Pittsburgh Penguins

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Facts

• Team Colors: Las Vegas Gold, black and white
• Logo: A skating penguin against a gold triangle
• Home: Mellon Arena, a.k.a. "The Igloo" (17,132 capacity)
• Stanley Cup Championships: 2 - 1990-91, 1991-92
• Stanley Cup Finals appearances: 2 - 1990-91 (defeated Minnesota, 4-2), 1991-92 (defeated Chicago, 4-0)
• Presidents' Trophies: 1 - 1992-93
• Conference Championships: 2 - 1990-91, 1991-92
• Division Championships: 5 - 1990-91, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1997-98
• Mascot: Iceburgh
• Rivals: Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals
• Current Affiliates: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL), Wheeling Nailers (ECHL)
• Former Affiliates: Syracuse Crunch (AHL), Cleveland Lumberjacks (IHL), Muskegon Lumberjacks (IHL), HC CSKA Moscow (Russian Hockey Super League, partnership only)
• Added in the 1967 NHL Expansion along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Oakland Seals, and St. Louis Blues
• Local Media: FSN Pittsburgh, WNPA

Franchise history

Expansion Years: 1967-1969

Home to the early NHL incarnation of the Pirates during the 1920s and the successful Hornets AHL franchise from the 1930s through the 1960s, Pittsburgh was one of six cities awarded an expansion team when the NHL doubled in size for the start of the 1967-68 season. The Penguins' first general manager was Jack Riley. 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 tough ex-Bruin defenseman Leo Boivin, the first Penguins team was manned by a cast of former minor leaguers. The club missed the playoffs in their first season in the NHL finishing 5th in the closely fought West Division. However; they were only six points out of first place.

Former player Red Sullivan was the head coach for the club's first two seasons. He was soon replaced by Hall of Famer Red Kelly in 1969. Though Bathgate led the team in scoring, both he and Boivin were soon gone. Despite a handful of decent players such as Ken Schinkel, Keith McCreary, agitator Bryan Watson and goaltender Les Binkley talent was thin. The Penguins' record was poor in the early years. They missed the playoffs in five of their first seven seasons.

1970s

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 the hospital.

For a few years in the mid-Seventies, Pittsburgh iced some powerful offensive clubs, led by the likes of 'Century Line' forwards Syl Apps, Jr., Lowell MacDonald and Jean Pronovost. As the 70s wore on, they brought in stars such as Rick Kehoe, Pierre Larouche and Ron Schock on offense, along with 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.

1980s

By the early Eighties Pittsburgh had Kehoe, star defenseman Randy Carlyle and prolific scorers Paul Gardner and Mike Bullard, but little else. The team had the league's worst record in both the 1983 and 1984 seasons. The reward for such pitiful hockey was the right to draft French Canadian phenom Mario Lemieux. Other teams offered substantial trade packages for the draft choice, but the Penguins kept the pick and a legend was born.

On a side note, the Penguins began the decade by changing their team colors in January 1980, during the middle of the season. The team went from blue & white to their present day black & gold, to honor Pittsburgh's other two sports teams, the Pirates and Steelers. Both the Pirates and Steelers wore black & gold, and both were fresh off world championship seasons at that time. (Strangely enough, the patterns on the uniforms remained the same, just the colors were changed.) The Boston Bruins supposedly tried suing the Penguins and the NHL for preventing the team from using black & gold (the same colors as the Bruins), but the lawsuit was later dismissed.

Lemieux Era: 1984-2006

The Penguins finished last in the league in 1984. With the first overall pick in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft Pittsburgh selected QMJHL superstar Mario Lemieux, who would become one of the greatest players in NHL history. He paid dividends right away, scoring on the first shot of his first shift in his first NHL game. After four more years out of the playoffs, Lemieux led the league in scoring in 1988-89. The Penguins gave him a supporting cast for the first time, trading for superstar defenseman Paul Coffey from the Edmonton Oilers, and adding scorers Kevin Stevens, Rob Brown, and John Cullen from the minors. And there was finally a top-flight goaltender between the pipes, with the acquisition of Tom Barrasso from the Buffalo Sabres. The team made the playoffs, but lost in the second round to the Philadelphia Flyers.

In 1990-91, the Penguins reached the top. They drafted Czech right winger Jaromir Jagr in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, and he paired with Lemieux as league's biggest one-two scoring threats throughout the 1990s. Mark Recchi arrived from the minors, Joe Mullen and Bryan Trottier signed as free agents, major trades brought Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, and Ulf Samuelsson. The Penguins finally became the league's best team, defeating the Minnesota North Stars in the Stanley Cup finals in six games. The following season, the team lost coach Bob Johnson to cancer, and Scotty Bowman took over as coach. Under the legendary Bowman, they swept the Chicago Blackhawks to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

Cancer nearly dealt the Penguins a double whammy in 1993. Not only were they reeling from Johnson's death, but Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Only two months after the diagnosis, his comeback was one of the league's great "feel-good" stories of all time. Despite the off-ice difficulties, Pittsburgh finished with a 56-21-7 record, winning the franchise's first (and still only) Presidents' Trophy as the team with the most points in the regular season. After Lemieux's return, the the team played better than it ever had before, winning an NHL record 17 consecutive games before playing to a tie in the final game of the season. Despite all of this success, they were still eliminated in the second round by the New York Islanders.

The Penguins continued to be a formidable team throughout the 1990s. The stars of the Stanley Cup years were followed by the likes of forwards Martin Straka, Petr Nedved, Alexei Kovalev and Robert Lang, and defensemen Kevin Hatcher and Darius Kasparaitis. Lemieux retired in 1997 and formally passed the torch to Jagr as the league's leading scorer. Because of his legendary status, the Hockey Hall of Fame waived its three-year waiting period and inducted him as an Honoured Member in the same year he retired.

The Penguins' free-spending ways came with a price -- they had paid so much for their talent that they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1998. Lemieux, a principal creditor owed many millions in deferred salary from his playing days, took the team over in bankruptcy court and prevented it from relocating. Just as he saved the franchise in 1984, he did it again. He later 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. He was the first captain-player-owner in NHL history.

Still, the Penguins needed to cut costs. They dealt Jagr and Frantisek Kucera to the Washington Capitals for prospects Kris Beech, Michal Sivek, and Ross Lupaschuk, and $4.9 million in the summer of 2001. The absence of Jagr proved devastating to the Penguins, and in 2002 they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. Further financial difficulties saw them trade fan favorite Kovalev the next season, quickly followed by the departure of Lang in free agency. Unfortunately for the franchise, none of the prospects acquired for the stars' salary dumps materialized into NHL stars. Thusly, the Penguins spent the next several seasons in the NHL's cellar.

The 2003-04 NHL season was expected to be a rebuilding year for the Penguins, with first overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and new head coach (and former Penguin and commentator) Eddie Olczyk. Cost restrictions made the signing of Fleury rather tense, but he later showed his resolve with excellent goaltending. Lemieux suffered a hip injury early in the season, and he sat out the rest of the season to recover. The Pens then traded Straka away to the Los Angeles Kings and sent Fleury back to his junior team due to further money problems. The Penguins finished with the worst NHL record, but lost the lottery for the 2004 NHL Entry Draft to the Washington Capitals.

The Penguins suffered small-market syndrome for most of their existence, and cost-cutting prevented another collapse into insolvency. 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.

Lockout Season: 2004-2005

With the 2004-05 NHL season cancelled due to the NHL lockout, several Penguins signed with the club's AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre Penguins, while experienced players like Aleksey Morozov and Milan Kraft honed their talents in the elite European and Russian leagues.

Various reports had the Penguins in dire financial straits even after the lockout. Lemieux himself stated that it is doubtful the club will remain in Pittsburgh once the Mellon Arena lease expires. A recent arena proposal includes a partnership with Isle of Capri Casinos, a gambling company intending to install slot machines. The project cost is estimated at $290 million. A new arena is part of a proposed $1 billion development financed by Nationwide Realty. If an arena is not built, rumors suggest that the team will move.

Crosby Era: 2005 and beyond

The Penguins won an unprecedented draft lottery in the summer of 2005, in which all thirty teams had weighted chances to win the first overall pick of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. The Penguins chose junior league superstar Sidney Crosby from the QMJHL. With a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed by the owners and players to end the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the Penguins began rebuilding the team under a salary cap. They signed big-name free agents Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair and Zigmund Palffy, and traded for goaltender Jocelyn Thibault from the Chicago Blackhawks. Crosby set a new record for the youngest NHL player to score 100 points, previously held by past rookie of the year Dale Hawerchuk in 2005-06. Hawerchuk had been 100 days older than Crosby in 1981-82 when he scored 103 points for the now-defunct Winnipeg Jets.

The team began the season with a long winless skid that resulted in a coaching change from Olczyk to Michel Therrien. Palffy announced his retirement due to a lingering shoulder injury while the team's second-leading scorer. Then on January 24, 2006, Mario Lemieux announced his second retirement after developing an irregular heart beat. He finished as the NHL's seventh all-time scorer (1,723), eighth in goals (690) and tenth in assists (1,033).[link][link][link]

It was now, for all intents and purposes, Crosby's team, and on April 17, Crosby became the youngest rookie in history to score 100 points, tying Lemieux's rookie record. The next day, on the Penguins' final game of the season, Crosby scored a goal and an assist to break Lemieux's record and became the top scoring rookie in team history with 102 points, despite losing the rookie scoring race to Alexander Ovechkin by 4 points. Despite a decent finish, the Penguins posted the worst record of the Eastern Conference and the highest goals-against in the league. Only the St. Louis Blues closed the season with a worse record.

The team announced on April 20, two days after the close of the 2005-06 NHL season, that the contract for General Manager Craig Patrick would not be renewed. Patrick had been GM since December 1989, and the Penguins won five division titles and back-to-back Stanley Cups during his tenure. On May 25, Ray Shero signed a five-year contract as General Manager. Shero had previously spent eight seasons as Assistant General Manager for the Nashville Predators preceded by six seasons as Assistant GM for the Ottawa Senators. Ray is the son of the late NHL coach Fred Shero.

Russian superstar Evgeni Malkin is expected to sign a contract in the summer of 2006 to join the team next season. The Penguins also added Jordan Staal, the third of four Staal brothers in hockey, with the second overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses/Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1967-68	74	27	34	13
67	195	216	554	5th in West	Out of playoffs
1968-69	76	20	45	11
51	189	252	677	5th in West	Out of playoffs
1969-70	76	26	38	12
64	182	238	1038	2nd in West	Lost in 2nd round
1970-71	78	21	37	20
62	221	240	1079	6th in West	Out of playoffs
1971-72	78	26	38	14
66	220	258	978	4th in West	Lost in 1st round
1972-73	78	32	37	9
73	257	265	866	5th in West	Out of playoffs
1973-74	78	28	41	9
65	242	273	950	5th in West	Out of playoffs
1974-75	80	37	28	15
89	326	289	1119	3rd in Norris	Lost in 2nd round
1975-76	80	35	33	12
82	339	303	1004	3rd in Norris	Lost in 1st round
1976-77	80	34	33	13
81	240	252	669	3rd in Norris	Lost in 1st round
1977-78	80	25	37	18
68	254	321	1300	4th in Norris	Out of playoffs
1978-79	80	36	31	13
85	281	279	1039	2nd in Norris	Lost in 2nd round
1979-80	80	30	37	13
73	251	303	1038	3rd in Norris	Lost in 1st round
1980-81	80	30	37	13
73	302	245	1807	4th in Norris	Lost in 1st round
1981-82	80	31	36	13
75	310	337	2212	4th in Patrick	Lost in 1st round
1982-83	80	18	53	9
45	257	394	1859	6th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1983-84	80	16	58	6
38	254	390	1695	6th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1984-85	80	24	51	5
53	276	385	1493	6th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1985-86	80	34	38	8
76	313	305	1538	5th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1986-87	80	30	38	12
72	297	290	1693	5th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1987-88	80	36	35	9
81	319	316	2211	6th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1988-89	80	40	33	7
87	347	349	2670	2nd in Patrick	Lost in 2nd round
1989-90	80	32	40	8
72	318	359	2132	5th in Patrick	Out of playoffs
1990-91	80	41	33	6
88	342	305	1641	1st in Patrick	Won Stanley Cup
1991-92	80	39	32	9
87	343	308	1907	3rd in Patrick	Won Stanley Cup
1992-93	84	56	21	7
119	367	268	1776	1st in Patrick	Lost in 2nd round
1993-94	84	44	27	13
101	299	285	1624	1st in Northeast	Lost in 1st round
1994-951	48	29	16	3
61	181	158	1036	2nd in Northeast	Lost in 2nd round
1995-96	82	49	29	4
102	362	284	1623	1st in Northeast	Lost in 3rd round
1996-97	82	38	36	8
84	285	280	1498	2nd in Northeast	Lost in 1st round
1997-98	82	40	24	18
98	228	188	1225	1st in Northeast	Lost in 1st round
1998-99	82	38	30	14
90	242	225	977	3rd in Atlantic	Lost in 2nd round
1999-00	82	37	31	8	6	88	241	236	1221	3rd in Atlantic	Lost in 2nd round
2000-01	82	42	28	8	3	96	281	256	1585	3rd in Atlantic	Lost in 3rd round
2001-02	82	28	41	8	5	69	198	249	1248	5th in Atlantic	Out of playoffs
2002-03	82	27	44	6	5	65	189	255	1125	5th in Atlantic	Out of playoffs
2003-04	82	23	47	8	4	58	190	303	1270	5th in Atlantic	Out of playoffs
2004-052
2005-06	82	22	46
14	58	244	316	1539	5th in Atlantic	Out of playoffs

¹ Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.
² Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Notable players

Current squad

As of July 4th, 2006 [link]

Goaltenders
Number		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
29		Marc-Andre Fleury	L	2003	Sorel, Quebec
41		Jocelyn Thibault	L	2005	Montreal, Quebec

Defensemen
Number		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2		Josef Melichar - A	L	1997	Ceske Budejovice, Czechoslovakia
4		Noah Welch	L	2001	Brighton, Massachusetts
5		Rob Scuderi	L	1998	Syosset, New York
19		Ryan Whitney	L	2002	Boston, Massachusetts
24		Lyle Odelein	R	2005	Quill Lake, Saskatchewan
33		Eric Cairns	L	2006	Oakville, Ontario
44		Brooks Orpik	L	2002	San Francisco, California
55		Sergei Gonchar - A	L	2005	Chelyabinsk, U.S.S.R.
-		Mark Eaton	L	2006	Wilmington, Delaware

Forwards
Number		Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
7		Michel Ouellet	R	RW	2000	Rimouski, Quebec
10		John LeClair	L	LW	2005	St. Albans, Vermont
12		Ryan Malone	L	C/LW	1999	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
16		Erik Christensen	R	RW	2002	Edmonton, Alberta
17		Matt Murley	L	LW	1999	Troy, New York
20		Colby Armstrong	R	RW	2001	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
23		Eric Boguniecki	R	C	2005	New Haven, Connecticut
25		Maxime Talbot	L	C	2002	Lemoyne, Quebec
36		Andre Roy	L	LW	2005	Port Chester, New York
37		Ryan Vandenbussche	R	RW	2004	Simcoe, Ontario
43		Tomas Surovy	L	LW/RW	2001	Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
71		Konstantin Koltsov	L	RW/LW	1999	Minsk, U.S.S.R.
87		Sidney Crosby - A	L	C	2005	Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
_		Jarkko Ruutu	L	LW	2006	Helsinki, Finland

Team Captains

• Ab McDonald 1967-68
• no captain 1968-73
• Ron Schock 1973-77
• Jean Pronovost 1977-78
• Orest Kindrachuk 1978-81
• Randy Carlyle 1981-84
• Mike Bullard 1984-86
• Mike Bullard & Terry Ruskowski 1986-87
• Dan Frawley & Mario Lemieux 1987-88
• Mario Lemieux 1988-94
• Ron Francis 1994-95
• Mario Lemieux 1995-97
• Ron Francis 1997-98
• Jaromir Jagr 1998-01
• Mario Lemieux 2001-06
• no captain 2006- present

Hall of Famers

• Andy Bathgate (1967-1968 and 1970-1971, inducted 1978)
• Scotty Bowman (Director of Player Development 1990-1991, Head Coach 1991-1993, inducted 1991)
• Paul Coffey (1987-1992, inducted 2004)
• Bob Johnson (Head Coach 1990-1991, inducted 1992)
• Mike Lange (Announcer 1975-present, inducted 2001)
• Mario Lemieux (1984-1997 and 2000-2006, inducted 1997)
• Joe Mullen (1990-1995 and 1996-1997, inducted 2000)
• Larry Murphy (1990-1995, inducted 2004)
• Craig Patrick (General Manager 1989-2006, Head Coach 1989-1990 and 1997, inducted 2001)
• Bryan Trottier (1990-1992 and 1993-1994, inducted 1997)

Retired numbers

• 21 Michel Brière, C, 1969-70; taken out of circulation following his death but not officially retired until January 5, 2001
• 66 Mario Lemieux, C, 1984-97, 2000-06; retired November 19, 1997, his jersey number was lowered from Mellon Arena roof and "unretired" when he began his comeback on December 27, 2000; re-retired January 24, 2006.
• 99 Wayne Gretzky (retired league-wide by the NHL in 1999)

NHL All-Rookie Team

• 1985 - Mario Lemieux, Warren Young
• 1989 - Zarley Zalapski
• 1991 - Jaromir Jagr
• 1997 - Patrick Lalime
• 2003 - Sebastien Caron
• 2004 - Ryan Malone
• 2006 - Sidney Crosby

First All-Star Team

• 1981 - Randy Carlyle
• 1988 - Mario Lemieux
• 1989 - Paul Coffey, Mario Lemieux
• 1992 - Kevin Stevens
• 1993 - Mario Lemieux
• 1995 - Jaromir Jagr
• 1996 - Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux
• 1997 - Mario Lemieux
• 1998 - Jaromir Jagr
• 1999 - Jaromir Jagr
• 2000 - Jaromir Jagr
• 2001 - Jaromir Jagr

Second All-Star Team

• 1986 - Mario Lemieux
• 1987 - Mario Lemieux
• 1990 - Paul Coffey
• 1991 - Kevin Stevens
• 1992 - Mario Lemieux
• 1993 - Tom Barrasso, Larry Murphy, Kevin Stevens
• 1995 - Larry Murphy
• 1997 - Jaromir Jagr
• 2001 - Mario Lemieux

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