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A big thank you goes out to my loyal readers.

Pittsburgh Penguins Greatest Players

Syl Apps Jr. Wayne Bianchin Les Binkley Tom Barrasso Pat Boutette Michel Briere Andy Brown Dave Burrows Jay Caufield Paul Coffey Val Fonteyne Ron Francis Stan Gilbertson Denis Herron Bryan Hextall Jr. Jaromir Jagr Rick Kehoe Battleship Kelly

Mario Lemieux Gilles Meloche Greg Millen Joey Mullen Larry Murphy Petr Nedved Jim Paek Frank Pietrangelo Greg Polis Duane Rupp Ron Schock Doug Shedden Kevin Stevens Peter Taglianetti Bryan Trottier Bugsy Watson

Stan Gilbertson

Stan Gilbertson was a fine junior and minor league player who benefitted from NHL expansion in the 1970s. With more NHL teams and more NHL jobs, Gilbertson finally caught on with the California Golden Seals in the first half of the decade

Stan had a very good rookie season for the weak Seals team. He had 16 goals and 16 assists in 78 games (71-72). He played the entire 1972-73 and 73-74 seasons there as well. In 73-74 he scored 18 goals and 30 points.

On November 11, 1974 he was traded to St.Louis where he only played 22 games before being traded again to Washington on February 10, 1975. Stan finished the season in Washington with 18 points in 25 games.

He had a fine start of the 1975-76 season when he had 27 points in 31 games for Washington before being shipped to Pittsburgh on December 16, 1975. His 26 goals in 75-76 was a career high.

He played one more season for Pittsburgh before his career suddenly was over. During the summer of 1977 he was driving his jeep near Pittsburgh in Rostraver, PA to pick up a pair of skates when it overturned in a dangerous curve and pinned his right leg. Stan recalled the moment:

"I was driving a teammates jeep. Coming around a sharp curve, I came on a car coming at me in my lane. Swerving to the right, I ran off the road, rolled over, and wound up upside down, half over a narrow railroad bridge, hanging half out of the car, head down. It was later measured at 13 feet to the ground and if the car had toppled down on top of me I would have been crushed. I freed myself and fell to the ground, but I knew I was badly hurt. My leg hurt bad and I was a bloody mess. But I don't think they knew knew how bad I was hurt. After they got to me,they took me to this little hospital. When I asked to be transferred to a bigger hospital in Pittsburgh,i t took 45 minutes to take me there before they even put me on an operating table. They found the nerves in the leg were ruined and they had to amputate. As an anesthetic they chilled my body. It's called hypothermia. But my body heated up to 104 degrees during surgery and I darn near died. They told me that two out of three in that situation do. At first they took off my leg below the knee, but the stump didn't heal right and they had to take off more at the knee. That was bad because an artificial leg works better with the use of the knee. But I was lucky to have any left leg at all."

At 32 his hockey career was over. Stan's strong mentality prevented him from feeling any pity about his situation. Although Stan lost a leg in the car accident he said that he felt lucky because he saw many people in the hospital where he was that were in a far worse condition than he was. He quickly moved on with his life and went on to get a degree ín the real estate business.

Stan was always an outspoken individual who wasn't afraid to speak up and he missed a lot of curfews as a player. He wasn't the greatest skater, hardest hitter or had the best shot but he had a great desire to become a professional hockey player. A goal that he achieved.

Greg Polis

Greg Polis was born in the community of Westlock, Alberta, on August 8, 1950. He grew up in tiny Dapp, Alberta where the population was just 75 people! As a youngster he used to skate on frozen ponds with his pet dog - a black Labrador retriever. Greg and his dog would be on the ice for hours, as Greg tried to keep the puck away from the dog. This really sharpened Greg's puck handling and skating abilities, and would make him a great junior player and a pretty good NHLer.

A high flying left winger was one of the best players to come out of the Estevan Bruins of the WCJHL, He played there for 4 seasons. Three times he was named as a league all star at left wing, and twice he finished second in the league scoring race - once to Bobby Clarke and once to Reggie Leach! Now that is pretty good company!

Greg's great play at the junior level created superstar expectations at the NHL level, although he would never come close to achieving that lofty status. Polis was drafted 7th overall (just ahead of a fellow named Darryl Sittler) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1970, and made the team the following training camp.

Polis didn't set the league on fire in his rookie season (he did have 18 goals and 33 points in 61 games), yet still represented the Pens in the NHL all star game. By year two Polis had what ultimately proved to be his best year - 30 goals plus 19 assists. He failed to take it to the next level in year 3, as he scored a nearly identical 26 goals and 23 assists. Both years he again represented the Penguins at the All Star Game. That's a pretty impressive statement about a player if he plays in three NHL all star games in his first three seasons!

In his 4th season the extremely fast skater was traded to St. Louis where he failed to make an impact in just 37 games. The following summer he was traded to New York Rangers where it was hoped he would replace the over priced Vic Hadfield who was traded to Pittsburgh. Polis had trouble playing on the top line with Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert though. Those two played a slower, control game while Polis was always skating at full tilt. He did post 26 goals but had just 15 assists.

Ironically, Polis' blessed skating ability became a criticism. He was speedster on the ice, but perhaps never learned to utilize his speed effectively. He would have been better served to have used his speed in short spurts as opposed to always skating like gangbusters. Another criticism was that Polis didn't pass enough, or didn't see the ice well enough to make plays. He'd often race in on a beautiful rush into nowhere, and then was unable to get a great shot away or make a play.

Greg spent 2 and 1/2 more seasons in The Big Apple but he started to develop some knee injuries that would eventually end his career. He played briefly with the Washington Capitals starting half way through the 1978-79 season - and he looked good - scoring 12 goals and 18 points in 19 games, but then the knee gave out on him again. He tried to come back the following two seasons, but only got into 28 games, and scored just one goal.

Greg retired from the game after just two games in the minor leagues in 1980-81 as his knee would no longer allow him to play the game he loved. He finished with 174 goals, 169 assists for 343 points in 615 games in his NHL career.

Greg Polis is now a car salesman in Prince George, British Columbia.

Wayne Bianchin

Wayne was a man who beat all the odds and scored close to 30 goals in a season in the NHL despite the fact that he had broken his neck in a surfing accident earlier on.

While surfing off Hawaii in the summer of 1974 Wayne fell into the water and was helplessly throwed around under the water by a giant wave. He hit his head so badly that he suffered a broken neck that required a fusion.

His hockey career looked to be over. As he tried to make a comeback he suffered from severe headaches that were almost unbearable.

"I'd get a headache from the slightest bit of tension or fatigue," he recalled. He was on medication to alleviate the pain. Wayne was on the brink to quit hockey. " I was on my way to pack it up. I loved the game, but there was only so much that you could tolerate."

The headaches eventually disappeared and Wayne could concentrate fully on hockey again. The speedy winger played his junior hockey for Kamloops, Calgary, Victoria and Flin Flon. During his final junior season in 1972-73 he scored a fine 114 points (60 goals and 54 assists) in 68 games. That led the Pittsburgh Penguins to draft him in 1973 as the 23rd player overall.

Wayne had a pretty good rookie season as he scored 25 points, including 12 goals, for Pittsburgh in 1973-74. He then had his surfing accident and slowly had to play himself in shape. It wasn't until the 1976-77 season before he was 100% again. He scored 2 goals and 1 assist for Pittsburgh on opening night and went on to have his best season in the NHL. Wayne had six two goal games and scored a total of 28 goals.

He was named the winner of the Bill McCracken Unsung Hero Award and also finished high in the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for dedication and perserverance to hockey. When things were looking good again Wayne went down with back injuries that would hamper him for years. He managed to score 20 goals in 1977-78 despite missing over a month with a ruptured spinal disc.

Wayne's 1978-79 season wasn't too impressive and he was left unprotected by Pittsburgh in the 1979 expansion draft where he was picked up by the Edmonton Oilers.

Wayne himself was surprised that he was picked in the expansion draft. " missed 40 games. I didn't think anybody would take a chance on a guy who'd missed 40 games," he said.

Early on in the Oilers training camp he was struggling. He was very aware of that "I haven't got my strength and stamina yet and I may not have it for a month or so," he said back then.

The young and talented Oilers team made a deep impression on Wayne.

"For one thing, I wasn't expecting to see so much depth. We're going to have good players at every position."

Little did Wayne know that many of his Edmonton teammates would go on to build a dynasty team. Unfortunately Wayne never caught on and was scoreless in the 11 games that he played for Edmonton. He spent the rest of the 1979-80 season playing for the Oilers farm team Houston Apollos (CHL).

When Wayne got a phonecall from the Italian club HC Asiago he jumped on the opportunity to play in the country where he had his roots. Wayne scored more than two points per game (58 points in 28 games) for Asiago in 1980-81. Since his father was Italian he was eligible to play for the Italian national team right away. Dave Chambers (coach of Quebec 1990-92) coached the Italian national team at that time, invited Wayne to play for Italy in the 1981 B-Pool World Championships.Wayne scored 12 points in 7 games,including a tournament high 9 assists. He was named to the All-Star team and helped Italy advance to the A-Pool. After his Italian adventure he retired.

Wayne's own description of his playing style was summed up like this: " I like to play it physically. That's my game, I don't crunch people but I'm comfortable in the corners and I rely a lot on my speed."

Duane Rupp

Duane Rupp was a player who definitely benefited from the NHL's decision to double its size through expansion in 1967.

After completing his final season of junior with the SJHL's Flin Flon Bombers, Rupp spent almost an entire decade in the minor leagues. In that time he played for 8 different teams, but only saw 9 games of NHL action with the Maple Leafs, most of those as a brief injury replacement. With the likes of Tim Horton, Allan Stanley, Carl Brewer and Bobby Baun leading the Leafs to multiple Stanley Cup championships, Rupp had little chance of cracking the line up.

He was considered much too slow to play in the big leagues. He was also considered to be too passive. He appeared to be a giant player, even though the was only 6'1" and 190lbs. The fans and coaches wanted him to be a mean son of a gun hitter and intimidator on the back line, but he had a long fuse and was not wired that way. When he was sufficiently provoked he could handle himself nicely, like the night he roughed up Bobby Orr, which only left fans and coaches longing for more.

But during his time in the minors Rupp became a very solid rearguard. Three times he was an AHL all star and he was a key member of a strong Rochester Americans team that won championships in the late 1960s.

When expansion came in 1967, Rupp found a job at the NHL level for the first time. He did not disappoint. Though he scored just 1 goal and 9 points, the 29 year old rookie was a very steady contributor.

The Minnesota North Stars claimed Rupp in the inter league draft prior to the 1968-69 season but by January traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Leo Boivin.

In Pittsburgh Rupp enjoyed his best NHL playing days. A large reason for that was his coach. Leonard "Red" Kelly was one of the greatest defensemen the game has ever or will ever see, and he helped out Rupp with his game even more so. He even became the first defenseman in team history to score a hat trick.

Regardless of reliable play, he became a favorite of the Penguins boo-birds, due to his perceived lack of physicality. After the 1972-73 season Rupp was demoted to the minors, as the Pens looked to bring some youth in on their blueline. After one all star year with AHL Hershey Rupp returned to major pro hockey by signing with the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA. He would also spend a year in Calgary with the WHA.

In 1976-77 Rupp returned to the scene of his best days of pro hockey - Rochester New York. Rupp played in 41 games to round out his lengthy professional hockey career.

Rick Kehoe

When you think of the greatest players in Pittsburgh Penguins history the name Rick Kehoe has virtually vanished from memory. But there was a time when you could argue that Kehoe was the best Penguin of all time.

Kehoe played for the Pens from 1974 through 1984. The Pens teams of that time were noted as a high scoring team, with players like Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost and Syl Apps. The speedster Kehoe fit right in as he was a consistent 30 goal threat, topping out at 55 in 1980-81, setting team record since bettered by none other than Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

In his career Kehoe scored 371 goals and 767 points in 906 games in 14 seasons, including his first three seasons in Toronto. The two time all star game representative was once the Penguins leading scorer in franchise history.

Kehoe was a shoot-first type of player, blessed with a laser of a shot. He was also an incredibly clean player, picking up only 120 career penalty minutes. In the season where he scored 55 goals he only had 6 minutes in penalties, making him the obvious choice as the Lady Byng trophy winner.

Unfortunately for Kehoe, his Pittsburgh Penguins teams enjoyed very little team success. When they qualified for the playoffs, they were normally dismissed in the first round, and they certainly were never feared as a Stanley Cup contender. The team was weak defensively. Many of the players including Kehoe were not exactly known for their defensive expertise. It is too bad that poor team success can make the career of a good player like Kehoe almost completely forgotten.

Kehoe would be Mario Lemieux's first right winger upon 66's arrival in Pittsburgh in 1984-85, but the tandem was short lived. Late in the previous season Kehoe suffered a pinched nerve in his neck that caused chronic numbness in his right side. He would never fully recover, ultimately retiring in November of 1984, after trying to keep playing in just 6 games.

For much of the rest of that season Kehoe assisted the Penguins coaching staff. It surprised few that Kehoe got into coaching, as he really enjoyed running his instructional hockey schools during the off-seasons as a player. He would serve the Pens as a scout before becoming an official assistant coach in 1987. He held the job for 14 years, including the Penguins back to back Stanley Cup victories in 1991 and 1992. By 2001 Kehoe finally graduated to head coach of the Penguins, guiding the team through two lacklustre seasons.