Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a National Hockey League (NHL) team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Franchise history

Being the location of a very successful American Hockey League franchise and a former NHL team in the Twenties, Pittsburgh was one of the expansion teams added when the NHL doubled in size in 1967. The new teams were hampered by restrictive rules that kept most major talent with the "Original Six", and beyond aging ex-Rangers star Andy Bathgate and hardrock ex-Bruin defenseman Leo Boivin, the first Penguins team was manned by a cast of former minor leaguers. The club nevertheless finished just six points out of first place in the closely fought West Division, but finished out of the playoffs.

Related Topics:
American Hockey League - 1967 - Original Six - Andy Bathgate - Defenseman - Leo Boivin

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Bathgate led the team in scoring, but he and Boivin were soon gone. Despite a handful of decent players such as right wing Ken Schinkel, Keith McCreary, agitator Bryan Watson and goaltender Les Binkley, talent was thin, and the Penguins' record was poor in the early years, missing the playoffs five of their first seven seasons.

Related Topics:
Right wing - Ken Schinkel - Keith McCreary - Bryan Watson - Goaltender - Les Binkley

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Tragedy struck the Penguins in 1970 when rookie center Michel Briere, who finished third in scoring on the team during his only season in the league, was injured in a car crash. He died in 1971 after spending a year in hospital.

Related Topics:
Center - Michel Briere

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For a few years in the mid-Seventies Pittsburgh iced some powerful offensive clubs, led by forwards Syl Apps, Jr., Lowell MacDonald, Jean Pronovost, Rick Kehoe, Pierre Larouche, and Ron Schock, and defensemen Ron Stackhouse and Dave Burrows, but the Pens' success was always neutralized by mediocre team defense and poor goaltending, and the club never went far in the playoffs.

Related Topics:
Forwards - Syl Apps, Jr. - Lowell MacDonald - Jean Pronovost - Rick Kehoe - Pierre Larouche - Ron Schock - Ron Stackhouse - Dave Burrows

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By the early Eighties Pittsburgh had Kehoe, star defenseman Randy Carlyle, prolific scorers Paul Gardner and Mike Bullard and little else. The team had the league's worst record in both the 1983 and 1984 seasons. But in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft Pittsburgh acquired wunderkind Mario Lemieux, who would become one of the great players in NHL history. After four more years out of the playoffs, Lemieux led the league in scoring in 1988-89 and the Penguins had given him a supporting cast for the first time, with superstar defenseman Paul Coffey coming from the Edmonton Oilers, role player Bob Errey, and high-scoring Kevin Stevens, Rob Brown, and John Cullen. The team made the playoffs, where they lost in the second round to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Related Topics:
Randy Carlyle - Paul Gardner - Mike Bullard - 1983 - 1984 - 1984 NHL Entry Draft - Mario Lemieux - 1988-89 - Paul Coffey - Edmonton Oilers - Bob Errey - Kevin Stevens - Rob Brown - John Cullen - Philadelphia Flyers

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Mario Lemieux

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In 1990-91, the Penguins reached the top. They drafted star Czech right winger Jaromir Jagr, and through the 1990s, Jagr and Lemieux were two of the league's biggest scoring threats. Adding that to Stevens and Coffey, up-and-coming Mark Recchi, star center Ron Francis (acquired in a major trade with the Hartford Whalers), and the goaltending of Tom Barasso, the Penguins became the league's best team, beating the Minnesota North Stars in the Stanley Cup finals. The following season, the team lost coach Bob Johnson to cancer, and Scotty Bowman took over as coach. Under the legendary Bowman, they repeated as Stanley Cup champions.

Related Topics:
1990-91 - Czech - Jaromir Jagr - Mark Recchi - Ron Francis - Hartford Whalers - Tom Barasso - Minnesota North Stars - Stanley Cup - Bob Johnson - Scotty Bowman

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Cancer nearly dealt the Penguins a double whammy in 1993. Not only were they reeling from Johnson's death, but Mario Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. His comeback only two months after the diagnosis was one of the league's greatest "feel-good" stories of all time. Despite the difficulties the team faced, Pittsburgh finished with a 56-21-7 record, winning the franchise's first and only Presidents' Trophy, as the team with the most points in the regular season. Despite their strong play in the regular season, the team was upset in the second round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders.

Related Topics:
Hodgkin's disease - Presidents' Trophy - Regular season - Playoff - New York Islanders

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The Penguins continued to be a formidable team through the rest of the 1990s, but it came with a price. They had paid so much for their talent that they almost went bankrupt, and it took Lemieux (who retired in 1997) to take over the team in bankruptcy court -- having been owed many millions in deferred salary from his playing days and so being a principal creditor -- and prevent it from moving to Portland, Oregon. Costs proved a barrier to retaining promising young goaltender Patrick Lalime, who left after a single season and subsequently became a star for the Ottawa Senators. Lemieux shocked the hockey world by deciding to come back in late 2000 and led the Penguins into the 2001 playoffs, where they lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Related Topics:
Portland, Oregon - Patrick Lalime - Ottawa Senators - 2000 - New Jersey Devils

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Still, the Penguins needed to cut costs. They did so in a big way by dealing Jagr to the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2001 for a song (prospects Kris Beech, Michael Sivek, and Ross Lupaschuk, and $4.9 million). The absence of Jagr proved devastating to the Penguins, and in 2002 they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. Further difficulties on and off the ice saw them trade fan favorite Alexei Kovalev the next season, quickly followed by the departures of Robert Lang and Martin Straka.

Related Topics:
Washington Capitals - Kris Beech - Michael Sivek - Ross Lupaschuk - 2002 - Alexei Kovalev - Robert Lang - Martin Straka

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The 2003-04 NHL season was expected to be a rebuilding year for the Penguins, acquiring first overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury in the NHL Entry Draft and the hiring of new head coach (and former Penguin and commentator) Eddie Olczyk. Cost restrictions made the signing of Fleury rather tense. Fleury showed resolve with his excellent goaltending, and although the Penguins continued with the worst NHL record, Fleury showed that he could shrug off hard shots from some of the league's best players. However, more troubles besieged the Penguins when Lemieux suffered a hip injury early in the season. Months later it was determined that he would sit the rest of the season out to recover. The Pens then traded away star Martin Straka to the Los Angeles Kings and later had to send Fleury back down to his junior league team due to further money problems.

Related Topics:
2003-04 NHL season - Marc-Andre Fleury - NHL Entry Draft - Eddie Olczyk - Martin Straka - Los Angeles Kings

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While the Penguins have suffered small-market syndrome for most of their existence, cost-cutting has prevented another collapse into insolvency, and financially, the team was one of the better-managed NHL franchises between its 1998 bankruptcy and the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Thanks to significant post-season runs, the Penguins broke even in 2000 and turned a small profit in 2001. Failure to make the playoffs in the next three seasons hurt the team's bottom line, but the shedding of contracts kept the team afloat as other franchises, like the Ottawa Senators, faced significant losses or declared bankruptcy.

Related Topics:
2004-05 NHL lockout - Ottawa Senators

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In the summer of 2004, the Penguins lost forward Aleksey Morozov, who decided to sign with the Russian league in the light of the impending lockout this season. However, the Penguins managed to re-sign one of their biggest fan favorites and former stars, Mark Recchi.

Related Topics:
Aleksey Morozov - Mark Recchi

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With the 2004-05 NHL season cancelled due to the NHL lockout, several Penguins still signed to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre Penguins played in the minors, while players such as Aleksey Morozov and Lasse Pirjetä honed their talents in the elite European and Russian leagues. On July 22, 2005, the Penguins won an unprecedented draft lottery, in which all 30 teams had weighted chances to win the first overall pick of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft July 30 in Ottawa, Ontario. With the choice, the Penguins chose junior league superstar Sidney Crosby from the QMJHL.

Related Topics:
2004-05 NHL season - AHL - Wilkes-Barre Penguins - Aleksey Morozov - Lasse Pirjetä - July 22 - 2005 NHL Entry Draft - July 30 - Ottawa, Ontario - Sidney Crosby

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With the new salary cap included in the CBA signed by the owners and players to end the 2004-05 NHL lockout the Penguins begin to think in major stars again. So they signed in the 2005 free agency the Russian offensive defenseman Sergei Gonchar, acquired goalie Jocelyn Thibault from the Chicago Blackhawks via trade, also signed "big man" John Leclair from the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Slovakian scoring forward Zigmund Palffy adding more stars to the team.

Related Topics:
2004-05 NHL lockout - Sergei Gonchar - Jocelyn Thibault - Chicago Blackhawks - John Leclair - Philadelphia Flyers - Zigmund Palffy

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