Most hockey fans hate the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let’s be honest, what we call “hate” is actually an intensive, pride-filled masquerade of jealously. The Penguins have been too good for too long. Every team wishes they could have that success.
As is the case seemingly every year, when looking at the standings, you’ll notice the Penguins around a playoff spot. Those inevitable feelings of jealousy came up. Do Penguins’ fans know how lucky they are to go from one generational talent in Mario Lemieux to Sidney Crosby in a single generation?
With all this in mind, an interesting question popped into my head. “What would have happened if the Devils were lucky enough to land Lemiux?”
It Was Closer Than You Think
Let’s look at how we got there. The 1983-1984 NHL season was one of the most prolific and earliest tank jobs in NHL history. Whoever finished last and ended up with the first-overall pick was destined to select the great Mario Lemieux.
Throughout the season, the two most likely suitors for super Mario’s services were the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, who both at the time were NHL records with a long track record for being unsuccessful both on the ice and putting fans in the seats.
The Devils, for as bad as they were, actually tried winning games by all account. The Penguins, on the other hand, purposely lost games (that’s a fact their then coach admitted to). Pittsburgh would go on to draft Lemieux and give the franchise immediate credibility.
It’s fair to say without Lemieux, the Penguins would not exist. We’re not talking relocation, as things had gotten so bad folding the franchise entirely wasn’t off the table. Meanwhile, New Jersey would continue their losing ways.
Some Alternate History
Hindsight is 20/20, and it wouldn’t have happened exactly like this, but let’s pretend for the sake of argument that the Devils and Penguins essentially switched history’s from the point Lemieux was drafted onwards. At least let’s play that game throughout the 1990’s and end any assumptions before the Sidney Crosby era.
The Devils would go on to win two Stanley Cups in the early 1990s, while the Penguins would get their own three Stanley Cup mini-dynasty. Both are scenarios either fan base would have gladly taken had you presented those options back in the early 1980s.
Let’s Get Sentimental
Nothing against Lemieux, but we didn’t grow up watching and cheering for him (at least not as a fan on our favorite team). If the Devils got Lemieux, it can be safely assumed there would be no Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur, or Scott Niedermayer. Ken Danyeko gets a pass because he was drafted a few years before Lemieux. In this alternate reality all the player we grew up loving wouldn’t be on the Devils, wouldn’t be the names of the back of our first jerseys, and wouldn’t be in the rafters of Prudential Center.
It’s weird to think of that question, “Do you wish the Devils drafted Lemieux,” as a choice between our very real childhood and some alternate one. Here’s the thing: both teams experienced success in the years after the Lemieux draft (okay, maybe it took New Jersey a few extra years). Neither team was winning cups while the other was forced to wait for long.
Both teams and fanbases came out pretty well in the decade-ish that followed. Why compare the two? Nothing can change the fact Lemieux went to Steel City, so why don’t we enjoy the three Stanley Cup?