Penguins Update: Where Have All the Power Forwards Gone?

I was watching a video of Kevin Stevens’ US Hockey Hall of Fame induction speech yesterday. Hearing him reminisce about his career instantly brought back a ton of memories.

In his prime, “Artie” was a sight to behold, a 230-pound freight train on skates with silk-purse hands. During a four-season span at the outset of the 1990s, Stevens racked up a staggering total of 190 goals, including back-to-back seasons of 54 and 55 goals!

He was, in a word…awesome. Arguably the game’s premier power forward in an era dominated by them.

It ties into a thought that was banging around in my noggin a couple days ago.

To wit, where have all the power forwards gone?

I’m talking about guys like Stevens who could beat you on the ice and in the alley, to channel Conn Smythe’s infamous and immortal quote.

Back in the ‘70s, ’80s and ‘90s, it seemed like every team had at least a couple of ‘em. We had two of the best in Stevens and Rick Tocchet, who scored 48 goals for us in 1992-93 while piling up 252 minutes in the sin bin.

But now?

Washington’s Tom Wilson immediately comes to mind. Much like Tocchet, he started out as a pure heavyweight and gradually morphed into a player who could hit, score and fight.

Perhaps the ultimate power forward? Caps teammate Alex Ovechkin, who in his prime was a truly frightening blend of speed, unbridled power and an absolutely lethal shot packed into a 238-pound frame.

The obvious choices aside? I thought I’d be hard-pressed to think of guys capable of registering a Gordie Howe hat trick.

You know what?

I was wrong.

There are actually quite a few power forwards plying their trade in the NHL these days. Here’s a quickie (and very subjective) list by conference and division.

Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Metro	Atlantic	Central	Pacific
Svechnikov, CAR	Frederic, BOS	N. Foligno, CHI	Coleman, CGY
Olivier, CBJ	Kastelic, BOS	Benn, DAL	Kane, EDM
* Meier, NJD	Bennett, FLA	* Marchment, DAL	* Kempe, LAK
Noesen, NJD	M. Tkachuk, FLA	* Eriksson Ek, MIN	Laferierre, LAK
* Lee, NYI	Anderson, MTL	M. Foligno, MIN	Barbeshev, VEG
* Nelson, NYI	* Slafkovsky, MTL	Crouse, UTC	Kolesar, VEG
Cuylle, NYR	B. Tkachuk, OTT	Lowry, WPG	Joshua, VAN
* Kreider, NYR	Knies, TOR	Niedereiter, WPG	Miller, VAN
Lafrenière, NYR
Dubois, WAS
Ovechkin, WAS
Wilson, WAS

 

You’ll notice an asterisk next to Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe, Chris Kreider, Anders Lee, Mason Marchment, Timo Meier, Brock Nelson and Juraj Slafkovsky. These guys aren’t power forwards in the old-school sense because they don’t drop the gloves, not that they wouldn’t be a handful if they did.

I’ll refer to them as new-age power forwards.

On the flip side, I didn’t include players like the Kings’ Tanner Jeannot, whose offensive contributions have waned since a breakout 24-goal rookie season in ’21-22. He’s morphed into more of a fighter.

Same goes for the Blackhawks Pat Maroon, once upon a time a 27-goal scorer for Edmonton.

Oilers dynamo Leon Draisaitl, Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews and the Jets Mark Scheifele certainly have the size and production to qualify, but not the physicality.

Back to my original theme. Perhaps the reason I initially thought there were a dearth of power forwards? We haven’t had one in these parts for a long (and I mean looooong) time.

Patric Hornqvist was an absolute net-front menace, a Tasmanian devil on skates. Chris Kunitz was tough as nails for his size. However, neither fit the classic power-forward mold.

Among our current crop, Drew O’Connor is trending in that direction, but lacks the innate physical edge. You have to go back to ’07-08 and Ryan “Bugsy” Malone and “Scary” Gary Roberts to find players of that ilk wearing the black-and-gold.

Although the fighting aspect isn’t present in his game, perhaps high-profile rookie Rutger McGroarty will one day carry on the tradition established by Stevens and early Pens predecessors like Andy Bathgate, Bryan Hextall and Bob “Battleship” Kelly.