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10 Interesting Facts About the Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins franchise joined the NHL in 1967 during the leagues first expansion from six to twelve teams. On October 21, 1967 they became the first expansion franchise to beat an original six team as they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. The teams nickname was inspired by the fact that their home arena was originally to be the Pittsburgh Civic Arena aka - the Igloo and their logo which is a penguin in front of a triangle, symbolizes the Golden Triangle of downtown Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Mario Lemieux 1st overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft and he started his brilliant NHL career by making an impression early, scoring on the first shot of his first ever NHL shift! His brilliance continued through 17 seasons in which he won 3 Hart Trophies, 6 Art Ross Trophies, 2 Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP and led the Penguins to 2 Stanley Cup championships. Having survived Hodgkins disease earlier in his career, on January 24, 2006 at the age of 40, Mario Lemieux was forced to announce his retirement for a second and final time after developing an irregular heart beat. He retired as the NHL's seventh all-time leading scorer with 1,723 points, including 690 career goals and is considered by many to be the most talented goal scorer in NHL history.
The eighties were a tough decade on and off the ice for the Penguins, but the 90s got off to a great start after adding Czech right-winger Jaromir Jagr in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft to an already stacked team including Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Joey Mullen, Larry Murphy, Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens, Bryan Trottier and netminder Tom Barrasso. Pittsburgh finished 1st overall in 1990-91 regular season and continued rolling right through the playoffs as the Penguins won their first stanley cup championship in 1990-91 defeating the Minnesota North Stars in six games.
The celebration of the 1990-91 championship didnt last for long though as the following season Scotty Bowman was forced to take over coaching duties when Pittsburgh lost coach Bob Johnson to cancer. Under Bowman leadership, the Pens were able to re-group and repeat their previous seasons success, winning another Stanley Cup championship in 1991-92.
In 1993, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the hockey world were shocked with the news that Mario Lemieux had been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. Miraculously, only two months after the diagnosis, Lemieux returned to the ice, having missed 24 out of 84 games, and still managed to go on and win his fourth Art Ross Trophy with an incredible 160 points. Despite the off-ice difficulties, Pittsburgh finished with a 56-21-7 record (119 points), winning the franchises first ever Presidents Trophy.
Just 8 years after joining the NHL, the Penguins were nearly forced into bankruptcy in 1975 but were rescued by a group of investors that included Wren Blair who was also helped Boston Bruins recruit Bobby Orr. These financial woes continued for years until finally in 1998, after having over-extended themselves by asking players to defer their salaries, were forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Just when it appeared that the team were about to either move or fold, Lemieux put forth a proposal to save the team. As he had become one of the teams principal creditors due to years of deferred salary, he proposed to recover his deferred salary by converting it into equity and buying the team. The courts backed the proposal and allowed the team to stay in Pittsburgh.
Jaromir Jagr won a total of 5 Art Ross Trophies with the Penguins as the NHLs leading point scorer, the first in 1995 and then four consecutive seasons in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001. He was also awarded the Lester B. Pearson Award as the Players' MVP twice while with the team in 1999 and 2000. (He also won once in 2006 while playing with the New York Rangers).
In December 2000, Lemieux shocked the hockey world again by announcing that he was returning to the ice to play for the Penguins becoming the first player-owner in NHL history. Lemieux led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they ultimately lost to the New Jersey Devils in 5 games.
After having the 2004-05 NHL season canceled due to the NHL lockout, 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. With that pick the Penguins selected junior league sensation Sidney Crosby from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Following in the foot steps of Lemieux, Sid "the Kid" Crosby hit the ice flying in his rookie season and in the Penguins final game of the season, Crosby scored a goal and an assist to break Lemieuxs record and became the top scoring rookie in team history with 102 points, despite losing the rookie scoring race to Alexander Ovechkin.
2006/07 was a major improvement for the Penguins with a record of 47-24-11, 105 pts - 47 pts more than their previous season. Sidney Crosby won the Art Ross Trophy with 120 pts, and teammates Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal both got rookie of the year nominations which Malkin would win. 2007/08 was another stellar season for the Pens finishing with a 102 pts and going to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Detroit Red Wings. Finally, in 2008/09 the Penguins would not be denied in a rematch of the previous seasons finals against the Red Wings, this time the Penguins taking the series in an epic seven game battle. Maxine Talbot was the unexpected game 7 hero, scoring both Penguin goals in the 2-1 victory to clinch the 3rd Stanley Cup championship in Pittsburgh Penguins history.
...and here are some more quick facts submitted by our awesome members
- The first jersey to be retired by the franchise was number 21, in honour of promising rookie center Michel Briere who was injured in a car crash in 1970. After a year in the hospital Briere died as a result of the crash.
- In 1973, Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender Andy Brown was the the last NHL goalie to appear in an game without a mask.
- In 1980, the Penguins changed team colors from blue & white to their present-day black & gold in the tradition of Pittsburghs other sports teams, the Pirates and the Steelers. The Boston Bruins tried to block the change claiming a monopoly on black and gold, but the league backed the Penguins and the new uniform was allowed.
- Still under severe financial pressures the Penguins were forced to deal Jaromir Jagr to the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2001. The loss of Jagr proved devastating to the Penguins, and in 2002 they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.
- 2005 marked the year the Penguins had finally managed to pay off all of their creditors, both secured and unsecured.
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