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I think that was the years of expansion, when they were in the same division as the Jets and the others that came from the WHL. I'm not sure those were strong teams or lowly opponents.
It was prior to the WHA expansion, though Washington and Kansas City were new. The 1970's Penguins peaked in 1974-75, while the WHA teams were brought in in 1979-80.
They did play in the same division as Washington, who were astonishingly bad, though that was offset somewhat by playing in the same division as Montreal and Los Angeles, who both topped 100 points that year.
They were never a great team pre-Lemieux, but I'd call the mid 70's iteration fair to middling.
It's amazing to realize though that since 1990 they have only missed the playoffs 4 times... and that was the infamous 4 straight year stretch of the early 2000's.
22 Years
18 appearances
4 Finals Appearances
3 Championships
Plus they did well with individual Awards during that stretch
Yeah after Lemiuex retired in the late 90's the Penguins fell off the face of the earth. From when I started following hockey in 96, they were always a playoff team until Lemiuex's retirement until Sid the Kid got signed.
Having attended my first Penguins game in 1973, I have seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
They had some truly DREADFUL seasons in the 70's and 80's. Often the management seemed
to have no idea what they were doing when it came to evaluating talent. The one exception was
in '74-75 when they put together a very strong season (finishing 3rd. in a tough division behind
a legendary Montreal Canadiens squad, and an LA Kings team that featured Rogie Vachon in goal
and the Dionne-Simmer-Taylor line).
The Pens rode the hot goaltending of Gary Inness (his one really good season in the league)
and talented scorers like Jean Pronovost, Rick Kehoe, Pierre Larouche and Syl Apps, Jr.
They made it into the quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs, went up 3-0 on the New
York Islanders, only to drop the next four in a row after Al Arbour pulled Billy Smith from goal
in favor of Chico Resch. It was only the second time in pro sports history a team blew a 3-0
lead in a seven game series. Devastating to young Pens fans.
The team unfortunately ended up in bankruptcy after that, and was off on a decade of turmoil
that did not really end until after they had drafted Mario Lemieux in 1984. (It has generally
been admitted that the team tanked the '83 season in order to get the first draft pick to take
Lemieux, the alternative likely being another bankruptcy and oblivion. Which is why leagues
now conduct a draft lottery)
Even then it took them several years to surround Mario with the right coaches and mix of
supporting players. I would say 1990 is when they finally stepped up into the elites of the NHL.
Were it not for going bankrupt they might have built on that '75 experience and become
good much sooner.
The first time was when they drafted Jagr and provided Mario with someone to compliment him. Back-to-back Cups and a great team right up until Mario's retirement. When he left, they became a low seeded playoff team that was still capable of making an upset.
The second time was when Crosby was drafted. His 2nd year, they progressed right up until their Cup in 2009. They've been a dominant team ever since.
For an oldtimer like me, the Pens will always be in powder blue and navy blue threads. During this era, their best team was the 74-75 outfit that went 37-28-15 with 325 goals scored, 4th highest in the league!
What was remarkable about this team is that they had NINE players with 23 or more goals (Jean Pronovost being the highest with 43). They essentially put out 3 lines of 20-goal scorers.
One of them was Vic Hadfield, looking quite out-of-place in Pittsburgh blue...
Well lets see, it was during the Pens VS The Rangers in the 92' playoffs with the Rangers up three games to one, Adam "Gravey" Graves, a 51 goal scorer lost his cool and slammed his stick down on Mario's wrist, the rest is history..
I might be a wee bit off the date of playoffs, I think it was 92' correct me, if I'm wrong, but it all changed after that series..
Well lets see, it was during the Pens VS The Rangers in the 92' playoffs with the Rangers up three games to one, Adam "Gravey" Graves, a 51 goal scorer lost his cool and slammed his stick down on Mario's wrist, the rest is history..
I might be a wee bit off the date of playoffs, I think it was 92' correct me, if I'm wrong, but it all changed after that series..
It was indeed '92, but the Rangers led 2-1 in the series. Pens won the next 3 games.
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