Penguins Stanley Cup Update: A Familiar Ring

The history of the Pittsburgh Penguins is filled with anomalies and precursors.

Consider, for example, the strange case involving three of the team’s brightest stars—Michel Briere, Mario Lemieux, and Sidney Crosby. If you add the uniform numbers of Briere (21) and Mario (66), it equals Sid’s 87.

Stuff like that.

Along those lines, the paths of our three Stanley Cup winners and our present Penguins have followed an eerily familiar trail.

I’m not a believer in signs and omens. And the last thing I want to do is jinx us. But here are some of the remarkable similarities I’ve noted between this season and Cup years past.

Stormy Weather

It hardly was a case of smooth sailing for our Stanley Cup teams. Each endured struggles of titanic proportions during the regular season before catching fire in time for the playoffs.

Fresh off a dismal 4-9-1 skid that culminated in a disastrous 6-2 loss at Calgary, the 1990-91 club stood at a pedestrian 32-30-4 on March 1. Rumors that the players had tuned out coach “Badger” Bob Johnson swirled in the air.

The 1991-92 squad endured a similar slide, stumbling through a ghastly 5-15-4 midseason swoon. With his gifted but underachieving group chaffing under the stewardship of Hall-of-Famer Scotty Bowman, then-GM Craig Patrick met with the players to clear the air.

Following a trip to the Finals in 2008, the ‘08-09 team grew decidedly stale under Michel Therrien. An ugly loss to Toronto on St. Valentine’s Day dropped our record to an unsightly 27-25-5—and cost “Iron Mike” his job.

This season? The Pens sat virtually in cold storage at 15-14-3 on December 19 following a four-game winless jag. As recently as January they were on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

Let’s Make a Deal

In each of the Cup seasons, a big trade or series of transactions helped restore the Pens’ sagging on-ice fortunes.

In the spring of ‘91, Patrick pulled off “the Trade,” acquiring Ron Francis, Grant Jennings and rawhide tough Ulf Samuelsson from Hartford. The Pens responded with a 9-3-2 stretch run.

Next season, the Hall-of-Fame GM engineered an epic three-way deal with the Flyers and Kings. Quicksilver defenseman Paul Coffey and scoring ace Mark Recchi departed. Jeff Chychrun, Kjell Samuelsson, rugged Rick Tocchet, and backup goalie Ken Wregget joined the locals. Following a brief adjustment period, the black and gold went 12-5-1 to enter the postseason on a roll.

Fast-forward to 2008-09. Ray Shero traded for feisty Chris Kunitz and veteran leader Bill Guerin, and plucked gritty PK specialist Craig Adams off the waiver wire. The Pens responded with a scorching 15-2-3 mark over their final 20 games.

Our present run of success? Trace it to Carl Hagelin’s arrival from Anaheim on January 16. And a passel of savvy moves by GM Jim Rutherford.

Who’s in Charge?

The back-to-back Cup winners of the early ‘90s didn’t experience an in-season coaching change. However, each club was working under a new bench boss.

After guiding the Pens to their first-ever Cup in his inaugural season, Johnson fell gravely ill. While the beloved coach waged—and tragically lost—his courageous battle with brain cancer, Bowman assumed the helm in the fall of ‘91.

The transition from the fatherly Johnson to the gruff Bowman? Anything but silky smooth. Thanks, in part, to some soothing by Patrick, the team and coach eventually embraced. Bowman’s brilliance emerged; the Pens won 11-straight playoff games to capture their second Cup.

This season’s coaching change had much in common with the ‘08-09 switch. Weirdly so. In both cases, coaches who favored a more conservative approach were replaced with attack-oriented skippers.

Each time the waddling waterfowl took wing. The Pens wove some “Bylsmagic” with an 18-3-4 homestretch before capturing the ’09 Cup. Inspired by Mike Sullivan’s damn-the-torpedoes approach, our boys punctuated the ’15-16 regular season with a stunning 14-2 flourish.

Did I mention our initial Stanley Cup team was up for sale? Just like this one.

Does this mean the Penguins are destined to win it all?

Hardly. Teams have rallied from 0-2 deficits to win the Cup on numerous occasions. Including our Pens in ‘09. With the series shifting to San Jose for Games 3 and 4, the Sharks—talented, resourceful and well-coached—aren’t dead in the water by a long shot.

Still…

An artisan friend, Ray Pietrangeli, mentioned an odd coincidence to me a few weeks back. He said he’d been out of town on business each time the Pens won a Cup.

Where is Ray now?

Yep.

Out of town on business.