PENGUINS’ TIES TO QUEBEC AND HABS IS STRONG
From Pronovost to Lemieux and Crosby, connections run deep between franchises
Somehow, there has always been a kinship between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins — or between this province and the Pens.
Such a person must exist, but I’ve never met a hockey fan in Quebec who hates the Penguins.
One of Pittsburgh’s first stars, Jean Pronovost, hailed from Shawinigan. Pronovost spent 10 seasons with Pittsburgh and still ranks eighth on their all-time scoring list with 316 goals and 603 points.
When the Penguins had the top draft pick in 1984, they chose the kid from Ville-Émard, Mario Lemieux, over future Canadiens captain Kirk Muller, who went to New Jersey at No. 2. In that same draft, the Canadiens nabbed Patrick Roy with the 51st pick in the third round and a goalie named Troy Crosby with the 240th overall pick in the 12th round.
When Roy led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup in 1993, they followed the 1992 champion Penguins, led by Lemieux and coached by one Scotty Bowman. The pattern hasn’t changed much. Former Hab Lars Eller is now a key cog for Pittsburgh and former Pen Mike Matheson is Montreal’s leading defenceman.
Today’s Pittsburgh team was built through back-to-back drafts, first with Evgeni Malkin in 2004, then in the 2005 draft when the Penguins drafted Sidney Crosby (son of Troy Crosby) from the Rimouski Océanic.
Then Pittsburgh nabbed Montreal-born defenceman Kris Letang in the third round after the Canadiens went with the regrettable Guillaume Latendresse.
Letang has now played 1,059 games for Pittsburgh and ranks fifth on their all-time scoring list with 725 points, behind Lemieux, Crosby, Malkin and Jaromir Jagr. Crosby is a good bet to catch Lemieux, who finished his career with 690 goals, 1,033 assists and 1,723 points. Crosby’s totals stand at 581 goals, 977 assists and 1,558 points — albeit in 1,244 games, already 369 more than Lemieux played in his career.
It’s impossible for me to compare Crosby and Lemieux without feeling a tug of nostalgia.
One of my first stories for the Gazette was a profile of Lemieux written in 1987, after he and Wayne Gretzky led Canada to a stirring Canada Cup victory.
Lemieux sat in the stands at Mellon Arena after practice and talked to me for 90 minutes about his experiences as a French-speaking player in Pittsburgh, learning English by watching cartoons, and sleeping a lot. There was no hint of the business magnate and team president he would become.
Twenty years ago last month, I drove through a hair-raising snowstorm in Saguenay-Fjord National Park to see the 16-yearold Crosby play in Chicoutimi for the Océanic. Crosby was well on his way to a 135-point season, setting a record for a 16-year-old in the QMJHL.
Coach Donald Dufresne held Crosby out of the game that night, but Crosby and I met over breakfast the next morning under the watchful eye of Rimouski’s PR man.
I got a rise out of Crosby only once, when I asked if his lack of height would be an impediment in the NHL. Crosby did not take kindly to having his height questioned by a six-foot-five journalist. He was polite but firm and he made it quite clear that his height would not be an obstacle.
Crosby may be on the bland side, but when his greatest rival sings the praises of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and hockey players too often make headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s a relief to have a superstar who has never put a foot wrong, on or off the ice.
Crosby deserves another Stanley Cup but that is likely out of his reach. Crosby will turn 37 in August. His fellow superstar Malkin will turn 38 in July, Letang will be 37 in April.
If the Penguins had a shot at winning what would be a fourth Stanley Cup for their aging stars, it probably went out the window when they hired Kyle Dubas as general manager. Dubas wasted no time proving that he learned nothing in Toronto, where he ran the team like an entry in a fantasy league. Dubas signed John Tavares for a Leafs team already loaded with offensive stars. In Pittsburgh, he brought in 33-year-old point machine Erik Karlsson even though he already had Letang.
The result was predictable. Even following Thursday night’s 4-1 victory over the Habs, the Penguins are only six points up on Montreal. They have games in hand on most of the teams they’re chasing so they aren’t hopelessly out of it in the Metropolitan Division, but their real problem is the Atlantic, where the Red Wings and Lightning hold the wild-card spots by a comfortable margin.
One day, Sid the Kid will retire and waltz into the Hockey Hall of Fame on the strength of his three Stanley Cups, two Conn Smythe trophies, three Ted Lindsay Awards, two Hart Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, two Maurice Richard trophies and that unforgettable Golden Goal scored at the Vancouver Olympics.
When he, Malkin and Letang are gone, Pittsburgh will face a long, painful rebuild — but if the Pens want to follow a long, honourable tradition, they’ll start right here in Quebec.