Ex-NHL player Danton paroled

JOYCEVILLE, Ontario, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Former NHL forward Mike Danton was granted full parole Friday in Canada after spending five years in prison for a murder-for-hire scheme.

Danton, 28, revealed during his parole hearing in Joyceville, Ont., that he had wanted to hire a hit man to kill his biological father, Steve Jefferson, not his former coach and agent David Frost, as he had stated at the time he pleaded guilty, Canwest News Service reported.

Danton said he is a better person for having served time in prison and that therapy he received there helped him mature.

"I just want to ask you to allow me an opportunity to return to a normal life and be successful in some way, shape or form, whatever that might be," he said at his hearing.

Danton will be under federal parole supervision until January 2011 but he said he would like to play hockey somewhere. He played parts of three seasons for New Jersey and St. Louis, compiling nine goals and five assists in 87 NHL regular-season games and one goal in five playoff games.

The parole board banned him from contacting Jefferson and from using alcohol or drugs.

Danton, who was sentenced to seven years in a U.S. prison after his 2004 guilty plea, was transferred to a Canadian facility in March.