Detroit — The thought struck Ken Daniels this past winter as the Red Wings were celebrating the reunion of the Stanley Cup-winning 1997 and 1998 teams.
As everyone was getting ready to go on the ice, Daniels saw Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom sitting together and talking.
Daniels was thinking about potential people to be roasted for his event benefitting The Jamie Daniels Foundation. Different people had crossed his mind, but nobody seemed just right. Seeing the Lidstrom-Holmstrom combo, though, together, seemed like a perfect match.
The potential for a fun evening was there.
“I saw them together and I went up and asked them, ‘Will you guys be roasted’,” said Daniels, the Wings’ popular television play-by-play man. “They looked at me and Homer immediately said yes, ‘I’d do it’. Nick looked at Homer and looked at me and said ‘OK.’
“I said Nick, in all honesty, there’s nothing to roast you about. We’ll toast you, and he laughed.
“They’re excited about it.”
So, Holmstrom will be roasted and Lidstrom toasted Saturday at MotorCity Casino. Many Red Wings representatives will be on hand in what should be an enjoyable evening, all for the worthy cause.
Jamie Daniels, then only 23, died of ingesting a lethal dose of a synthetic opioid on Dec. 7, 2016, just 12 days after moving into a sober-living home. The opioid included a mix of heroin laced with fentanyl. Jamie had been living in a sober-living home in Florida, had a job at a law firm working as a law clerk, and studying for his law school entrance exam. He had been sober for 228 days.
Since then, Ken Daniels and his ex-wife Lisa Daniels-Goldman have started the foundation named after their son, raising important funds in an effort to save other lives affected by substance abuse.
The Jamie Daniels Foundation, a Children’s Foundation initiative, provides education, resources, guidance and support to youth and adolescents battling substance use disorder.
“Jamie always said ‘you need a summer job’, after he saw I wasn’t getting much better at golf at the time,” Daniels said. “Unfortunately he gave me one, but fortunately we’re saving lives.”
The Detroit News caught up with Daniels recently to talk about Saturday’s roast, about the foundation, and his broadcasting career and the current state of the Red Wings.
Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
▶ Question: You talked about getting Nick and Homer for the roast. That should be a great pair for this event. Is it difficult though, sometimes, to get a person? It would seem to me it would have to be the right type of individual.
▶ Answer: “There are some people I don’t even approach because I know I’ll be told ‘no.’ We’ve often thought about going outside the hockey world, and if we continue to do this, we probably will, which I believe can be a hit. I’ve asked Brendan Shanahan (former Wings star player, current Toronto Maple Leafs front-office executive) twice now and he said no both times. He said I should wait until he accomplishes something. I laughed and said ‘You mean in Toronto?’.
“But it has to be the right guy. That’s the thing about these events, even when Mickey (Redmond) did it, guys do their thing. I don’t think anyone really gets beat up on. It’s not like Comedy Central. It’s a little different.”
▶ Q: Kenny, you’ve thrown yourself into the foundation. Just the work involved, everything involved with it. Did you feel like you had to do something after Jamie passed? Did you know soon after you were going to try to do something, whatever you could?
▶ A: “Every family grieves from a loss. You lose a parent, too, and there’s a grieving process, it’s just not kids. But when a parent loses a child, and that’s why the Michael and Marian Ilitch Foundation have been so wonderful to us, and they’ve become our dinner sponsor and contribute so much to us, they lost Ron (a son, 61, died of a drug overdose) and they know what it’s like.
“You get a hug from a parent who has lost a child, the hug is different. You can feel it. You know what they know and you know what each is going through.”
▶ Q: You talk so much about communication, and how you really have to talk with your kids and just be open with them. Is that a key, big message you attempt to bring to parents?
▶ A: “It is. If you see their grades being to fall, or they’re miserable and looking to get out of the house, or they just keep to themselves, there’s a lot of different signs and if you ask most kids (about drugs), they’ll deny it. But it’s not just the addiction, but the bullying and depression, and they’ll take the drugs to numb that. There’s so much in the world these days, the pressure of social media and the kids today, it’s hard. It’s hard for parents.
“My daughter (Arlyn, a registered nurse at Northwestern University in Chicago) has now lived through this with her brother. She’ll know the signs someday, and hopefully it’ll never come to that, but so many don’t. We have to get the word out, and if we use our story as an example. People have seen the articles and the story on (ESPN’s) E60 (documentary) and I say great. There is a community to turn to.”
▶ Q: It has to feel good to see the support you have received over the years. There’s been so much of it, and then because of the support, all that the foundation has accomplished.
▶ A: “Those that have supported us, yes, it brings tears to your eyes because it’s not easy. You can be overprescribed for anything and just like Jamie, (people) will try anything. He shouldn’t have, but kids do. We hear from parents who’ve lost their kids, parents who couldn’t speak their child’s name because of so much sadness, but for us, talking about Jamie is like music to our ears. That’s why our foundation’s logo is somewhat of a music logo. James was into music and loved it. We’re not able to bring them back, we’re just hoping to bring some life to others. We say that one life lost to addiction is one too many.”
▶ Q: I’ve heard, and read, you talk about this, and it really struck me. Do you think Jamie is watching this from somewhere and nodding and just saying ‘good job, Dad’, and approving of what you are doing?
▶ A: “Yes, I believe it because I believe in mediums and not everyone is a believer and that’s fine. Whatever gets you through the day, believe in what you believe in, right? That gets me through the day. Someday I’ll see him again and he’ll say ‘good job, Dad’ and that I lived a life to give his name back to help others, and that’s what we’re doing at the Jamie Daniels Foundation, with the Children’s Foundation on board with us. It’s been wonderful. All the volunteers, with everyone on board. it’s been great. I believe in it and you have to believe in something.”
▶ Q: Where do you want to go forward, what do you want to accomplish further, with the foundation?
▶ A: “In June of 2018 we started the foundation and we’ve been able to grant $500,000 to Michigan colleges for recovery programs and full-time recovery coaches, another $500,000 commitment to AARC (Adolescent Addiction Recovery Center), located at Children’s Hospital in Troy. That’s where the money is going.
“We want to expand from the nine Michigan colleges that we’re in, the recovery program, we’re reaching into Ohio. If we can go elsewhere, great. We’re getting into public schools. We want to continue the conversation with teaching kids who are in grades one through five. If you’re struggling with anything, you can find a different path and set it up for later years.
“I’m fortunate I have a platform because of my voice on television and with Red Wings hockey, absolutely 1,000% I’m grateful for that every day. That we can get our word out through that platform, and what we’ve been able to do through Bally Sports Detroit and the Ilitch family. A lot of people don’t have that platform and they’re grieving. One way you handle that grief is helping others. We’re fortunate and we’re aware of that.”
▶ Q: How many seasons will this now be for you and Mickey (Redmond)?
▶ A: This will be season 27 coming up, the 27th season.
▶ Q: Kenny, why has it been such a successful combo, you and Mickey. The chemistry is unbelievable. Why has it been so good, so successful.
▶ A: “I know what you’re saying. I’ll say this, it took a couple of years, not that anyone would have noticed. But Mickey and I noticed, and he would probably tell you that too. The first few years, coming from Hockey Night in Canada where it’s probably 80% play-by-play and 20% analyst, and then I come here and I quickly learn it’s closer to 60-to-40, and I worked with Don Cherry at Hockey Night (another talkative analyst), so I knew at the time to let Mickey do his thing. But it took a while to adjust and he kept on doing his thing.”
▶ Q: Mickey really is a unique analyst to work with, isn’t he?
▶ A: “There is absolutely no one like him. He is so intelligent about the game. I’ve seen so many players over the years and they’ve always gone to Mick and talk about the game. He has done it for so long and he has seen how the game has evolved. He can tell me something isn’t right about a player, and I hadn’t heard it, and sure enough he’s right more often than not.
“How a particular play happened, and why it happened? Was there a bad line change? Did someone turn the wrong way? You look at a replay and five things probably happened that led to that, and that’s where Mickey is so good at that. People can see what happened, and see why it happened, and that’s what a real good analyst does, and that’s what Mickey does so very well.”
▶ Q: I always tell people how my industry has changed over the last 20 to 30 years, and I imagine it’s no different in broadcasting. How have things changed since you started?
▶ A: “It has changed immensely over the years. But the game has changed. It’s so much faster. The talent is so great today and things happen so quickly. Even the great players in the past will tell you the players today are so talented, even Wayne Gretzky says that what players can do today, the guys in the past couldn’t.”
▶ Q: The broadcasts have changed, too, haven’t they?
▶ A: You watch tapes of old games, you’d be filling 30 to 40 seconds to tell a story (during faceoffs, now it’s 20 seconds). Now you have to be concise and be quicker, just like the game. We have to be moving too, and sometimes you don’t get stuff in, and hopefully the game is so good and you don’t need it. Then there are games that aren’t that good and there are some of those …”
▶ Q: Let’s face it, you had quite a bit of those several years ago …
▶ A: “Yes, and that’s where after some games MIckey would say ‘Kenny, we earned our money tonight’, and that’s when you know the broadcast is good because you had stories to go and you had some fun and it’s about entertainment and you’re trying to tell good stories, and it’s evolving as the game moves along.”
▶ Q: OK, we’re a few weeks away still from the start of training camp, but so many fans are getting excited about the Wings’ season. After all the moves (general manager) Steve Yzerman made this summer, how do view this roster right now?
▶ A: “They’re a lot deeper. Last year, the defensemen from six to eight (on depth chart) played well over 100 games, and you traded (Gustav) Lindstrom, and (Robert) Hagg is gone and (Jordan) Oesterle is gone. But on any given night, your seventh defenseman will be scratched and (he) is better than the three that departed that I just mentioned.
“There are nine new players, so you see how the team has changed. The defense is a lot deeper, and you know injuries will happen. You have options to slide into that third (defensive) pair.
“They got (Alex) DeBrincat, (J.T.) Compher will be a nice addition also. When (Michael) Rasmussen went down in February, that was a big loss. Now you get him on a wing, and I think (Andrew) Copp will be better as he’s healthy, and the power play, and we’ve talked about it has struggled, but you now have a lot of choices now in that regard. You have options. It’s going to be a lot better.
“The Red Wings roster is much improved, but it’s going to be tough to get in (the playoffs) because the other teams have also improved and the few who are going to fall down a little bit are (still going to be competitive).
“The playoffs will be tough. But anything can happen if the Wings can stay healthy.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
X: @tkulfan
The Roast of Tomas Holmstrom & Toast of Nicklas Lidstrom
▶ When: Saturday
▶ Where: MotorCity Casino Hotel, Detroit
▶ Schedule: Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner, auction, 5:30 p.m.; doors open, 7:30 p.m., show begins at 8:30 p.m.
▶ Tickets: Champions tickets are sold out, $300 (cocktail attire). After-glow ticket, $125. Upper-bowl seating, concession food and drinks available for purchase.
▶ Lineup: Host Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick. Former Red Wings Kris Draper and Steve Ott, along with comedians Ian Bagg and Jim Ralph, are roasting. Present and former Wings attending include Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Jeff Petry, Chris Osgood and Darren McCarty.
▶ Silent auction: Dozens of items are available in a live auction. Auction closes 7:45 p.m. Saturday.
▶ More information: jamiedanielsfoundation.org.