Jeffrey Dwayne Daniels (born June 24, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current assistant coach to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Prior to his current role, Daniels was an assistant coach for the Hurricanes from 2003–2008 and head coach and general manager of the Hurricanes’ American Hockey League affiliate teams from 2008–2015. He was also a member and subsequently manager of the Hurricanes pro scouting staff from 2015–2018.
Daniels played for two Stanley Cup-winning teams as a player for the Pittsburgh Penguins and has won two Cups as an assistant coach for the Hurricanes.
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Playing career
As a youth, he played in the 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Oshawa. He later played junior ice hockey with his hometown Oshawa Generals.
Daniels was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sixth round, 109th overall in the 1986 NHL entry draft. He played for two Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. Daniels' name was engraved on the Cup in 1992 even though he only played two regular season games and thus did not automatically qualify to be on the Stanley Cup. In his 15-year professional playing career as a forward, Daniels spent time with the Pittsburgh, Florida, Nashville and Carolina organizations. He played in 425 NHL regular-season and 41 NHL playoff games, including a third trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 with the Hurricanes. Daniels retired as a player on November 17, 2003.
Coaching career
After briefly serving in a player development role after his retirement, in December 2003 Daniels was hired as an assistant coach on new Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette’s coaching staff following the firing of previous Hurricanes head coach Paul Maurice. Daniels spent the next three and a half seasons with the Hurricanes as an assistant coach, helping guide the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup championship.
On June 9, 2008, Daniels was named the head coach and general manager for the Albany River Rats. In 2010–11, after the River Rats franchise was relocated and renamed during the prior offseason, Daniels led the Charlotte Checkers to 44 wins and 94 points during the regular-season, the best totals for a Carolina affiliate since 2004–05. Daniels then guided the Checkers to the AHL Eastern Conference Final, at the time the deepest Calder Cup playoff run for Carolina’s AHL team since the 1996–97 Springfield Falcons. Daniels coached the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate through 2015, ending with a record of 268-225-51.
After his time coaching the Checkers, he was a member and subsequently manager of the Hurricanes pro scouting staff. On June 11, 2018, he was named as the final member of new Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s coaching staff. In this role, he again won the Stanley Cup in 2026, earning his second Cup win as a Hurricanes assistant coach.