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: Kevin Stevens
Number: 25
Position: Left wing
Born: April 15, 1965, in Brockton, Mass.
Seasons with Penguins: 1988-95, 2000-02
Statistics with Penguins: 522 games, 260 goals, 295 assists in regular season; 103 games, 46 goals, 60 assists in playoffs
WHY STEVENS?
Forget the stats for a moment, we'll get to those. For me, it's these simple words in a thick Bostonian brogue: "Hey, kid, page 81." That was my introduction to Artie in the fall of '91. With a blonde bombshell on one arm and a Sharpie in his other hand, Kevin Stevens scribbled his autograph in my Penguins yearbook after I had momentarily fumbled to open to the right page.
A few things struck me, in addition to the blonde. Stevens was way bigger than me -- most NHL players are -- but the guy was only eight years older and he's calling me "kid" (why an 18-year-old would be asking for an autograph is another long story). But, hell, he knew exactly what page he was on in the yearbook!
If Mario Lemieux was the heart and soul of the Penguins' championship teams, then Stevens was the team's, let's just say, guts. No. 25 brought a swagger and confidence that made those teams so great. He also brought a ton of goals, hits and fights:
In a golden era of power forwards with players like Cam Neely, Rick Tocchet and Wendel Clark, Stevens was one of, if not, the best. It's no accident that Stevens' rise to prominence coincided with the Penguins' ascent to the top of the NHL in the early '90s.
After a standout career at Boston College and the '88 Olympic team, the 6-foot-3 and 230-pound, barrel-chested Stevens announced his presence with authority late in the '89 season, scoring a dozen goals in 17 games. But that was just a start. In his first full season, he scored 29 goals and 41 assists in 76 games as the Penguins fell an Uwe Krupp slapshot away from returning to the postseason.
But it was in 1990-91 that Stevens and the Penguins realized their potential.
With Mario Lemieux out with a back injury until late January, new coach Bob Johnson placed Stevens with John Cullen and Mark Recchi. The Option Line (all three had contracts that were about to expire) carried the Penguins in the first half of the season but on March 4, GM Craig Patrick shipped Cullen to Hartford in part of the trade that brought Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson to Pittsburgh. The Penguins finally had all the pieces together.
Partnered now with Lemieux and Recchi, Stevens helped the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup. Down two games to none to Boston in the contentious '91 Wales Conference Final, Stevens guaranteed victory and backed it up by scoring eight points over the final four games. That spring, Stevens scored a league-best 17 goals in 24 games.
He was even better the following season as the Penguins repeated as Cup champs. In 1991-92 he was named a first-team All-Star when he set career highs in assists (69) and points (123) to go along with an almost unconscionable 54 goals and 254 penalty minutes. In Game 3 of the conference final, a rematch against the Bruins, Stevens scored four goals in a 5-1 win on the way to a sweep:
He scored a career-high 55 goals in 1992-'93, arguably the Penguins' best team. History will note that David Volek ended Pittsburgh's dynasty at 5:16 of overtime in Game 7 in the second round, but the game was likely lost early in the first period. Stevens suffered severe facial fractures while trying to hit Islanders' defenseman Rich Pilon in the corner, instead falling unconscious face-first into the ice:
Stevens bounced back with a 41-goal season in 1993-94, but he was never quite the same player after the injury.
He was dealt to his hometown Bruins after the 1994-95 season but his game and his life started to careen out of control. He bounced from the Bruins to the Kings to the Rangers to the Flyers. While with New York in January of 2000, he was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and solicitation. He missed the remainder of that season on the league's substance abuse program.
In January of 2001, just weeks after Lemieux came out of retirement, the Penguins traded a minor-league defenseman to the Flyers for Stevens. Though the Penguins advanced to the conference final, Stevens was just a shell of his former self. Over his final two seasons, he scored just nine goals and 19 assists. He retired in 2002 at age 36.
Seventeen years after playing his last game, Stevens still ranks first in penalty minutes (1,048), fourth in power play goals (110), seventh in goals, eighth in points (555) and 10th in assists in franchise history.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Stevens, 53, appears to be living his best life after years of substance abuse. He has attended each of the Penguins' last two prospect development camps at the Lemieux Sports Complex in his role as a special assignment scout. He had previously served as a pro scout. Rock bottom for Stevens came in May 2016 when he pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge of conspiring to sell the painkiller oxycodone. He was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. As part of his probation, Stevens gives motivational speeches to raise awareness about addiction and the dangers of prescription drugs. He has been sober since.
IT WAS SPOKEN
"When you win once, people wonder. When you win twice, it's no fluke." -- Stevens, after the Penguins repeated as champions.
"Kevin's probably the purest power forward in the league. He reminds me of a big running back in the NFL who just wears you down." -- Tocchet, on his teammate.
HONORABLE MENTIONS AT NO. 25
Max Talbot
Randy Carlyle
Dennis Owchar
ANY DEBATE?
Talbot will never have to buy a dinner in this town again just for his heroics in Game 7 at Detroit.
Carlyle is the only Norris Trophy winner in the franchise's 51-year history.
While four all-time great forwards share Hart and Ross Trophy banners, there's been one defenseman good enough to merit similar recognition.
And Carlyle wasn't a one-year wonder. He quarterbacked a power play that set records, with legends like Mario Faubert and Greg Hotham at the other point. The Penguins made the playoffs in four of his five full seasons, which was quite an accomplishment in the pre-Jagr era.
Even his departure was tremendously helpful to the team. In March, 1984, Ed Johnston traded Carlyle to Winnipeg for a player to be named later and a first-round draft choice. Moe Mantha, who was a decent defenseman, was named during the offseason, and Doug Bodger was the team's second first-round pick; he was a good defenseman before he was the key to the Tom Barrasso trade. And during the last month of the 1983-84 season, the Penguins had managed to legitimately replace their best defenseman with nothing, which was very helpful while trying to maximize the value of their first pick.
But Stevens is the best left wing in Penguins history, and the guts of the first two champions. That makes Artie the choice at No. 25.
Tomorrow: Jerry Wolper has No. 26.
Yesterday: Troy Loney
