Penguins Looking to Build Dynasty

Bryan Trottier still likes to look for his name on the Stanley Cup. As of last week, it’s there six times ... and counting.

There are only a dozen players who can make that claim. Henri Richard holds the National Hockey League mark with 11 Stanley Cups, followed by Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer with 10. All of them played for the Montreal Canadiens. The way Trottier, 35, is going, he might just catch Beliveau and Cournoyer.

Four of Trottier’s Stanley Cups came with the New York Islanders from 1980-83. He is two for two with the Pittsburgh Penguins, since he was judged to be too old and released by the Islanders.

These Penguins rate with the Islanders dynasty, Trottier says. “I would like to think so. I say that cautiously because I don’t want to jinx anything. I think the ingredients are there, but there’s a lot that goes into winning -- even the lucky bounces.”

Those ingredients include:

--Big names. The Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders started with the game’s greats -- from Wayne Gretzky to Guy Lafleur to Mike Bossy. Add Mario Lemieux to that list after he captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP for the second consecutive year. The only other player to accomplish that feat was the Philadelphia Flyers’ Bernie Parent, who won the Smythe in 1974-75.

--Star quality. Each of the aforementioned teams had a nucleus of four or five star players. With Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Rick Tocchet, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr, you have to say the Penguins qualify for that, too.

--A money goaltender. Each team had a hot hand in goal -- from Grant Fuhr to Ken Dryden to Billy Smith. Tom Barrasso, who was labeled a poor playoff goaltender during his time in Buffalo, has been able to raise his level of play every spring in Pittsburgh.

--Intelligent defense. Each team had savvy defensemen, though this Pittsburgh team would have trouble matching up with the likes of Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe of the Canadiens, Denis Potvin and Stefan Persson of the Islanders, and Paul Coffey and Kevin Lowe of the Oilers as far as star quality is concerned.

What makes this Pittsburgh team a candidate to join the Oilers, Canadiens and Islanders is its resiliency. This season, the Penguins overcame the death of former coach Bob Johnson -- the man who taught them how to win last spring -- the rumors and eventual sale of the team, and the trades of star players Coffey and Mark Recchi.

With all of that, the Penguins rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the first round of the playoffs against the Washington Capitals. They rebounded after Lemieux sustained a broken bone in his hand in Game 2 against the New York Rangers. And they went on to sweep four-game series from the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks, becoming the first team to accomplish back-to-back sweeps to climax a Cup victory since the 1982 Islanders.

The Penguins ended the Blackhawks’ record 11-game playoff winning streak in Game 1 of the finals, then capped their triumph by matching that streak in capturing their second consecutive championship.

What is even more impressive is the fact that the Penguins had outscored opponents, 34-7, in the seven series-clinching victories over the last two seasons before they finished off the Blackhawks, 6-5, in Game 4 last week.

The Penguins definitely have the killer instinct. Just ask the expansion San Jose Sharks, who lost, 8-0, 10-2 and 7-3, to Pittsburgh last season.

“We became paranoid about playing the Penguins,” Sharks General Manager Jack Ferreira says. “I can remember one night when we were in Calgary and as our team was going out on the ice, a cart goes by with Pittsburgh’s equipment. They were scheduled to play the Flames two days later but were already in town.

“That was it. Calgary beat us, 10-1. Our players knew Pittsburgh was in the building and it psyched us out.”

The Penguins displayed that same scary killing instinct against the Blackhawks, although it was probably the most competitive four-game sweep you will ever see.

Ferreira wonders if anyone can beat the Penguins next season.

“Geez, I don’t know,” he says. “To be down the way they were against Washington and then come back stronger and stronger. Awesome.

“I was talking to (Capitals General Manager) David Poile and he wanted to know what they did wrong against the Penguins. I said, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong; Mario just decided to take over.’

“As long as they’ve got a guy like Mario, they are going to be tough. Gretzky has always been the greatest because he won four Stanley Cups. Mario has always been the most talented, but now he’s won two Cups and I don’t think anyone would dare say that Lemieux has not surpassed Gretzky as the greatest in the game right now.”

When you consider that Lemieux is only 26, Stevens is 27, Tocchet 28 and Jagr 20, it’s easy to see why the sky is the limit for the Penguins.

“They’ve got a collection of great players,” Blackhawks Coach Mike Keenan says. “Once they won one championship, they were hungry for another. We were just beaten by a better club. They have youth, experience and the greatest player in the world.”

The NHL general managers contacted by The Sporting News agreed: The Penguins will face their biggest challenge in their bid to become the first team to win three consecutive Cups since the Islanders from their rugged Patrick Division opponents.

“The (New York) Rangers learned a lot by losing to the Penguins,” Ferreira says. “The same could be said for the Capitals. The (New Jersey) Devils are just one strong center (Eric Lindros perhaps?) away from that group, and the Flyers and Islanders are both on the upswing.

“Now that the Blackhawks have made it to the finals, you can’t count them out. Just like you can’t count out the Detroit Red Wings, who had a great regular-season record before learning the lesson of their life against the tight defensive checking of Chicago. Boston is another club that came alive in the playoffs with all of those youngsters they added to the lineup. Don’t forget they get Cam Neely back next season.”

The Lindros factor could be a major wild card in determining who will challenge the Penguins next spring. However, facing the Penguins is a lot like going up against the Oakland Athletics with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

“It’s like baseball,” St. Louis Blues General Manager Ron Caron says. “When you have the home run hitters, that’s another dimension. Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did a lot of damage. The Blackhawks’ defense simply couldn’t cope with that.”