Andrew Gross

Staff Writer, @AGrossRecord

NEWARK – Once, there was the expansion Kansas City Scouts, who soon became the Colorado Rockies, though the nascent franchise continued to experience as many growing pains as it did in its original home.

Finally, in 1982, Montclair resident Dr. John J. McMullen purchased the soon-to-be New Jersey Devils and moved them to the Meadowlands. There were still struggles, for sure, but, in 1987, McMullen made his shrewdest hire, naming Providence College athletic director Lou Lamoriello as the Devils president.

Now, there is a legacy of NHL hockey in the Garden State, three Stanley Cups for the Devils and a solid foundation of youth hockey programs.

So, fittingly, on Friday, McMullen, who sold the team in 2000 and passed away at the age of 87 in 2005, will be honored as the first inductee into the Devils’ new Ring of Honor. There will be a pre-game ceremony prior to that night’s game against the Maple Leafs, whose general manager is now Lamoriello.

“I think this means a lot to our family,” said McMullen’s son, Peter, still a Devils’ season-ticket holder, who, along with about a dozen family members including his mother, Jacqueline, will represent his father at the ceremony.

“We’re really proud of the leadership my father had in working with Govs. Byrne and Kean to get a pro hockey team to the Garden State,” Peter McMullen said in a telephone interview with The Record. “It’s a validation of a lot of hard work and a lot of success by players, coaches and a lot of the people in the support staff off the ice.”

Peter McMullen added it always meant a lot to his father, who graduated from Montclair High School in 1936, to have a pro franchise representing New Jersey with its team name.

“He derived tremendous joy and satisfaction from the franchise growth and then its success,” Peter McMullen said. “He was a prideful person. I really think it kind of dovetails with his wish to have a franchise named New Jersey and to really have a lot of positive attention to the region and to hockey in general.”

McMullen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1940 and made his fortune in the shipbuilding industry, first founding John J. McMullen and Associates in the late 1950s. His first foray into professional sports was a limited partner of the George Steinbrenner-owned Yankees before he purchased the Houston Astros, and then his NHL franchise.

His sports mentor was legendary Montclair High School and, later Montclair State football and baseball coach Clary Anderson.

“He very much introduced my father to a lot of things,” Peter McMullen said. “He was very bullish on bringing sports to the township of Montclair.”

In addition to Lamoriello, Friday’s ceremony will be attended by Ken Daneyko, Bruce Driver, Jim Dowd, Marshall Johnston, Claude Lemiuex, John MacLean, Randy McKay, Glenn “Chico” Resch, Stephane Richer and Sergei Starikov, all Devils’ alumni from the McMullen era.

Former Devils’ announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick will narrate a tribute video to McMullen.

Also, the City of Newark will announce the dedication of the stretch of Lafayette Street adjacent to Prudential Center in honor of McMullen.

“I think he would probably appreciate that fans remember him as a person who ultimately got a hockey team to the Garden State and ultimately had success here,” Peter McMullen said.

BRIEFS: The Devils recalled rookie defenseman Steven Santini, 21, from Albany (AHL) on Sunday after veteran John Moore was placed on injured reserve with a concussion following Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the visiting Capitals. …Top-line left wing Taylor Hall, who has missed two games with a lower-body injury and is day to day, skated on Sunday with a small group that included Santini, goalie Cory Schneider, defenseman Yohann Auvitu and center Pavel Zacha. It was Hall’s second straight day on ice. …Capitals right wing Tom Wilson was not subject to NHL supplemental discipline for his non-penalized check on Moore, which sent the defenseman’s head whiplashing into the glass.

E-mail: grossa@northjersey.com