Long before Daryl Reaugh was getting to the Hall of Fame in the media wing after 30 years as a Dallas Stars TV voice, he was an Edmonton Oilers second-round draft pick.
Reaugh, the first ex-NHL’er to ever do NHL play-by-play as well as colour commentary, was the 42nd player taken in the 1984 draft while playing for the Kamloops Junior Oilers, nine spots ahead of Patrick Roy.
Reaugh, now 60, never had a prayer of getting the net on a regular basis with Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog here, but he did suit up for 60 games as Fuhr’s back-up in 1987-88 and, if you look closely, he was in the mosh-pit celebration team photo on the ice at Northlands Coliseum after they beat the Flyers in the ’88 Stanley Cup Final.
He didn’t play much, but he was the funniest guy on the team. He stole the show as the MC at the ‘87 Oilers Christmas party, with his impressions and such.
“I remember Slats (Glen Sather) said to me afterwards, ‘You should be in broadcasting,’” said Reaugh.
“I’m like 23 and their second-round draft pick. I didn’t want to hear that right then. I’m sure Slatsie is thinking now, ‘yeah, drafted another Hall of Famer.”
There was never a doubt in former NHL winger Rob Brown’s mind that his former Kamloops junior teammate would be holding a mic after playing, mostly as a colour guy, but he also did a year of play-by-play when Hall of Famer Dave Strader was battling bile duct cancer.
“This isn’t pandering to the Edmonton market, but I loved Rod Phillips from my Oilers days. When I listen to Rod, I’d like to think I’m closest to him. Not at that level, obviously. I loved the way he called the game, though. Rockin’ Rod. He was very passionate and called a great game,” said Reaugh.
Calling the play or offering up rapier-wit analysis, Reaugh, who is officially getting into the HHOF on Monday, has always liked to talk.
“He was born to be on TV or radio,” said Brown, the Oilers 880 CHED radio analyst.
“Some people you know…they’re just big personalities. He’s one of them. When he walks into a room, everybody knows Razor is there. He’s a happy guy, he’s funny, he’s loud. You enjoy being part of his little universe,” said Brown.
“I remember in junior he would do these make-believe horse races for us. He would imitate a horse race at the track or on TV, but he would start putting in names like (teammates) Doug Bodger or Rob Brown or Dean Evason, and he’d have all of our nicknames and how they were running,” said Brown.
“At Christmas parties in junior that included not just us but 300 to 400 booster club people, he would be doing the same horse races. He would be bringing the house down.”
“Yeah, I remember being out on summer pub crawls, and we would have live versions of it. Somebody would say, ‘Razor, get on the mic.’ The guys would get on the dance floor and arrange themselves. Like Robin Bawa would move ahead of Greg Hawgood, and as the race was going on, Hawgie would fall back. What a bunch of clowns,” said Reaugh.
Reaugh was thrilled to get drafted but knew the score in Edmonton. He only played seven games for the powerhouse Oilers, spending most of his time on the farm in Nova Scotia before getting 20 games with the Hartford Whalers, with Brown as a teammate. He retired at 29 because of hamstring problems.
“At the time, I wasn’t thinking, ‘God, it would have been better to be drafted by Detroit.’ I was around the greatest team the league has ever seen, and if they’d have been able to hang onto everybody (contracts), they would have run the table or close to it,” he said.
But he was more cheerleader than player.
“I remember the first day of my first Oiler camp. Slats brought in Jeff Brubaker basically to fight Sammy (Dave Semenko). He fought him three times in the first on-ice morning session. I’m thinking, ‘where am I?’” said Reaugh.
“I remember Slats had Jeff Beukeboom, and I drove his Audi down to Calgary in the playoffs one year. He wanted to have his car there. But I had to ride with Slats, one of the most awkward drives ever (Calgary to Banff), and he said, ‘You know, when you’re ready, I’ll trade one of those guys (Fuhr or Moog).’ I thought it was lip service. How old were they? Like 21 and 23, and both all-stars,” said Reaugh.
Reaugh retired in 1994 because he got tired of battling injuries.
“Yeah, me and (Ken) Dryden both shut it down after eight (pro) years,” joked Reaugh.
“I ended my playing career in Dayton (ECHL) when Jimmy Playfair was coach. They fired their play-by-play guy and asked if I wanted to do it. I’d never done it in my life,” he said.
“I did colour in Detroit in 1994 with the IHL Vipers team when Rick Dudley was the GM. Miro Satan and Petr Sykora were on that team,” said Reaugh, admitting that doing colour and offering up insights is get in, get out, no rambling.
“Guys who get into it (commentary) have to get a grip on that. It’s easy to start a conversation, but how do you stop talking?” he said. “When I first started, you had a minute to talk after every whistle with the players milling around, and nobody was in a hurry to make a line change. Then they sped up the games, and it became 15 seconds.”
As a broadcaster, Reaugh also did commentary for EA Sports ‘ NHL video game in 1997 and 1998. He’s also done many national TV games, so they’ve long recognized his worth, as well as how hard he prepares. And now he’s getting honoured.
“He’s so dedicated to his craft. He worked at it really from the East Coast Hockey League, and moving on after retiring. If anybody deserves this, it’s Razor,” said his former junior coach Ken Hitchcock, whose first NHL gig was with the Stars.
“He was instrumental in me getting the job in Dallas, Hitch and Doug Armstrong. Without Hitch going there to coach, I don’t know if I would have been there.”
To this day, Brown loves listening to Reaugh.
“When I first started doing this (analyst), there were people I wanted to listen to because I wanted to learn something. Razor is like Ray Ferraro and Craig Simpson. When they’re talking, I’m listening,” said Brown.
There are words Reaugh uses on the broadcast that bring a smile to your face.
“I loved Danny Gallivan when I was growing up, his mastery of the English language. His ability to punctuate a game with his phrases (Savardian spinarma, cannonading shot). And Harry Neale was so good to me. He would have these one-liners, but he wouldn’t shoehorn them into a game. He would sit on them. He was a master of doing it at just the right time,” said Reaugh.
“I like finding synonyms to use. Instead of saying it’s a big game, it’s a big save, there’s other words. There’s mammoth, there’s elephantine, there’s mastadonic. It was never to have people think ‘geez, he’s really smart.’ It was to have people lift their heads up and go ‘What did he say?’”
“I’m trying not to turn into a comic book character, but I find it fun.”
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