Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that’s been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we’ll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
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Name: Paul Gardner
Number: 20
Position: Center
Born: March 5, 1956, in Toronto
Seasons with Penguins: 1980-84
Statistics with Penguins: 207 games, 98 goals, 105 assists in regular season; 10 games, 2 goals, 5 assists in playoffs
WHY GARDNER?
Gardner was not the fleetest of foot nor a Stanley Cup champion. But the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Cal Gardner makes this list because he would simply do whatever it takes to score goals. He would plant himself in the slot to score on rebounds and create deflections and tips in coach Eddie Johnston's innovative, historic power play.
Before he came to the Penguins, Gardner had already established himself as a legitimate scoring threat, tallying 30 goals in his first three seasons, the first two of them spent with the Colorado Rockies, who had just relocated from Kansas City. The Scouts had made Gardner the 11th overall pick in the 1976 Draft. In March of 1979 he was dealt to Toronto but lasted a little over one season with the Maple Leafs.
Gardner arrived to Pittsburgh in a Nov. 18, 1980 trade, along with Dave Burrows in exchange for Kim Davis and Paul Marshall. It was arguably the best trade of GM Baz Bastien's tenure as Gardner would go on to star for the Penguins and Burrows would finish his career where he had his most success, while Davis and Marshall would play just a combined 38 NHL games the rest of their careers.
In his first season with the Penguins, Gardner recorded 74 points (34 goals) to rank third on the club behind Lady Byng winner Rick Kehoe and Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Randy Carlyle. On Dec. 13, 1980, he scored a then-team record four goals in a game, a 6-5 loss to Philadelphia at the Civic Arena. It was the first hat trick by a Penguins player in the 15-year-rivalry against the Flyers.
The following season, Gardner scored 36 goals, an NHL-leading 21 of them with the man advantage, as the Penguins advanced to the postseason for the fourth straight year. Three of those goals would come Nov. 7, 1981 at the Civic Arena, again against the Flyers, this time with rookie goalie Pelle Lindbergh in net:
Gardner was limited to 59 games that season after missing six weeks with a broken jaw suffered from one of the worst cheap-shot incidents in league history on Jan. 13, 1982, at Winnipeg. It started when Gardner crosschecked the Jets' Doug Smail and ended on the ensuing faceoff when Winnipeg enforcer Jimmy Mann retaliated by sucker-punching Gardner. NHL executive VP Brian O'Neill slapped Gardner with a $500 fine for his role in the melee, while Mann was tagged for just $100 but had to serve a 10-game suspension and was put on criminal record in Manitoba:
Though primarily a goal-scorer, Gardner had five assists to go along with one goal in the Penguins' heartbreaking five-game loss to the Islanders in the first round of the 1982 playoffs.
In 1982-83, Gardner's goal total slipped to 28 (55 points) in 70 games, but he again led the NHL with 20 power play markers. However, the Penguins failed to qualify for the playoffs and the wheels started to come off on Pittsburgh and Gardner. On March 15, 1983, Bastien was killed in a car wreck on Green Tree Hill. That offseason, Gardner suffered a pair of broken ankles after falling off a ladder and was limited to just 16 games.
Already a poor skater, Gardner's career was effectively over due to the injury. He played just 14 games over the following two seasons with the Capitals and Sabres.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Soon after retiring, Gardner took up coaching and has been doing that ever since. Until being fired this March, he'd been the coach of Lowen Frankfurt in the second division of the German League. Prior to that he coached two other DEL2 teams and in the Central League. Most famously, Gardner was Barry Trotz's assistant in Nashville from the Predators' inception in 1998 through the 2002-03 season.
IT WAS SPOKEN
"I'll never forget Mike Lange, after we won Game 4, said, 'You gotta believe.' And when we got the to the Island for Game 5 and came out for warmups, there was huge signs from our fans, who'd driven there, saying 'You gotta believe.' It was a special time." -- Gardner, on 1982 playoff series with Islanders
HONORABLE MENTIONS AT NO. 20
Luc Robitaille
Colby Armstrong
Robert Lang
Moe Mantha
Dean Prentice
Pete Mahovlich
ANY DEBATE?
Considerable.
Gardner was not a consensus pick but he was ultimately the choice. Robitaille is a Hall of Famer but played just one season in Pittsburgh. Armstrong was a popular choice in helping resurrect the Penguins in the mid-2000s. Lang had good production in the late '90s. Mantha was a solid, two-way defensemen. Prentice was in the twilight of his career but had two 20-plus goal seasons. Mahovlich was a great player with Montreal but merely good with Pittsburgh. So, yeah, we could have gone a lot of ways with this one.
Tomorrow: Jerry Wolper has No. 21, one of only two retired in franchise history
Yesterday: Jean Pronovost
