A career retrospective with ex-Sabres, Devils player Drew Stafford

Drew Stafford spent parts of nine seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. (Jen Fuller/Getty Images)

“When adversity hits, you need people in your dressing room who have been through it, and this is a player who’s a high character leader. He’s making the most of his opportunity and takes care of himself. He’s been great for our young guys, great for our culture. He’s near the end of his career, but he loves the game, loves helping people. His selflessness, professionalism and no-excuse, never-quit attitude make him a special guy. He’s a tremendous teammate.”

Those words were spoken by New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes about right wing Drew Stafford toward the end of the 2018-19 season, Stafford’s second in the Garden State and 13th in the National Hockey League.

Now, at age 33, Stafford is seeking to seize his next opportunity after signing a professional tryout contract with the Minnesota Wild prior to their 2019-20 training camp.

Born in Milwaukee but raised in Faribault, Minn., Stafford has compiled a treasure trove of hockey memories throughout his life. And after being on the receiving end of lessons in his younger years, the student has morphed into professor in his more recent seasons, sharing his intellect with the NHL’s newest skaters.

Said 26-year-old Devils center Kevin Rooney: “We started playing together when I was first up (during the 2018-19 season), and he helped me a lot. He was the first guy I went to if I had any questions.”

Exhibit A of a time when Rooney, a Providence College product and Canton, Mass., native, sought the veteran’s assistance was on March 30 during the Devils’ match against the visiting and eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.

“The Blues have big defensemen, and we got the puck low to high,” Rooney explained. “A lot of times I was getting to the front of the net, and they weren’t boxing me out, they were fronting pucks — those point shots and soft wristers that we are looking to tip. I asked him what you do in that situation, and he gave me the answer: Meet the ‘D’ — don’t stay in front of the net while the ‘D’ is trying to front. Meet them, give them a push, and then look for a tip.”

Stafford has 428 points (196-232-428) in 841 regular-season games and 11 points (6-5-11) in 32 playoff contests. And as a respected player who’s experienced nearly everything the sport has to offer, he has a high stature in the dressing room.

Said 27-year-old Devils forward Blake Coleman. “Drew provides leadership. If he saw me do something that he thought I could have done better, he addressed it and gave me advice and told me what to look for; then it was on me to apply it. He’s been around a long time, and it takes a good pro to be in the league that long. I soaked in all I could and applied what I could to my game. And sitting next to him in the locker room, I heard his stories — he has so many stories — about the league.”

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If Stafford had a moment when he was star struck when he first entered the NHL, it didn’t last long.

“Five minutes,” the right-handed shooter said. “I had been in the NHL culture for a while since I was a kid, so I was used to hanging out with those kinds of guys.”

That’s because Stafford’s father, Gordie, played professionally for seven seasons in the 1980s, predominantly with the International Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals, and his uncle Barrie was the Edmonton Oilers equipment manager for nearly three decades, including during the team’s dynasty when it won the Stanley Cup five times in a seven-year span from 1984-90.

Then in the spring prior to Stafford’s first big-league season, he skated for the United States squad at the 2006 IIHF World Championship.

“That was my first taste of pros and dealing with NHL guys,” he stated. “I got it out of my system there, playing against teams like Canada as a 20-year-old. They were all normal guys, working as hard as they could, too. We were all in it together.”

Stafford, who played three seasons at the University of North Dakota, made his NHL debut on Nov. 5, 2006, against the New York Rangers as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, who had selected him 13th overall in the 2004 draft.

His premier NHL contest was his third game in three nights after he suited up in each of the previous two evenings with the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ American Hockey League affiliate. All he did was record the primary assist on Daniel Briere’s winning goal in overtime for his first NHL point.

“Coach Lindy Ruff threw me out there, and I gave Danny a terrible pass in the offensive zone, and he corralled the puck with his skate and went cheese for the winner,” Stafford reminisced. “That was pretty cool for a first-game memory.”

The initial months of his rookie season were a challenge for Stafford for multiple reasons. The first was because he repeatedly shuttled between Buffalo and Rochester.

“I went back and forth nine or 10 times because of the convenience of it and because the Sabres were really tight against the cap,” he recalled. “I sometimes had to make the trip twice in a day. I’d be at practice with Rochester in the morning, then be called up to play a game in Buffalo at night, then go back to Rochester and then come back just to skirt the cap a little bit. I never really felt like I was part of the team until Maxim Afinogenov got hurt in February, and then I stuck for the most part.”

Even though it took Stafford time to completely feel like he was a member of the club, his teammates welcomed him with open arms.

“Chris Drury was one of my favorite players growing up,” Stafford said. “I’ll never forget meeting him for the first time and how nice everybody was to me. They also challenged me to come in and not just be there but to contribute and develop.”

Another obstacle he had to overcome was adapting to the NHL game after playing at the college level.

“It’s a natural transition of speed, strength and reads,” Stafford explained. “Every game, every shift, every play matters in the NHL, and you have to be as consistent as possible. It’s about winning. Losing is absolute misery. There are no easy games. In college you could get away with your skill — you’re playing some teams that aren’t as talented as mine at North Dakota. It’s not the case in the NHL, where guys are fighting for their jobs and their lives. It’s a battle and you have to get used to the grind. You’re playing double the games, playing pretty much every other day. It’s harder on the body, although I recovered a little faster as a young guy than I do now.”

While Stafford had the benefit of having some knowledge of the NHL before entering the league, he still took his “lumps” on occasion.

“Between Ruff, general manager Darcy Regier and some of my teammates, we tried to hold each other accountable,” Stafford said. “That first time when you didn’t get the puck out or when you weren’t playing as well, they challenged you, and you get to the point where those little plays — getting the puck out, getting the puck in, not turning it over, winning your battles — are what keeps you in the lineup. You learn how to be a pro, especially the day-to-day stuff.”

The Sabres reached the Eastern Conference final in Stafford’s rookie campaign, the furthest any of his teams have gone in his NHL career.

“Going to the conference final as a young guy, you don’t cherish it as much because you’re just excited to be there and are trying to do your best to contribute,” he said. “You think when you have that early taste of success that you’re going to get there every year. It’s not easy, but you expect it, and we had some great teams early on in Buffalo. We were very close. We just couldn’t get over the hump. Then we had some not-so-great teams later on. But I got a lot of good memories. There are a lot of good people in Buffalo.”

Stafford skated for the Sabres for eight-plus seasons before being traded in February 2015 to the Winnipeg Jets, whom he helped lead to the playoffs for the first time since the franchise relocated from Atlanta.

“I knew the trade was coming,” he said. “Unfortunately, that was one of the toughest years hockey wise with the way the team was going in Buffalo. It was very hard. Fortunately, I played well enough to catch the attention of the Jets and I was packaged in that deal. Going from a team that was dead last in the league to a team hunting for a playoff spot for the first time was about as big a shot in the arm as I could’ve had. It was almost as if I got called back up into the NHL because the way things were going in Buffalo with the losing, it was miserable. Then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ You’re right in the playoff mix; everyone is excited; the practices are fast. And the city was unbelievable. Hockey was fun again.”

Stafford will never forget stepping on the ice for the first home Stanley Cup playoff match at MTS Centre — Game 3 of the Jets’ first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

He remembered, “The fans had the Whiteout. It was sold out in warm-ups. You can’t imagine how incredible that was. I loved it.”

Stafford re-signed with the Jets for two years that summer, and in his first full campaign with Winnipeg continued to consistently produce. However, after battling through injuries during the 2016-17 season that diminished his play, he was dealt to the Boston Bruins in March 2017.

“I went through some tough concussion issues that year, which held my playing and my production back,” Stafford noted. “It was a tough year, but I was able to at least once again get healthy and in the last part of the season hop on with a team that was in the playoff mix. For me, the two times I got traded I went to teams that were in the playoff hunt, and I was able to contribute, play a lot and be a part of that. That’s stuff I’ll never forget.”

He’ll also always remember what was going on at home both times he was traded.

“When I was traded to Winnipeg, my son was a month old, and my twins were born a month after I got traded to Boston,” Stafford said. “It’s been very hard family wise. My wife is an absolute saint.”

Stafford signed a one-year contract with New Jersey prior to the 2017-18 season and helped lift the Devils to their first playoff berth since 2012.

He returned to Jersey’s Team for the 2018-19 campaign, inking a one-year deal just before the season started. This was after he accepted an invitation to the team’s training camp on a professional tryout, a decision he didn’t make lightly.

“First of all, everything can change, any day, any time,” Stafford said. “You never know what can happen. You go all the way back to the beginning of the (2018-19) season when I’m in New Jersey on a PTO. I kind of knew something was going to work out with the way things were going and the communication I had with (Devils general manager Ray Shero and Hynes). I wouldn’t have gone to New Jersey if I didn’t have a good chance of sticking around. And I’ll be forever grateful to them for giving me that opportunity to come back and play because I didn’t know if I was going to go to Europe (for the Devils’ season opener in Gothenburg, Sweden) or not without an NHL contract. And that would’ve been tough — leaving my family back in Minnesota just to go to Europe and then come back and not get something done. Then, all of a sudden, (Devils right wing) Jesper Bratt breaks his jaw (during a practice in Europe), and the next day I’m signed. So, if I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What’s going to happen? I don’t know if this is going to work out,’ it’s a waste of time and a waste of energy. If I’m not ready when I’m called upon the next day when something like that happens, that’s my missed opportunity. The key is staying as present as possible, not worrying about the future, not worrying about the past, just looking at the right now and staying as focused as possible. Things change all the time.”

It’s that mindset that allowed Stafford to thrive with New Jersey, even though the former everyday player bounced between being in the lineup and sitting out as a healthy scratch.

“You have to adapt to survive,” he asserted. “There are guys, the elite, who score for 15 years. A lot of guys, like me, had offensive years when they were younger. Now, if you want to stay in the league and play as long as you can, you have to adapt. You have to learn how to find ways to contribute, whether it’s off the ice and keeping guys in line or helping guys out with problems that they have on or off the ice. And then when you’re called upon, in whatever role you’re in, whether it’s playing seven minutes on the fourth line or playing 14 minutes in more of an offensive role where you touch the puck a little more and make plays, you have to be ready. Otherwise, you go home because there isn’t a spot for you.”

Some of the lessons Stafford tries to instill in the younger players on his teams is to appreciate that they’re in the NHL, and also to realize this is their chance to make an impression.

Said Stafford: “When you’re younger, you don’t understand the gravity of the situation. You’re playing in the NHL — look how much of a privilege it is to play in the NHL. And it’s not until there’s a threat of it being taken away from you that you maybe appreciate the time you have and not take it for granted because of how fast it goes. Not everybody is going to play for 10-plus years. So, every day — and there aren’t any bad days in the NHL — for the young guys, this is their chance. You can’t sit there and think, ‘I can’t wait for my chance.’ This is it. Look at how many guys (nine) played in their first NHL game (with the Devils during the 2018-19 season). If injuries didn’t happen, they would’ve never played in an NHL game, but they did. That was their chance. Whether or not they get another one, that’s up to management, but I hope they are ready for when it comes because you never know. You have to be ready.”

While Stafford encourages his teammates to reach their potential, he also does his best to lead by example. And in the back of his mind at all times is the most influential piece of advice he’s ever received.

“My uncle Barrie had bone cancer, and he told me this Latin phrase — ‘Illegitimi non carborundum.’ It means, ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down,’ ” Stafford said. “It’s about being the captain of your own soul. At the end of the day, no matter what happens to you, what anyone says to you, you’re in control of how you analyze that, and you’re in control of your own thoughts and how you feel about things. If something happens on the ice, someone says something to you, or if you’re going through adversity, you’re the only one who can do anything about it.”

Part of what’s allowed Stafford to continue to prosper in the NHL has been his shift in priorities.

While hockey was essentially his entire world during his early years, it’s now just a part of it.

“You come to a point in your life when you go through a growth period of maturity, or you end up getting married and having kids,” Stafford explained. “And that’s real life. What we do for a living is fantasy camp. We are the luckiest guys on Earth to be able to do for a living something we love and have been doing since we were kids. But you get to a point where you realize hockey is what I do, it’s not who I am, especially if you have a family and kids. When you can go home to them, even if things aren’t going well at the rink, it puts things in perspective. Your 1-year-old and 2-year-old don’t know you haven’t scored in a few games. They don’t care. They love you.”

Among Stafford’s favorite moments of his career was each time one of his teams made the playoffs, which he called “awesome,” his shootout-ending goal in the Devils’ victory at the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 4, which was his 800th NHL game, and the Devils’ win on March 23 at Prudential Center against those same Coyotes.

The reason for the last one was because he had some special fans in attendance.

“That was the first time all three of my kids watched me play, and I scored,” Stafford said, smiling. “My twins are too young to know what’s going on, but my oldest has an idea. That was pretty cool.”

And if Stafford sticks with the Wild, the sage veteran will be able to add more memories to his long list.