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: Matthew Barnaby
Number: 36
Position: Right wing
Born: May 4, 1973, in Ottawa, Ontario
Seasons with Penguins: 1999-2001
Statistics with Penguins: 129 games, 15 goals, 18 assists in regular season; 24 games, zero goals, two assists in playoffs.
WHY BARNABY?
"(Bleep), Matthew Barnaby! (Bleep), Matthew Barnaby!"
Funny story: In the spring of '98, I was sitting at a fairly nice restaurant along Philadelphia's upscale Main Line for my brother's graduation party from Villanova. It was your basic Saturday brunch crowd, or so one would think. But it was also the day after Barnaby's Buffalo Sabres had eliminated the Flyers in the first round.
Suddenly, there's a commotion coming from the bar area as two police officers had to escort this highly-intoxicated middle-aged woman out of the restaurant as she's yelling "(Bleep), Matthew Barnaby! (Bleep), Matthew Barnaby!"
Naturally, I found this hysterical as my appalled mother asked me "Who is Matthew Barnaby?"
You see, Barnaby could drive a middle-aged woman in the suburbs to day-drink and I'm pretty sure if Gandhi played hockey he might have crosschecked the NHL's premiere pest of the late '90s.
There were people who hated Barnaby and there were those who despised him. But if he played on your team -- Barnaby played for seven of them in his 14-year career -- you absolutely loved him.
After seven volatile but fairly productive seasons with the Sabres, Barnaby came to the Penguins on March 11, 1999 in exchange for Stu Barnes.
In Buffalo, Barnaby had achieved cult-like status with his ever-present smirk, adorned with a silver tooth with the Sabres logo on it. He'd had a 19-goal season in 1996-97 and scored seven goals in 15 playoff games the following season, but when Ted Nolan was fired as Sabres coach, he wanted out.
The affable Barnaby never matched the success that he had in Buffalo, though he was wildly popular with Penguins teammates for his sharp tongue and with fans for his antics. Though Barnaby loved to agitate opponents, he could give as well as he could get, despite being a rather modest 6-feet and 189 pounds:
In the 1999 playoffs vs. the Devils, he had a memorable exchange with New Jersey defenseman Lyle Odelein, who Barnaby claimed resembled the character "Cornelius" from the movie "Planet of the Apes."
Unhappy with his reduced playing time in the 2000-01 season, when he was playing just 7:49 a night, Barnaby requested several times to be traded. On February 1, 2001, the Penguins accommodated him, sending him to Tampa Bay for Wayne Primeau.
Barnaby went on to play for the Lightning, Rangers (who he had some success with), the Avalanche, Blackhawks and Stars. He retired following the 2006-07 season at age 33. He is 17th all-time with 2,752 penalty minutes.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Barnaby, 45, is a respected hockey analyst, who makes regular TV and radio appearances. He appears to have gotten his life in order after two brushes with the law seven years ago. In May of 2011, he was ordered to complete 500 hours of community service to have charges against him dropped stemming from an argument he had with his estranged wife. In December of 2011, he was charged with drunken driving for being found behind the wheel of an SUV that was missing its front tire. That arrest cost him his job as an analyst at ESPN. Barnaby has since remarried and lives in western New York. He was briefly an assistant coach for the Kitchener Rangers, working with former Sabres teammate Jay McKee, but was fired for "philosophical differences."
IT WAS SPOKEN
"Emotion is a big part of my game. Hopefully, I can recapture that. ... This is something that had to be done. I had to move on." -- Barnaby, after being acquired by the Penguins in 1999.
"I think time ran out. For me, anyway. For Matt and for ourselves, it was better to move in a different direction." -- Craig Patrick, Penguins GM, on trading Barnaby in 2001.
HONORABLE MENTIONS AT NO. 36
J.J. Daigneault
Jussi Jokinen
Tom Kostopoulos
ANY DEBATE?
Not really. Jokinen and Daigneualt had decent but short stints in Pittsburgh. Kostopolous has meant a ton to the organization but mainly at the minor-league level. Barnaby gets the edge here for the excitement he brought to the rink each night.
Tomorrow: DK has No. 37.
Yesterday: Tom Barrasso
