Every once in a while, in an occurrence seemingly as frequent as the Penguins hoisting the Stanley Cup, a legitimately good thought is shared on social media.
In this case, a regular reader of this space recently issued a fun challenge: Construct the best lineup among the players who won the Cup here in Pittsburgh.
That was no easy task given all the greatness we have watched over the last three decades as Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby led the Penguins to five parties at The Point. I’m embarrassed to say how much time I spent thinking about this. My wife left me right around the time I started to Google “Gordie Roberts.”
To make this exercise even more interesting, I added a few ground rules.
1. You are getting the guy who played that season, not the one they became down the road. For example: Jaromir Jagr in 1992, not at his Hart Trophy peak.
2. The roster must have one checking line and two defensive defensemen.
3. Ron Francis, despite being a future Selke winner and needed defensive presence on the 1991 and 1992 teams, can’t be on said checking line. Sure, the Hall of Famer could have thrived as a pure shutdown guy. But it feels like cheating.
4. Do not take liberties with positions to fit everyone in. This should make for better debate, as somebody like Francis or Evgeni Malkin is getting left out. In fact, there will be multiple Hall of Famers sitting up in the imaginary press box.
All right, let’s get going. And as always, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Line 1: Stevens – Lemieux – Jagr
Mario was the best player on the planet as he led the Penguins to their first two titles in 1991 and 1992. Kevin Stevens was a premier power forward with 30 goals and 61 total points in those two runs. And Jagr was only a sophomore in 1992 but already showed an ability to take over games that few could match.
Line 2: Kunitz – Crosby – Recchi
Oh, how lucky are the Penguins? Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup-winner who is one of the seven or eight best players ever, is centering their second line.
On his wings are Chris Kunitz and Mark Recchi. Recchi, his rookie year linemate, put up monster numbers in the 1991 playoffs. Kunitz’s stats were much more modest. But he helped change the complexion of the 2009 team and eight years later buried the double-OT winner that sent the Penguins back to the Final.
Line 3: Guentzel – Malkin – Tocchet
There were a couple of hard decisions when filling out the last scoring line.
Francis was a huge part of two Cup teams, but he never hit the stratosphere Malkin rocketed to in 2009, when he won the Conn Smythe. Give me that guy.
Then look at the options at right wing: Rick Tocchet, Phil Kessel, Joe Mullen and Patric Hornqvist. For me, it came down to Tocchet and Kessel, who narrowly missed out on playoff MVP in 2016 and won one more Cup overall. But Tocchet put up 19 points in 14 games in 1992 — all while playing with a broken jaw.
As for the final spot at left wing, Guentzel was a no-brainer, even though it is just rookie year Jake. In 2017, he scored 13 goals, five of them game-winners.
Line 4: Errey – Staal – Hornqvist
Before becoming the team’s longtime TV analyst, Bob Errey was one of the NHL’s better defensive forwards in 1991 and 1992. At center, Jordan Staal edges out Nick Bonino and others. Yeah, he had a minus-5 rating in 2009. Watch the games and his impact is impossible to miss. Plus, he was a scoring threat short-handed.
At right wing, I had to somehow crowbar in Hornqvist after he banked home one of the most memorable goals in team history in Game 6 of the 2017 Final. He was not exactly a shutdown forward. However, he was often a bottom-six grinder and skated on the fourth line in the aforementioned Nashville series.
Pair 1: Coffey – Murphy
These two all-time greats were not in town for long. But they were dominant when they were. As for the deployment of two high-scoring defensemen on the top pair, how will the opposing team score if they don’t ever touch the puck?
Pair 2: Samuelsson – Letang
Talk about a contrast in playing styles. Ulf Samuelsson was a physical, stay-at-home enforcer who enjoyed hip-checking fancy forwards all the way into Butler County. Kris Letang, meanwhile, is the most productive defenseman in team history. He was a kid in 2009 and injured in 2017. But in 2016, his play was sublime.
Pair 3: Orpik – Gonchar
Sergei Gonchar was on the downslide of his career when he helped the Penguins win in 2009 but deserves to be on this team nonetheless. Picking his partner, who by rule had to be a shutdown guy, proved quite difficult. That legendary rock-em, sock-em shift in 2009 gave Brooks Orpik the nod over Brian Dumoulin and others.
Goalies: Murray and Fleury
This might not be a popular decision around town given Marc-Andre’s popularity, but Matt Murray will get the No. 1 gig based on his sparkling statistics in 2016 and 2017 and the fact that he only once lost two playoff starts in a row.
Remember, this is solely based on how players performed in their Cup runs, not what they accomplished before or after sipping brandy with Lord Stanley.
As for the backup, I’ll take Fleury over Tom Barrasso. He made several tide-turning saves in 2009 and won’t be a distraction in my fake dressing room. But, man, wasn’t Barrasso awesome? This was one of the toughest calls in this exercise.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: April 15, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: April 15, 2022, 3:04 p.m.