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(November
30, 2005) (April
19, 2006) 
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Steve Simmons: You know what, that's the remarkable thing to me. I try and kill you or I try and arrange your death, and from prison, I'm communicating with you on a daily basis? And from prison, in prison, you're controlling my life. That's the hold Dave Frost had on Mike Danton, and still has, I believe.
Bob McKeown: WHAT RESPONSIBILITY DO YOU BELIEVE RESTS WITH THE JEFFERSONS, MIKE'S PARENTS, IN THIS?
Steve Simmons: I think the problem they got into is probably the problem that a lot of parents get into in minor hockey. They trusted somebody. They trusted somebody who said I'm going to make your son an NHL player. I am going to take your kid and I'm going to make something of him. And a parent in AAA hockey says wow, that's great.
And in this situation, Steve Jefferson said to me, in 1999, quote, "Dave Frost is the best thing that ever happened to my kid." In an interview, that's what he told me. Look at, you know, obviously the stories would since be changed, you know, last name has since been changed, all that has since happened. He got caught in the belief that his son could make it and did make it. But it wound up breaking up his family and it wound up with his son in jail.
Bob McKeown: BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE SIGNS WERE THERE FOR STEVE JEFFERSON TO READ AFTER A FEW MONTHS. MIKE'S, ACCORDING TO WHAT HE AND HIS WIFE SAY, MIKE'S CHARACTER WAS CHANGING, HIS TEMPERAMENT WAS CHANGING. HE HAD LESS AND LESS TO DO WITH THEM. EVENTUALLY, AS YOU POINT OUT, HE MOVED INTO FROST'S HOUSE. FROST WOULDN'T LET THEM TALK TO HIM AFTER GAMES IN DESERONTO – I MEAN IT DOESN'T TAKE SIGMUND FREUD TO REALIZE SOMETHING'S GOING ON HERE AND PERHAPS YOU SHOULD GET YOUR KID OUT OF THE WAY.
Steve Simmons: Not every house is, are the Cleavers. We didn't all grow up with the Cleavers, and clearly this is a house where there was some trouble. I don't believe there was the trouble that the Frost people say there was. But clearly, you know, not every parent makes the right decision in the right situation for their kid. And so – or put them in situations that we don't want them in. And I think they got to the point where they, somewhere in time, they lost control. Dave became the parent and and became such the parent that Mike changed his last name.
…
Bob McKeown: NOW IT SEEMS THAT WHEN HE GOT TO ST. LOUIS, SOMETHING OF A CLOUD LIFTED, THAT [DANTON], FROM ALL ACCOUNTS OF PEOPLE THERE, WAS A WELL-LIKED AND TRUSTED MEMBER OF THAT TEAM.
Steve Simmons: Well, even in New Jersey he, basically, he was this close to being
on that – that was a Stanley Cup Championship team. He was
that close to being, you know. You could actually argue that Dave
Frost cost two of his clients potential Stanley Cup wins.
By moving him out of New Jersey, or manipulating him out of New
Jersey, he lost out on a Stanley Cup. And by screwing up in Tampa
with Sheldon [Keefe], you know, they won the Stanley Cup and he
should have probably been on that team.
Bob McKeown: ONE OF HIS FRIENDS IN ST. LOUIS DESCRIBES HIM AS A GUY WHO WAS ALWAYS LAUGHING, ALWAYS SMILING, IN ST. LOUIS, AS IF HE WAS SOMEHOW A DIFFERENT PERSON, A NEW GUY.
Steve Simmons: Well the kid…I mean he's Doug Gilmour without ability. You know. And that's how he played. He played, he gave you every last piece of energy he had, you know. Players like those kind of guys on their team. It's like a specialties guy in football, you know, he just runs down at full speed all the time.
Bob McKeown: THERE'S THE HOCKEY ETHIC THAT YOU DON'T TALK, YOU DON'T SAY SOMETHING BAD ABOUT ANOTHER GUY, EVEN IF YOU FEEL IT. TO WHAT EXTENT WAS IT THAT AND TO WHAT EXTENT WAS IT – THE WORD THAT COMES OUT IN MANY CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE, TO WHAT EXTENT WAS IT INTIMIDATION?
Steve Simmons: Well, a lot of it was intimidation because Dave, for some reason, and I've never understood how or why, intimidated people. When I went to talk to people originally about this, I can't tell you how many people hung up the phone on me, how many people said I'll talk to you off the record, but I don't talk on. How many people said sorry, I won't do this at all, you know, I have to go on with my life in this league. And people were afraid of Dave Frost and I've never quite understood why.
Bob McKeown: DID HE TRY THAT ON YOU?
Steve Simmons: Yeah, he did. When he first got wind that I was doing a story on him, obviously like when you start talking to his people that he knows, you know, it was clear that he was onto the fact that we were working on something. In fact, the day before our story was supposed to run, he called a friend from the National Post and planted a story on himself, basically, in a good light, which ran in the National Post on the day prior to our two pages.
Leading up to the
story running and after it ran, he called my home several times.
He called this office several times. He attempted to have the story
held. He threatened to sue. He would phone my house and hang up.
Or – and other people called who I don't know, who said
if you do this, I will get you, click. That's never happened
in 26 years of doing this. And afterwards, there was all kind – I'm
going to sue, which is Dave's great mantra is I'm going
to sue, but he never sues. He didn't sue John Gardner when
he said he was suing John Gardner. He didn't sue the other
people who got him into trouble and he didn't sue us.
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