyko was the epitome of the crease-clearer defenceman.  In 20 seasons, Daneyko scored 36 goals, 178 points, and had 2516 PIM in 1283 games played.  Daneyko once went 256 regular season games without scoring a goal (1999-2002).  He is the Devils/Rockies/Scouts franchise career leader in games played and PIM.
  As for that interesting bit mentioned above, Daneyko was injured about two weeks before the "Mickey Mouse" game against the Oilers in 1983.  His injury cost him the majority of the 1983-84 season, including any chance of returning to the Devils that season.  He only played one game with the Devils in 1984-85.  So he somewhat missed the Mickey Mouse era.
  Daneyko's final NHL game was the game 7 victory in the 2003 Stanley Cup finals over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.  Earlier in the play-offs, he had suffered a rib injury, which caused him to miss 10 of the Devils final 14 play-off games, including the first six games of the Finals.  Prior to the injury, Daneyko had played in all 165 Scout/Rockies/Devils franchise play-off games.  He returned to play his final NHL game in game 7, a 3-0 victory, for the Devils third Stanley Cup in 10 seasons.
  Daneyko won the Bill Masterson trophy in 2001 for Perseverance.  Daneyko had troubles with alcohol which culminated during the 1997-98 season.  He was granted a leave of absence while he checked into rehab.  He beat his demons and would go on to help the Devils to win Cups in 2000 and 2003.
  It's incredible to think a player could spend 20 seasons with the same franchise in the free agent era, especially when that player isn't a HHOF calibre player.  It shows quite a bit of loyalty by the Devils and by Daneyko.

1984-85 OPC #404 Ken Daneyko (RC)

1984-85 OPC #404 Ken Daneyko (RC)

I also found this picture of Ken Daneyko.  This is exactly how I pictured a baby faced Ken Daneyko.   An angry face full of stubble.  This was how I assumed Daneyko looked on the day he was born, except he would be missing his two front teeth. 

1987-88 OPC Ken Daneyko