GLENDALE, Ariz. - Detroit Red wings forward Dan Cleary was at a playground with his little girl, Elle, on Friday afternoon, gently telling her not to put sand in her mouth.

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Detroit Red Wing forward Dan Cleary stretches during practice.

Photograph by : Windsor Star

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At her age, just about anything goes there, which is more than you can say for her daddy, who still has wires in his gums to protect his jaw, which was broken about five weeks ago when his Detroit teammate Mikael Samuelsson fired a high hard one that rearranged Cleary's face.

He hasn't had anything in his mouth that he can chew since then, and, by now, he's had it up to here with scrambled eggs and grapefruit.

"They're taking out the wires March 24. I'm planning on having ... Oh, I dunno, a nice steak and a baked potato right after," said Cleary.

Maybe some lettuce, too. He already has his cabbage, all $14 million of it, with the Red Wings making him an offer he wasn't about to refuse through gritted teeth.

"Nice story for a kid to win the lottery," his coach, Mike Babcock, told reporters a few days ago.

Cleary isn't about to argue Babcock's logic. The five-year contract is a huge mouthful, but it wasn't a result of luck. It's the sweet reward for a guy who put in the hours to resurrect his NHL career, which was close to being over three years ago.

He admits to being scared that he didn't have what it took to stay in the league.

"When I finally got the realization that if you put the work in and you believe in yourself ... " said Cleary.

Good things happen to good people, but for the odd puck that moved his jaw an inch and had him in bed for the first two weeks on a liquid diet. He lost 15 pounds, has put five of it back, and will be back in the game on March 25 against the St. Louis Blues.

He went to Detroit's 2005 training camp on a tryout when his career was on life support. He'd been a phenomenal junior but had failed to make a large mark on three other NHL teams -- Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers and Phoenix Coyotes, with the Oilers buying him out in 2003.

He had skill but off the ice he didn't have the gumption to work hard enough to get in the proper shape. He saw the light before going with his helmet in hand to the Wings training camp, working out in Venice Beach with Chris Chelios's instructor.

"After that first week of camp, when I was on my tryout, I think Babcock wanted to get rid of me ... I had to win him over," said Cleary, who had Babcock as his Canadian junior team coach in the late 1990s, when Babcock did cut him because the kid didn't have the fire in his belly.

Cleary started as a fourth-liner. Now you can usually find him on the second line in Detroit, and on the power play.

It has all come together after his struggles as an Oiler for four years, when head coach Craig MacTavish and GM Kevin Lowe did everything to see if he could be a top-six player.

"He's a smart player and his skating was an issue and he probably committed himself after being not wanted. A player has to go through a few teams," said Lowe.