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: Larry Murphy
Number: 55
Position: Defenseman
Born: March 8, 1961, in Scarborough, Ontario
Seasons with Penguins: 1990-95
Statistics with Penguins: 336 games, 78 goals, 223 assists in regular season, 74 games, 15 goals, 57 assists in playoffs
WHY MURPHY?
Well, the first question some will have is this: Why not Sergei Gonchar?
I'll get to that down below but, for now, suffice it to say this was the hardest of all the selections in this series. Harder even than No. 11 between Darius Kasparaitis and Jordan Staal. We're talking about strikingly similar scenarios, from their statistics to length of tenure to appearances with the Penguins in a Stanley Cup Final, even down to respect from their peers. Seriously, if taking their numbers in Pittsburgh -- 301 points in 336 games for Murphy, 259 points in 322 games for Gonchar -- and accounting for the discrepancies in scoring between the eras, one might argue that Gonchar was actually the more prolific of the two.
That said, Murphy's the better player. That's why he's in the Hall of Fame and Gonchar ... he's got his work cut out.
And that's the tiebreaker here.
Murphy finished his 21-year career as the fifth-highest scoring defenseman in NHL history, behind Raymond Bourque, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis and Phil Housley. That's an astounding sentence to type in and of itself, but what counts toward this discussion is his time in Pittsburgh, which, although it was only about a quarter of his career, represented some of his best work.
What constitutes Murphy's best work?
That's one of the hardest questions to answer, since he wasn't the fastest skater, didn't have the hardest shot, wasn't even slightly physical and, thus, even his most productive performances would come without a splash. So it's hard to split one phase of his career from the next, because his ultimate calling was consistency.
Even so, his performances for the Penguins' first two Stanley Cup champions, 1991 and 1992, stand out. He was acquired by Craig Patrick from the North Stars in a December 1990 trade that's now seemingly forgotten because of the shortly-thereafter blockbuster that brought Ron Francis and Ulf Samelsson from the Whalers, but the acquisition proved pivotal.
In the 1991 playoffs, Coffey's broken jaw limited him severely, and it was Murphy who stepped up as a No. 1 for the first time in his career and put out five goals, 18 assists and a plus-17 rating in playing all 23 games.
That was highlighted by one of the greatest passes in franchise history, Murphy's brilliant, billiards-type bank pass to spring Mario Lemieux for the Penguins' second goal in the clinching Game 6 on May 25, 1991, in Bloomington:
Don't just scan that one. Watch it again. And again. For all the times that goal's gotten shown, it's far too often that Murphy's quick glance out of the corner of his eye to see No. 66 flying up through the neutral zone gets cut out of the frame. It shouldn't ever happen. The pass makes the play, and the pass is terrifyingly precise, emblematic of how Murphy would think the game above his peers.
Remember, too, that the two-line pass was illegal back then, so Murphy and Lemieux needed to execute that and make sure Mario's skates stayed onside.
Anytime I see a bank pass of any kind, to this day, I think of Murphy and that sequence. And anytime any experienced hockey fan in Pittsburgh sees one of those now-common high flips out of a defensive zone, you'll still hear them refer to it as the 'Murphy dump.' Because he was the first to use it on a regular basis. Among his other subtle skills, he was, at least from this perspective, the best in Pittsburgh history at keeping the puck in the attacking zone, using everything at his disposal and a sharp hand-eye to maintain possession.
There's no doubt in my mind Murphy would have wound up the most accomplished defenseman in franchise history if not for the insanely ill-advised Patrick trade in 1995 that sent him to Toronto for the eminently forgettable Dmitri Mironov. Murphy would play six more seasons and contribute hugely to two more Cups with the Red Wings.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Murphy, 57, spent nearly 10 years as an analyst on Detroit broadcasts before being fired in 2008 for what the company called an issue with low ratings. He's also made occasional appearances on NHL Network as an analyst, as well as public speaking engagements.
IT WAS SPOKEN
"This is something that, as a player, is the ultimate compliment." -- Murphy, on his Hall induction in 2004
"I'm sure there were times I was the best player on the team, but for the most part I wasn't and that was fine with me. The key was just to develop as a player. Some guys fall off and other guys just keep going along, keep improving. Success is being in the right place at the right time." -- Murphy, on his youth hockey in Ontario
"Try not to create something that’s not there. That’s when you run into trouble, when you try to force things. Just make the play that’s in front of you. If there are a couple guys in front of you, just get the puck on the net." -- Murphy, in 1995, on his power-play success
HONORABLE MENTION AT NO. 55
Sergei Gonchar
ANY DEBATE?
Of course. And it was excruciating. Gonchar also played 21 years in the NHL, also was commanding on the power play and the breakout and zone entries, he put up 981 points, and he also was underappreciated with every step, even here, even now when he's working with the current defense corps as a revered assistant coach.
He just happened to wear the same number as one of the great defensemen in hockey history.
Tomorrow: I have No. 56. This one's a whole lot easier, to say the least.
Yesterday: Alexandre Picard
