Daley On Decision to Join Pens' Hockey Ops Staff: "It Just Felt Right"

After Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford acquired Trevor Daley in the 2015-16 season, he could immediately tell that the defenseman had future management potential.

"For the people that got to know Trevor over his career - and for me when he was in Pittsburgh as a player - you could tell he was a quiet leader, he had great character, and he was really well-liked," Rutherford told PittsburghPenguins.com. "And I said a long time ago, after he played here, that that is a guy that would be good in the front office someday."
Rutherford told Daley's agent as much, following the rest of his career after he signed with the Red Wings following his second straight Stanley Cup championship with the Penguins and keeping in touch with him the entire time.
And once Daley determined that it was time to hang up the skates after a successful 16-year career that saw him play 1,058 career NHL games split between Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit?
"That's when I pushed to say that there's a spot here for him in hockey ops if he wants it," Rutherford said.
And Daley did, as the Penguins announced on Oct. 26 that they had added him to the front-office staff as a hockey operations advisor.
In his new role, Daley will be based out of Pittsburgh and report directly to Rutherford, assisting in player evaluations at the NHL and AHL level as well as acting as an 'eye in the sky' for the coaching staff during games.

While the 37-year-old said it was a difficult decision to stop playing, having an opportunity like this one helped make it easier. He reached out to a few ex-teammates and players that had been in similar situations, and weighed all his options - ultimately deciding that this position was perfect for him.
"I feel very comfortable with the organization, I feel comfortable with the city," Daley said in a video conference call with Pittsburgh media. "My kids love it there; they are excited to come back there. And just for myself, the opportunity to see what this side of the game looks like and to get it with this organization and with Jim - who is one of the most respected people in the game - really made my decision easy. And it feels so right that I'm excited about it."
Daley is particularly looking forward to the open-ended nature of the position.
"It allows me to find my way," he said. "I think there's times for me to see both sides and things I like and things I might not like or things I might be better at. That's why I was so excited about the opportunity, because it wasn't really just jumping into you're going to be a coach or you're going to be doing this or doing that. It kind of gave me the flexibility to freelance and work with both sides of it."
Daley will also serve as a sounding board for current Penguins players, with his old teammates absolutely thrilled to hear that he would be returning to Pittsburgh.
Daley, who appeared in 109 total regular-season games with the Penguins between 2015-17 and played a vital role in the back-to-back championships, spoke with Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang before the news came out. More texts and phone calls immediately began pouring in after the announcement was made.
"I've only gotten to talk to a couple of them so far. I've had a million messages; I was kind of keeping it under wraps until this came out," Daley said before adding with a laugh, "I'm actually missing a call from Brian Dumoulin right now. So I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some of these guys. We've stayed in contact, but to be with them on this side of things, I'm excited about it."
Especially since that camaraderie aspect is what Daley is going to miss the most about playing.
"I'm telling myself I think I'm doing the next best thing to stay in the sport, being on this side of it," Daley said. "But the relationships along the way, the guys you meet, the people you meet - we have some great people in our game that I'm going to get to continue to keep making those relationships. I think in today's world that we're living, there's so much outside stuff going on that just to be surrounded with good people is amazing."
And Daley is looking forward to learning from and leaning on them in his new position.
"As much as I'm a hockey player and I think I know the game of hockey somewhat and I'm hoping this part of the game is going to come second nature, I know it's going to require work," Daley said. "You've got to listen and you're kind of starting off as a student again. So the good thing is I have the opportunity to lean on a lot of people. Starting at the top, leaning on Jim is going to be obviously a huge key. But there's lots of people within the organization and there's lots of people I know that I've gotten to meet along the way that I've already reached out to, and I'm excited to get started."