Joe Daley

Thomas Joseph Daley (born February 20, 1943) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Winnipeg Jets between 1968 and 1979. He is the all-time leader for wins in WHA history, having won 167 games.

Career Joe Daley started his NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1968, where he played in 38 games over two seasons. After the 1969–70 season, the newly established Buffalo Sabres used their first choice in the 1970 Intra-League Draft to select Daley. He won 12 of his 38 starts there before moving on to the Detroit Red Wings in the Fall of 1971. Daley went 11-10-5 with Detroit, but his relationship soured with the team as time went on, with one instance seeing him sitting on the bench instead of starting a game, in which his wife and children were in attendance.

In the 1972 offseason, Daley was approached by Billy Robinson, the director of player personnel for the Winnipeg Jets of the upstart World Hockey Association, and soon afterwards they were able to come to terms for Daley to play for the newly formed WHA team. Daley's longest stint in major league hockey would be with Winnipeg, where he played from 1972 to 1979, and where he won the Avco World Trophy three times (1976, 1978, and 1979). Daley was also the WHA's second leading goalie during the 1975–76 season.

Joe Daley lost his primary spot as goaltender in the midst of the 1978–79 season, which saw him go 7-11-3 with a GAA of 4.29. In the summer of 1979, Daley was stated to be one of the players the Jets would give a tryout form for the NHL as he was a free agent. In September 1979, Daley, with no offer of a suitable contract by Winnipeg, stated that he would not report to training camp. Daley, alongside Bobby Hull, were the longest-served Jets. Daley never played hockey again. No goaltender played more games in the WHA than Daley, who started 308 games. He also held records for wins (167) and playoff wins (30). As a professional goaltender, Daley went 201–157–32. He was also one of the last NHL goalies to play without a mask, although he did wear a mask for Winnipeg in the WHA, doing so for his final five seasons.

In 1980, he was hired to work the sales team at Century 21 Pride Realty. For a time, Daley instructed a summer hockey school in Penticton, British Columbia. In 1981–82, he was the coach of the junior hockey Penticton Knights. In 1986, Daley became a salesman with Keystone Ford Sales. In 1989, Daley, at the urging of his son Travis, bought a dealership that became Joe Daley Sports Cards in Winnipeg, a trading card store located near his old playing grounds at the Winnipeg Arena; he still operates the store, now called Joe Daley's Sports and Framing that is located on St. Mary's Road.

Daley was named to the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995 and was named to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. A mural honoring Daley was unveiled in 2019 at Bronx Park Community Centre, where he had played as a child.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1961–62 Weyburn Red Wings SJHL 53 17 29 7 3180 177 2 3.34 — — — — — — — — — 1961–62 Sudbury Wolves EPHL 1 0 1 0 60 6 0 6.00 — — — — — — — — — 1962–63 Weyburn Red Wings SJHL 51 28 17 6 3060 152 3 2.98 — 8 — — 480 23 1 3.19 — 1963–64 Johnstown Jets EHL 66 40 22 4 3960 221 4 3.35 — 10 5 5 600 27 1 2.70 — 1963–64 Cincinnati Wings CPHL 1 0 1 0 60 3 0 3.00 — — — — — — — — — 1963–64 Pittsburgh Hornets AHL 2 1 1 0 120 7 0 3.50 — 2 0 1 60 6 0 6.00 — 1964–65 Johnstown Jets EHL 72 41 31 0 4320 292 2 4.06 — 5 2 3 300 19 1 3.80 — 1965–66 Memphis Wings CPHL 68 25 31 12 4040 212 2 3.15 — — — — — — — — — 1965–66 San Francisco Seals WHL 8 5 2 1 426 17 2 2.39 — — — — — — — — — 1966–67 Pittsburgh Hornets AHL 16 11 1 3 948 43 0 2.72 — — — — — — — — — 1966–67 Memphis Wings CPHL 50 23 21 5 2960 169 0 3.42 — 7 3 4 433 27 0 3.74 — 1967–68 Baltimore Clippers AHL 56 23 25 8 3300 192 2 3.49 — — — — — — — — — 1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 29 10 13 3 1612 86 2 3.20 .910 — — — — — — — — 1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 9 1 5 3 527 26 0 2.96 .899 — — — — — — — — 1969–70 Baltimore Clippers AHL 34 — — — 1867 107 0 3.44 — 5 1 4 315 25 0 4.76 — 1970–71 Buffalo Sabres NHL 38 12 16 8 2069 129 1 3.74 .895 — — — — — — — — 1971–72 Detroit Red Wings NHL 29 11 10 5 1618 85 0 3.15 .893 — — — — — — — — 1972–73 Winnipeg Jets WHA 29 17 10 1 1718 83 2 2.90 .893 7 5 2 422 25 0 3.55 .874 1973–74 Winnipeg Jets WHA 41 19 20 1 2454 163 0 3.99 .884 2 0 2 119 8 0 4.03 .860 1974–75 Winnipeg Jets WHA 51 23 21 4 2902 175 1 3.62 .887 — — — — — — — 1975–76 Winnipeg Jets WHA 62 41 17 1 3612 171 5 2.84 .903 12 10 1 671 29 1 2.59 .886 1976–77 Winnipeg Jets WHA 65 39 23 2 3818 206 3 3.24 .892 20 11 9 1186 71 1 3.59 .875 1977–78 Winnipeg Jets WHA 37 21 11 1 2075 114 1 3.30 .883 5 4 1 271 13 0 2.88 — 1978–79 Winnipeg Jets WHA 23 7 11 3 1256 90 0 4.30 .871 3 0 0 37 3 0 4.86 — WHA totals 308 167 113 13 17,835 1002 12 3.37 .889 49 30 15 2706 149 3.30 2 — NHL totals 105 34 44 19 5826 326 3 3.36 .899 — — — — — — — —

Awards and achievements SJHL Second All-Star Team (1962) EHL Rookie of the Year (1964) Avco Cup (WHA) Championship (1976, 1978, & 1979) WHA First All-Star Team (1976) Izvestia Cup Best Goaltender (1976) WHA Second All-Star Team (1977) "Honoured Member" of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame Inducted as an inaugural member into the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame (2010) Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame 2018 All Time Leader in WHA wins by a goaltender