Dan Petry was keeping a secret.
Nothing had been finalized, but when the beloved pitcher from the 1984 Tigers went to work for the local Bally Sports Detroit broadcasts in early August, he knew his son could soon be at the center of a headline-making trade for another local team.
Jeff Petry had just been dealt back to Montreal, where he spent the majority of his NHL career, as one of the moving parts in the blockbuster Erik Karlsson trade to Pittsburgh. But the rebuilding Canadiens had been up-front with him: They were going to try to move him somewhere else. And they had done him the courtesy of asking which destinations he might want them to explore. Detroit, where Jeff had grown up and where his father had made his name, was at the top of his list.
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Jeff, naturally, told his father, but the situation was still fluid. It needed to be kept quiet. And that put Dan in secret-keeping mode.
Going into work, he would sit next to the network’s studio anchor, John Keating, who also anchors Red Wings broadcasts, and communicate with reporter Trevor Thompson, who covers both teams. He would work with producer Mary Beam, who is married to the Red Wings director of public relations.
“As much as I would have liked to have said something to them like, ‘Hey, be on the lookout, this is in the works’ and everything,” Dan Petry said, “I couldn’t say anything.”
Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. Nine days after Petry was dealt back to Montreal on Aug. 6, he got the call he and his family had been waiting for: The Canadiens were sending him home to Detroit in exchange for defenseman Gustav Lindström and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025.
Jeff Petry had allowed himself to think about this idea over the course of his career. He had grown up watching the Red Wings, with a Red Wings-themed bedroom, playing out in his mind the idea of one day wearing their jersey. Then he reached the NHL, and the possibility became even more real.
“You keep thinking in your head, ‘OK, when is that opportunity going to come? Can it come?'” he said. “And for me, I always thought about, OK, wanting to play one year here maybe at the end of my career, or whenever the opportunity came.”
His dad, however, was less convinced that day would come. He had heard the rumors in Jeff’s draft year that the hometown team might be interested, but he ended up being drafted to Edmonton. And he had heard similar rumors one year in Montreal, as Jeff neared free agency. But especially considering the league’s tampering rules, he would have had to go to July 1 unsigned in order to find out for sure.
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It would have been a gamble, especially with an offer on the table from the Canadiens.
“He ended up signing with Montreal, and then it was just like, yeah, I don’t quite see this happening ever,” Dan said. “But here we are.”
It’s a full-circle moment, both for a kid who grew up in Grosse Pointe and then in Farmington Hills, and for a dad who learned the sport of hockey through his sons’ eyes.
Naturally, Jeff and his brother, Matt, had played baseball growing up, with Dan coaching. But they also took to hockey, which their California-born father knew nothing about. And in truth, he loved that.
“It helped them enjoy the sport a lot more without an overbearing dad every time they walked off the ice,” Dan said. “Like, ‘Oh crud, now I’ve gotta go talk to my dad about hockey.’”
“I remember walking out of hockey games, he goes, ‘How’d you play?’” Jeff said. “I was like, ‘Good.’ He’s like, all right.’ He just didn’t know anything.”
Of course, as a high-level athlete, he could still help his son with aspects like the mental side of competition, and about finding ways to separate himself from the pack as he climbed levels to the point where everyone had talent. And those conversations about how his sons played — what they felt they did well, or didn’t — actually ended up giving Dan a pretty good education in the sport.
Now, when Dan reflects on his son’s journey, he gushes about what it meant to see his son drafted to an organization with the history of the Oilers. And the experience at the Bell Centre, with Jeff playing for an iconic franchise in Montreal. Of playing alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin last season in Pittsburgh.
The local legend is now, very obviously, a full-on hockey dad.
His pitching career in Detroit preceded the Ilitch family’s purchase of the Tigers (the family bought the Red Wings in 1982 and Tigers in 1992), so he never got to use his connection as a Tiger to introduce Jeff to any Red Wings. But he does fondly recall watching both of his sons play at Joe Louis Arena. There was the time Matt scored a shootout game-winner in a tournament there, or the time Jeff won a Mite AA championship at the arena. And he certainly remembers all the road trips, driving to and from Canada on weekends for games — with a bit more perspective now.
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“I guess sometimes as a parent you complain a little bit, like oh my gosh, I’m gone every weekend,” Petry said. “And then when it’s over, you realize that, oh my gosh, those were the best days of my life.
“Running around, whether it be hockey or baseball, you’re so busy as a parent doing that, but then when it’s over you just go, oh my gosh, what a wonderful life, and wonderful times we had doing all of that.”
Now, seeing Jeff play live will be as easy as it’s ever been. Friends have already offered their tickets to Dan and his wife, Christine, and Jeff will have an allotment as well. They’ll make sure they get to some games. But they’ve also graduated now, from hockey parents to grandparents. And they’re looking forward to embracing that, too.
“(Jeff’s) wife and family will want to go to the games, and we can stay home and babysit so they don’t have to take everybody,” Petry said. “We can watch the games at home, and babysit, and let them have a night out. So I certainly wouldn’t think that we’re going to be at every game. But certainly a lot more than we’ve ever been able to go to in the past.”
And when they do, they’ll get to see the one true surprise their son had in store this month.
After the trade, Jeff was tasked with picking a number. Since 2014, he’s worn No. 26, and Dan assumed it would be no different in Detroit.
Instead, he chose a number he’s never worn in the NHL — No. 46, the same as his dad once donned as a Tiger.
Dan heard that news at the Bally Sports Studios after he had stepped away from the desk while a guest appeared on the show. During a break, his producer approached him and showed him a social media post announcing the news.
“I was just like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,'” Dan said.
“For him to go to 46 … I guess I just was speechless. It’s like, ‘Wow. Where did that come from?'”
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Like so much of the Petry’s full-circle tale, the answer to that question starts in Detroit.
And now, the story will continue here, too.
(Top photo of Jeff Petry: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
