Pittsburgh Penguins
| Pittsburgh Penguins | |
|---|---|
| founding | 1967 |
| history |
Pittsburgh Penguins since 1967 |
| Stadion | PPG Paints Arena |
| Location | Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania |
| Team colors | Black, Vegas gold, white |
| league | National Hockey League |
| Conference | Eastern Conference |
| division | Metropolitan Division |
| Head coach |
 Mike Sullivan
|
| Team captain |
 Sidney Crosby
|
| General manager |
Jim Rutherford
|
| owner |
Ron Burkle Mario Lemieux
|
| Cooperations |
Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ( AHL ) Wheeling Nailers ( ECHL ) |
| Stanley Cups | 1991 , 1992 , 2009 , 2016 , 2017 |
| Conference title |
1990/91 , 1991/92 , 2007/08 , 2008/09 , 2015/16 , 2016/17 |
| Division title |
1990/91 , 1992/93 , 1993/94 , 1995/96 , 1997/98 , 2007/08 , 2012/13 , 2013/14 |
The Pittsburgh Penguins ( IPA : [ˈpɪtsbɝɡ ˈpeŋgwɪns] ) are an American ice hockey franchise of the National Hockey League from Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania . It was founded in 1967 and started playing at the beginning of the 1967/68 season . The team colors are black, Vegas gold, and white.
The Penguins play their home games in the PPG Paints Arena (until October 2016: Consol Energy Center) and emerged from the big expansion of the league before the 1967/68 season, when the number of participants was increased from six to twelve. After the team was often faced with problems both athletically and financially in the first 20 years of its existence, the team around Mario Lemieux established itself at the top of the league in the late 1980s. At the beginning of the 1990s it managed to win the prestigious Stanley Cup twice . After another crisis at the beginning of the new millennium, the team again found their way to the front of the league and celebrated further title wins in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
history
A professional ice hockey team from Pittsburgh played in the early years of the National Hockey League , the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1925 to 1931. Later played with the Pittsburgh Hornets, a team in the American Hockey League , which was dissolved in 1967. The reason for this was the increase in the NHL from six to twelve teams. One of the newly formed franchises was the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Difficult beginning
The first general manager of the Penguins was Jack Riley , who initially did not have an easy job as he had to fill the team with players who were mainly brought in from the lower leagues. With Andy Bathgate and Leo Boivin , they had at least two NHL experienced players in their ranks. In the first season they missed the play-offs and finished fifth in the West Division. However, the division was highly competitive and the Penguins were only six points behind first place.
The coach for the first two seasons was George Sullivan , who was replaced by Red Kelly . There were no sporting successes in the first few years, the technical level was rather mixed, so that the two most experienced players, Bathgate and Boivin, left the team. In the first seven seasons, the play-offs were not reached five times.
The management was more successful in the draft . In the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft , they signed Michel Brière, a talented young player who scored 320 points in 100 games among the juniors. He was one of the key players and guarantors that the Penguins reached the play-offs in 1970, but a short time later Brière was involved in a car accident and died of the consequences in 1971.
First successes and financial problems
During the 1973/74 season, the team went through a sporting crisis and was in the bottom ranks of the league with the result that Jack Riley was dismissed as general manager. Successor Jack Button began to rebuild the team and to sign players like Steve Durbano , J. Bob Kelly or Bob Paradise . The team now played more successfully, but could not qualify for play-off games.
The sporting upswing solidified and continued, more stars were signed up, such as Rick Kehoe or Ron Stackhouse , but the team did not achieve the great success - winning the championship after qualifying for the playoffs. In 1974/75 they almost made it to the semi-finals of the Stanley Cup . They led against the New York Islanders by 3-0 competitions and only needed one win to reach the semifinals. But the Islanders succeeded in reversing the situation and won four games in a row and thus the series against the Penguins.
In 1975 the franchise was on the verge of economic failure, as creditors demanded that those responsible for the team settle the existing liabilities. A group of investors prevented the bankruptcy that would otherwise occur through its investment. Baz Bastien then replaced Jack Button as general manager and committed players such as Orest Kindrachuk , Tom Bladon and Rick MacLeish , which initially paid off in sports, but since he had given preferential rights to the NHL Entry Draft for young talent , the team got into the problems in the early 1980s, as these were absent due to emigration.
At the beginning of the eighties, the team decided to change their team colors from blue and white to gold and black. The Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team also wore gold and black. The Boston Bruins filed a lawsuit against this change in the NHL Tribunal because they also wear the same club colors, but the lawsuit was dismissed because the Penguins argued that all teams in town would play in those colors and the first NHL team in Pittsburgh also wore these colors in the twenties and thirties.
The Lemieux era
In 1983 and 1984 the Penguins finished last in the league, but this gave the team the opportunity to be the first team to select a player in the draft. So they were able to commit super talent Mario Lemieux in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft . Many teams immediately tried to lure the young star away from Pittsburgh with attractive transfer offers, but the management turned down all offers.
In his very first game, Lemieux proved how talented he was. With his first shot of his NHL career, he scored his first goal. And at the end of the 1984/85 season he had scored 100 points, but the team only had to work its way up in the table from year to year. It was not until the 1988/89 season that they made it back into the play-offs. Lemieux, who was named team captain in 1987 , had played the best season of his entire career, he had scored 85 goals and reached a total of 199 points, which he was able to trump Wayne Gretzky for the second time in a row . But Lemieux wasn't the only reason the penguins rose again. A good team had been built around him in the last few years with players like Paul Coffey , Kevin Stevens and John Cullen , as well as goalkeeper Tom Barrasso .
The 1989/90 season was again marked by failure, but in 1990/91 the team reached its peak. With Jaromir Jagr was in the Draft 1990 NHL Entry a Czech Super Talent selected Mark Recchi was from the farm team brought in the NHL squad and Joe Mullen and Bryan Trottier signed before the annual contracts as free agents . During the seasons, Larry Murphy , Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson were signed with spectacular transfers . With this powerful group they made it to the Stanley Cup final and won there against the Minnesota North Stars with 4-2.
Shortly after the triumph was when coach Bob Johnson , a cancer found and he gave his office to coach veteran Scotty Bowman from. Johnson died in November 1991. The Penguins were able to defend the Stanley Cup under Bowman.
In January 1993, a little more than a year after Johnson's death from cancer, Mario Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease , a malignant tumor in the lymphatic system . After two months of treatment and 24 missed games, he returned to the team, was able to overtake his rivals for the Art Ross Trophy as the best scorer and the team won its first Presidents' Trophy as the best team of the regular season. But the third Stanley Cup in a row could not be won.
In the following years they could not reach the Stanley Cup final, but the pens were among the strongest teams in the league. The face of the team changed over time and new players such as Robert Lang , Darius Kasparaitis , Martin Straka , Sergei Subow , Petr Nedvěd and Alexei Kowaljow developed into important pillars of the team. That was also important for the team, because in 1997 Mario Lemieux ended his career. He was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame , which is only available to players who have achieved special in the NHL. Everyone else has to wait at least three years after retiring. In his place came Jaromír Jágr, who developed into one of the best scorers in the NHL. From 1992 to 2001 Lemieux and Jágr were able to collectively win nine out of ten Art Ross trophies .
Talent and money worries
The high salaries of the players endangered the economic survival of the club, this financial crisis ultimately led to bankruptcy in November 1998 . Mario Lemieux then acquired the club and thus prevented relocation to another city through an external takeover. He caused a sensation in late December 2000 when he made his comeback as a player in the NHL, making him the first player to also own his team.
But the team had to keep cutting costs. Jaromír Jágr was given to Washington in 2001, Robert Lang left the team, as well as a few more players. That had an impact on the sporting situation and the team missed the playoffs for the first time in twelve years in 2002. In the next few seasons, the penguins fell even further in the table.
The 2003/04 season should serve to rebuild the team. Eddie Olczyk was the new coach and Marc-André Fleury was the first to get a young goalkeeper in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft . But Mario Lemieux was injured at the beginning of the season and was no longer used during the season, Martin Straka was handed over to Los Angeles and Fleury was first sent back to his team in the junior league. The Penguins finished last in the NHL and thus actually had the right to be the first to choose a player in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft , but the Washington Capitals won the draft lottery. You were allowed to choose a player as the second and decided on Yevgeny Malkin .
Lockout and CBA
In the summer of 2004, negotiations between the teams, the NHLPA players' union and the league began on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a kind of collective agreement. But there was no quick decision and the teams locked their players out. This ultimately led to the cancellation of the 2004/05 season . An agreement was only reached in summer 2005. The new agreement was a good thing for the penguins, because a salary cap was introduced for all teams. Since the Penguins have always had financial problems in recent years and had to give up good and therefore expensive players while rich teams built real all-star teams, the regulation should mean that sporting success no longer depends too much on finances .
New start with Sidney Crosby
Almost as important was the fact that the Penguins were allowed to select the first team in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and opted for Sidney Crosby , a great talent who, based on “The great one”, Wayne Gretzky, quickly became “The next one “Was baptized. The team was strengthened by Sergei Gonchar , John LeClair and Žigmund Pálffy , who signed as free agents. Jocelyn Thibault was brought to Pittsburgh via a transfer. The season started slowly for the team and they responded with a change of coach and signed Michel Therrien . The team clearly missed the playoffs and finished next to last. Sidney Crosby, on the other hand, hit the ground running in his debut season, surpassing Mario Lemieux with 102 points, who had achieved 100 points in his rookie year . Lemieux had started the season with the team, but in the middle of the season he finally ended his career for good.
The contract of General Manager Craig Patrick , who has led the team since 1989, was not renewed in the summer of 2006. Instead, Ray Shero was given the post of GM. In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft , the team was allowed to choose a player second and chose Jordan Staal , whose brothers Marc and Eric were already part of NHL teams. In addition, Evgeni Malkin joined the Penguins in autumn, who had been drafted in second place in 2004.
Failed sale of the team and possible relocation
On October 4, 2006, it was announced that the team would be sold to a group led by Jim Balsillie , a director of Research In Motion . So initially Balsillie's party came to an agreement with the current group of owners around Mario Lemieux. However, the deal had yet to be approved by the NHL.
Rumors immediately surfaced as to whether the team should be relocated. So were Hamilton and Waterloo in the Canadian province of Ontario brought to the table as new venues. One reason for these rumors was primarily that the Mellon Arena is no longer economically viable and profitable for the club.
The gambling company "Isle of Capri Casinos" , which wanted to build a new multifunctional arena for 290 million US dollars, in which the penguins would then also play, was hoping for the continued existence of the team in Pittsburgh , should the company obtain a gambling license in the State of Pennsylvania obtained. The decision was made on December 20, 2006, but the license went to "PITG Gaming Majestic Star" .
On December 15, 2006, Jim Balsillie's group of investors also withdrew from the purchase of the Penguins. There was no official justification, but some sources said that the NHL should have presented a list of items in the final negotiations with Balsillie that should, among other things, oblige him to keep the team in Pittsburgh under all circumstances. He did not agree with this and decided not to take over the franchise for the time being. But he was still considered a possible buyer.
After Balsillie's withdrawal, other names came up as buyers in December. So would Frank D'Angelo , president of the Canadian Steel Back Brewery, along with billionaire Bernard Sherman was willing to buy the team and they had even built a new arena. D'Angelo had only tried to open a franchise in the CFL , the Canadian American Football League , a few months earlier , but had not won the bid. Shortly thereafter, D'Angelo confirmed that he would place a bid on the penguins and emphasized that he was determined to keep the penguins in Pittsburgh.
Another candidate for the purchase was Mark Cuban , the owner of the Dallas Mavericks from the NBA basketball league .
After a turbulent week in which the sale to Balsillie first broke and only five days later Isle of Capri Casinos had not received the gambling license, Mario Lemieux explained that the team is currently no longer for sale and that the future of the team is now in the Want to take hand. Lemieux had discussions with several cities outside of Pennsylvania to see if they would be interested in an NHL franchise. Kansas City showed great interest, also because they have the new Sprint Center , which, however, did not have a team of the major professional leagues. At the same time, the group of owners around Lemieux began to work out a plan with the politicians and those responsible in Pittsburgh so that the franchise could still be preserved in Pittsburgh.
After it was announced at the end of February 2007 that the negotiations on a new lease for the Mellon Arena, as well as an agreement on the construction of a new arena, were within reach, disappointment came on March 5th when it became known that the negotiations had been broken off . Resettlement of the penguins became more and more likely. Kansas City was the big favorite. But on March 13th it was announced that a solution had been found that would allow the franchise to stay in Pittsburgh for another 30 years and that would include the construction of a new arena.
New successes
Despite the problems away from the ice, the Pittsburgh Penguins played their best season in a long time. The new professionals Jordan Staal and Jewgeni Malkin found their way in the league immediately, and Sidney Crosby was able to improve again compared to his debut season. Malkin set an exclamation point right at the beginning of the 2006/07 season when he scored in each of his first six games, setting a record that had been set in 1917 and has not been achieved since. In an 8-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Crosby scored one goal and prepared five, taking the lead in the scorer standings. On February 10, 2007, the third young Penguins star, Jordan Staal, came into the limelight when he became the youngest player in NHL history to score a hat trick. The Penguins also signed Georges Laraque and Gary Roberts in the same month to add toughness to their game. The team finally finished the season in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and achieved the second-best result in franchise history with 105 points. Sidney Crosby was the youngest player in NHL history to secure the Art Ross Trophy as the best scorer with 120 points. In the playoffs, the Penguins met in the first round against the Ottawa Senators, who they were defeated in five games.
After the season, Crosby was honored with the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player and became the youngest winner of the Lester B. Pearson Award for best player of the NHL season. In addition, Evgeni Malkin received the Calder Memorial Trophy as the best new professional.
In the 2007/08 season, the Penguins won the division title for the first time since 1998. In the same season they also reached the Stanley Cup final for the first time since the 1991/92 season, which they lost 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wings . A year later they reached the final series again, again against the Detroit Red Wings. In the final of the Eastern Conference, the Penguins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes with a clear 4-0 wins. After three away defeats and three home wins, it was the 15th time since the introduction of the best-of-seven rule for the Stanley Cup final in 1939 for the decisive seventh game, which the Penguins won 2-1 and thus their third Stanley Cup -Win secured. The Canadian Maxime Talbot scored both goals for the Penguins in the final. Malkin, who was NHL top scorer in both the regular season and the playoffs, received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. In the 2015/16 season, the Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup. In the final, the San Jose Sharks were defeated 4-2 wins. The decisive victory was achieved 3-1 in San Jose on June 12, 2016. The Conn Smythe Trophy went to Sidney Crosby in this final series. In the course of the regular season it did not look like winning the title, as the Penguins were outside the playoff ranks in December 2015. After changing the coach to Mike Sullivan , the Penguins started a race to catch up in the Eastern Conference and secured second place in the Metropolitan Division. In the playoffs they eliminated the New York Rangers 4-1, the Washington Capitals (which won the Presidents' Trophy in the regular season) 4-2 and in the Eastern Conference final the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 wins .
The Pittsburgh Penguins started their 50th NHL season as defending champions. After qualifying for the playoffs for 25 seasons in a row, the Detroit Red Wings failed to make it this year. Pittsburgh took the lead in this statistic at the end of the season with eleven consecutive appearances in the playoffs. After beating the Columbus Blue Jackets , Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators , the Penguins secured their second Stanley Cup victory in a row. Since the Detroit Red Wings in the 1997/98 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were the first team to successfully defend the Stanley Cup title. In the 2017/18 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins aimed for a so-called three-peat , i.e. the third Stanley Cup in a row. After a relatively mixed season, the Penguins still managed to qualify for the playoffs. After they could beat the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round , this time they failed at the Washington Capitals in the Conference semifinals.
Venues
The Penguins played their home games from their inception in 1967 until 2010 in the Mellon Arena , a 16,958-seat multifunctional arena . From 1961 to 1999 the hall was named Pittsburgh Civic Arena . In 1999, Mellon Financial acquired the naming rights to the arena for ten years. The company invested 18 million US dollars for this. These rights continued until 2009. The hall was jokingly called "Igloo" ( Eng . Igloo ) because of its shape . In 1995 the arena was also the location for the action film " Sudden Death " with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the leading role. In it, terrorists plan an assassination attempt during a fictional Stanley Cup final game for the Penguins.
The oldest of the 30 NHL arenas has long been criticized. Opposing players complained about the poor conditions in the guest cabin. In the event of a power failure during a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 19, 2006, fans chanted for a new arena to be built. Almost exactly one year later to the day, an agreement was actually reached on the new building. In August 2010 the 18,087 spectator hall with the name Consol Energy Center was opened, which is located directly next to the old arena. The energy group Consol Energy acquired the naming rights for a period of 21 years in December 2008, but PPG Industries bought the rights in October 2016, so that the venue is now called PPG Paints Arena .
Achievements and honors
Sporting successes
| Stanley Cups | |
| season | |
| 1990/91 , 1991/92 , 2008/09 , 2015/16 , 2016/17 | |
| Presidents' Trophies | |
| season | |
| 1992/93 | |
| Conference Championships | season |
| Prince of Wales Trophy |
1990/91 , 1991/92 , 2007/08 , 2008/09 , 2015/16 , 2016/17 |
| Division Championships | season |
| Patrick Division | 1990/91 , 1992/93 |
| Northeast Division | 1993/94 , 1995/96 , 1997/98 |
| Atlantic Division | 2007/08 , 2012/13 |
| Metropolitan Division | 2013/14 |
NHL Awards
- Mario Lemieux : 1987/88 , 1988/89 , 1991/92 , 1992/93 , 1995/96 , 1996/97
- Jaromír Jágr : 1994/95 , 1997/98 , 1998/99 , 1999/2000 , 2000/01
- Sidney Crosby : 2006/07 , 2013/14
- Yevgeny Malkin : 2008/09 , 2011/12
- Mario Lemieux : 1985/86 , 1987/88 , 1992/93 , 1995/96
- Jaromír Jágr : 1998/99 , 1999/2000
- Sidney Crosby : 2006/07 , 2012/13 , 2013/14
- Jack Riley : 1985/86
- Joe Mullen : 1994/95
- Mario Lemieux : 1999/2000
- Craig Patrick : 1999/2000
- Herb Brooks : 2001/02
NHL All-Star Team Nominations
Since the franchise was founded , twelve players have been elected a total of 36 times into one of the All-Star teams and ten others into the All-Rookie team .
NHL All-Star Game Nominations
Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists,
Pts = points
| Surname | from ... to | GP | G | A. | Pts |
| Mario Lemieux | 1985-2002 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 23 |
| Jaromír Jágr | 1992-2000 | 6th | 4th | 4th | 8th |
| Paul Coffey | 1988-1992 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Yevgeny Malkin | 2008-2016 | 4th | 3 | 4th | 7th |
| Jean Pronovost | 1975-1988 | 4th | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Stevens | 1991-1993 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Greg Polis | 1971-1973 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
With ten participations each for the Penguins, Mario Lemieux is the player who can look back on the most participations in the team's history. With 23 points he is also the most successful player. No other player comes close to his 13 goals and ten assists.
In the 21st All-Star Game in 1968, Ken Schinkel was the first player to play for Pittsburgh. In the 1970 All-Star Game , Dean Prentice scored the first goal in an All-Star Game. His teammate Bob Woytowich provided the template for this.
Greg Polis was named Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game in 1971 with two goals . Mario Lemieux received this award three times in 1985, 1988 and 1990.
In 1990 , the Penguins hosted the All-Star Game, which was attended by 17,503 spectators. Pittsburgh was not originally planned to be the venue until 1993, but Montréal shied away from comparison with Québec, which had received much praise for hosting the '87 Rendez-vous , which Pittsburgh stepped in as the host.
In addition to the All-Star Games, there were three other occasions where the NHL provided an All-Star team. At the 1972 Summit Series and 1979 Challenge Cup , there were no Penguins players in the roster. For the rendez-vous '87, in which the Soviet national team was again opponent of the NHL team, Mario Lemieux was in the squad of the NHL team and contributed three templates in both games.
Franchise records
Selected player records of the franchise over the entire career as well as over individual seasons are listed below.
Career
| Surname | number | |
| Most games | Sidney Crosby * | 943 (in 14 seasons) |
| Most consecutive games | Craig Adams | 319 (October 18, 2010 to December 18, 2014) |
| Most goals | Mario Lemieux | 690 |
| Most templates | Mario Lemieux | 1,033 |
| Most of the points | Mario Lemieux | 1,723 (690 goals + 1,033 assists) |
| Most penalty minutes | Kevin Stevens | 1,048 |
| Most shutouts | Marc-André Fleury | 44 |
* active player; Status at the end of the 2018/19 season
season
| Surname | number | season | |
| Most goals | Mario Lemieux | 85 | 1988/89 |
| Most templates | Mario Lemieux | 114 | 1988/89 |
| Most of the points | Mario Lemieux | 199 (85 goals + 114 assists) | 1988/89 |
| Most points as a rookie | Sidney Crosby | 102 (39 goals + 63 assists) | 2005/06 |
| Most points as a defender | Paul Coffey | 113 (30 goals + 83 assists) | 1988/89 |
| Most penalty minutes | Paul Baxter | 409 | 1981/82 |
| Most wins as a goalkeeper | Tom Barrasso | 43 | 1992/93 |
Trainer
Sporting failures (1967 to 1988)
Abbreviations: GC = games, W = wins, L = defeats, T = draws, OTL = defeats after
overtime , Pts = points, Pts% = point quota
| Surname | season | Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||
| GC | W. | L. | T | Pts | Pts% | GC | W. | L. | ||
| George Sullivan | 1967 / 68–1968 / 69 | 150 | 47 | 79 | 24 | 118 | .313 | - | - | - |
| Red Kelly | 1969 / 70–1972 / 73 * | 274 | 90 | 132 | 52 | 232 | .328 | 14th | 6th | 8th |
| Ken Schinkel | 1972/73 * –1973 / 74 * | 86 | 29 | 49 | 8th | 66 | .337 | - | - | - |
| Marc Boileau | 1973/74 * –1975 / 76 * | 151 | 66 | 61 | 24 | 156 | .437 | 9 | 5 | 4th |
| Ken Schinkel | 1975/76 * -1976 / 77 | 117 | 54 | 43 | 20th | 128 | .462 | 6th | 2 | 4th |
| Johnny Wilson | 1977 / 78-1979 / 80 | 240 | 91 | 105 | 44 | 226 | .379 | 12 | 4th | 8th |
| Eddie Johnston | 1980 / 81-1982 / 83 | 240 | 79 | 126 | 35 | 193 | .329 | 10 | 4th | 6th |
| Lou Angotti | 1983/84 | 80 | 16 | 58 | 6th | 38 | .200 | - | - | - |
| Bob Berry | 1984 / 85-1986 / 87 | 240 | 88 | 127 | 25th | 201 | .367 | - | - | - |
| Pierre Creamer | 1987/88 | 80 | 36 | 35 | 9 | 81 | .450 | - | - | - |
* Change during the current season; ** Interim trainer
There weren't many achievements to celebrate in the early years of the penguins. Red Kelly was the longest trainer of the Penguins at three and a half years. Eddie Johnston handed over the coaching office in 1983 and took over the position of general manager. During his time, Mario Lemieux was signed . After the sporting successes did not materialize despite the great performances of the new star, those responsible changed coaches and managers in the summer of 1988.
The Craig Patrick Era (since 1988)
| Surname | season | Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||
| GC | W. | L. | T | OTL | Pts | Pts% | GC | W. | L. | ||
| Gene Ubriaco | 1988 / 89–1989 / 90 * | 106 | 50 | 47 | 9 | - | 109 | .472 | 11 | 7th | 4th |
| Craig Patrick | 1989/90 * | 54 | 20th | 26th | 6th | - | 50 | .370 | - | - | - |
| Bob Johnson | 1990/91 | 80 | 41 | 33 | 6th | - | 88 | .513 | 24 | 16 | 8th |
| Scotty Bowman | 1991 / 92-1992 / 93 | 164 | 95 | 53 | 16 | - | 206 | .579 | 33 | 23 | 10 |
| Eddie Johnston | 1993 / 94–1996 / 97 * | 276 | 153 | 98 | 25th | - | 331 | .554 | 36 | 18th | 18th |
| Craig Patrick | 1996/97 | 20th | 7th | 10 | 3 | - | 17th | .350 | 5 | 1 | 4th |
| Kevin Constantine | 1997 / 98–1999 / 00 * | 189 | 86 | 64 | 35 | 4th | 211 | .455 | 19th | 8th | 11 |
| Herb Brooks | 1999/00 * | 57 | 29 | 21st | 5 | 2 | 65 | .509 | 11 | 6th | 5 |
| Ivan Hlinka | 2000/01–2001/02 * | 86 | 42 | 32 | 9 | 3 | 96 | .488 | 18th | 9 | 9 |
| Rick Kehoe | 2001/02 * –2002/03 | 160 | 55 | 81 | 14th | 10 | 134 | .344 | - | - | - |
| Ed Olczyk | 2003/04/2005/06 * | 113 | 31 | 64 | 8th | 10 | 80 | .274 | - | - | - |
| Michel Therrien | 2005/06 * –2008 / 09 * | 272 | 135 | 105 | - | 32 | 302 | .555 | 25th | 15th | 10 |
| Dan Bylsma | 2008/09 * –2013 / 14 | 400 | 252 | 117 | - | 32 | 536 | .670 | 78 | 43 | 35 |
| Mike Johnston | 2014 / 15–2015 / 16 * | 110 | 58 | 37 | - | 15th | 131 | .595 | 5 | 1 | 4th |
| Mike Sullivan | since 2015/16 * | 300 | 174 | 92 | - | 34 | 382 | .637 | 65 | 38 | 27 |
Craig Patrick was General Manager of the Penguins for more than 15 years . In his second year in office, he replaced Gene Ubriaco as coach shortly after the start of the season and managed the team until the end of the season. With Bob Johnson , an unwavering optimist, Patrick brought in exactly the man the Penguins needed. After leading the team to the Stanley Cup in his freshman year , doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor and Pittsburgh needed a new coach. With Scotty Bowman , the club management was able to commit an experienced successful coach, with whom the title was successfully defended. After two years, the management brought back the former coach and general manager Eddie Johnston, who now replaced Red Kelly as the record coach. In total, he looked after the team in 516 games. No other coach in Pittsburgh can come close to this number of games.
After general manager Ray Shero during the 2008-09 season, Dan Bylsma , succeeding Michel Therrien installed, began a successful period for the Penguins. Bylsma won the Stanley Cup right in his first season; in addition, Pittsburgh always reached the play-offs under him. When he was released after the 2013-14 season, Bylsma was also the coach with the most wins in the history of the franchise (252). His successor was Mike Johnston , who was replaced by Mike Sullivan after just under one and a half years , under whom Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in the 2015/16 season and defended it the following year.
General manager
|
* Change during the current season |
There were frequent changes in the position of general manager in the early years. After three years in office, Jack Riley passed the post to Red Kelly , the coach at the time. But after a season and a half, Riley returned to the position of general manager and Kelly concentrated again on the work as a coach. Baz Bastien brought some continuity to management in 1976 and stayed as manager for six and a half years. With Eddie Johnston , the man took his successor, who had previously been coach. After five years he handed over to former goalkeeper Tony Esposito . After a year and a half, this was replaced by Craig Patrick . Lester Patrick's grandson had previously worked as general manager with the New York Rangers , but had to make room for Esposito's brother Phil . The two Stanley Cup victories in the early 1990s fell under Patrick's time. For 15 seasons he remained loyal to the Penguins. In 2006 he was replaced by Ray Shero . Shero is the son of successful coach Fred Shero , whom Craig Patrick had inherited with the Rangers 25 years earlier. After eight years of working together, Shero was fired in May 2014; Jim Rutherford succeeded him.
player
Squad for the 2019/20 season
Status: end of the 2019/20 season
Team captains
|
* Interim captain |
First team captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins was 1967 Ab McDonald, who already had a lot of experience in the NHL. But after just a year he left Pittsburgh and the post of team captain remained vacant for five years. In 1973 Ron Schock received the "C", which he wore for four years. In the following years, the "C" often changed its wearer, Randy Carlyle and Orest Kindrachuk wore it the longest when they were three years old. In 1987, the 22-year-old superstar Mario Lemieux was appointed team captain and developed into a permanent fixture in this position. While Lemieux paused due to cancer in the 1994/95 season , Ron Francis took over the office. Francis also succeeded Lemieux when he announced his retirement in 1997. Ron Francis was followed by a three-year tenure for the Czech star striker Jaromír Jágr until he left the Penguins in 2001. Mario Lemieux had meanwhile returned to the ice from his retirement and took over the “C” again until 2006, when he finally ended his career. In the 2006/07 season , the Penguins played without a captain. Since the beginning of the 2007/08 season , Sidney Crosby has been the twelfth player in the franchise to wear the "C". Crosby is the youngest team captain in the history of the NHL. He has also been the youngest captain of a championship team since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009.
Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
- Andy Bathgate since 1978
- Leo Boivin since 1986
- Scotty Bowman , since 1991
- Herb Brooks , since 2006
- Paul Coffey , since 2004
- Ron Francis , since 2007
- Tim Horton since 1977
- Bob Johnson , since 1992
- Mike Lange , (team radio and television commentator since 1975), since 2001
- Mario Lemieux , since 1997
- Joe Mullen , since 2000
- Larry Murphy , since 2004
- Craig Patrick , since 2001
- Luc Robitaille , since 2009
- Bryan Trottier , since 1997
- Mark Recchi , since 2017
Blocked jersey numbers
In their franchise history, the Pittsburgh Penguins have officially banned two jersey numbers so far. In addition, another one is no longer officially awarded.
| No. | Surname | Blocking date |
| 21st | Michel Brière | January 5, 2001 |
| 66 | Mario Lemieux | November 19, 1997 |
| January 24, 2006 | ||
| 99 | Wayne Gretzky | February 6, 2000 (league-wide) |
For the first time, Mario Lemieux's jersey number 66 was officially banned from the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 19, 1997. However, before another banner was hung under the ceiling of the Mellon Arena , the comeback of Lemieux on December 27, 2000 was followed by the symbolic "unblocking" of the jersey with the number 66. After Lemieux's final career, the number 66 finally became on January 24 Blocked for the second time in 2006.
A good week after Lemieux's number was released again, on January 5, 2001, Michel Brière's jersey number 21 was blocked and hung under the ceiling. In contrast to Lemieux, Brière had only played one season for the franchise, but had to end his career at the age of 20 after a tragic traffic accident and died a little later. For this reason, the jersey he was wearing at the time had not been awarded since 1970 and was unofficially banned.
Furthermore, the famous 99 of the Canadian Wayne Gretzky will no longer be awarded to a player, as it has been officially banned by the league since February 6, 2000.
Top 10 voting rights in the NHL Entry Draft
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Players from the early draft years 1963 to 1968 are not listed here.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have had 36 draft picks in the first round in their history, 21 of which were among the first ten of a class. In the 1970s, the Penguins did not have the opportunity to select a player in the first round five times because they had given the first-round Drafpicks to other teams in transfer deals. They were able to choose the first player in a draft three times. In 1984 it was Mario Lemieux, goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury followed in 2003 and in 2005 they picked Sidney Crosby first. Other players who had selected the Penguins with first-round draft picks are Jaromír Jágr , Markus Näslund and Martin Straka , all of whom were able to prevail in the NHL and became important pillars for their teams.
Franchise top point collector
The ten best points collectors in the history of the franchise by the end of the 2018/19 regular season and the 2019 playoffs .
Abbreviations: Pos = position, GP = games, G = goals, A = assists, Pts = points, P / G = points per game
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Regular season
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Play-offs
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Well-known former players
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Tom Barrasso 1989-2000
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Mike Bullard 1980-1986
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Randy Carlyle 1978-1984
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Paul Coffey 1987-1991
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Ron Francis 1991-1998
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Kevin Hatcher 1996-1999
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Marián Hossa 2008 -
Jaromír Jágr 1990-2001 -
Darius Kasparaitis 1996-2002 -
Alexei Kovalyov 1998-2003
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Robert Lang 1997-2002
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John LeClair 2005-2006
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Mario Lemieux 1984–1997 and 2000–2006
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Joe Mullen 1990-1995 and 1996-1997
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Larry Murphy 1990-1995
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Markus Näslund 1993–1996 -
Petr Nedvěd 1995-1997
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Mark Recchi 1988-1991 and 2004-2007
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Luc Robitaille 1994–1995
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Ulf Samuelsson 1991–1995
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Kevin Stevens 1987-1995 and 2001-2002
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Martin Straka 1992–1995 and 1997–2003
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Dick Tärnström 2002-2004 and 2005-2006
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Rick Tocchet 1992-1994
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Bryan Trottier 1990-1993 and 1993-1994
Individual evidence
- ↑ andrewsstarpage.com, NHL Arena Naming Rights ( Memento of November 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
- Official website of the Pittsburgh Penguins (Engl.)
- Pittsburgh Penguins on hockey-reference.com
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