Mellon Arena Memories - Kevin Stevens - 07-27-10
"Mellon Arena Memories" is a feature will will appear on a daily basis in this forum until July 30, when the Penguins will officially leave the only facility they have known as their home arena since the franchise was formed in 1967. Today's subject is Kevin Stevens.
Kevin Stevens is currently a scout with the Penguins. Considered the best power forward in team history, Steven initially came to the Penguins by way of a trade when the team acquired his signing rights from the Kings in the 1983 offseason in exchange for Anders Hakansson. Stevens would spend four years at Boston College and parts of one season with the United States National team (including the 1988 Olympics in Calgary) before joining the Penguins for a brief 16-game run in 1987-88 where he collected seven points.
Stevens spent most of the 1988-89 season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, the Penguins' IHL affiliate, but made his way back to the NHL roster late that season and appeared in 24 games while contributing 15 points. He would help the team reach the postseason for the first time in seven years and was one of the Penguins' most productive players with 10 points in 11 playoff games.
His first full season in the NHL was 1989-90. In 76 games, Stevens contributed 70 points and hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career with 29 goals. In 1990-91, with captain Mario Lemieux sidelined much of the campaign due to a back ailment, Stevens was teamed on a line with John Cullen and Mark Recchi. The trio - dubbed the Option Line since all three were in the option years of their contracts - picked up the bulk of the offense by reaching career highs in points. Stevens scored 40 goals and 86 points and was selected to his first all-star games. In the postseason, Stevens appeared in all 24 of the team's playoff games and scored 17 goals (still a franchise record) and 33 points. "Artie" led the team with four game-winning goals and famously guaranteed the Penguins would beat the Bruins in the Wale Conference Final after losing the first two games of the series. The Penguins would win that round in six games and eventually defeat the Minnesota North Stars North Stars to claim the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
Stevens followed that up with arguably the best season of his career. In 80 games, he hit the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career (54) and established a new career-high with 123 points while being selected to another all-star game. He also paced the team with 254 penalty minutes while flanking Mario Lemieux on a line with another rough and tumble power forward in Rick Tocchet (right). In that spring's postseason, Stevens played in 24 games and scored 28 points, second only to Lemieux, en route to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title.
Stevens was part of one of the most impressive single-season collections of scoring talent in 1992-93. The Penguins would win the Presidents' Trophy as the league's top overall team due in part to the fact they had four 100-point scorers in Lemieux (160), Stevens (111), Tocchet (109) and Ron Francis (100). Stevens would reach the 50-goal mark (55) for the second time in his career and was chosen for a third consecutive all-star game. In 12 playoffs games, Stevens would contribute 16 points, but a devastating injury would dash his and the team's hopes for a three-peat (more on that below).
Following a rehabilitation, Stevens returned to play in 83 games in 1993-94 and while he scored 41 goals, his point production dipped to 88 points due in part to Lemieux missing most of the season due to another back ailment. In the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, Stevens was limited to 27 games and 27 points but did score 11 points in 12 postseason games that spring.
With the team failing to reach the Stanley Cup final for three consecutive seasons, general manager Craig Patrick made several changes to the roster in the 1995 offseason. One of those changes was dealing Stevens, an emotional leader on the team, to his hometown Bruins along with Shawn McEachern in exchange for for Glen Murray, Bryan Smolinski and a draft pick. Stevens was never quite as productive after he left Pittsburgh. In six years bouncing between the Bruins, Kings and Rangers, Stevens only scored 20 or more goals once. Additionally, a 2000 drug arrest in St. Louis seemingly brought his career to an end.
After entering the NHL/NHLPA substance abuse program, Stevens was signed by the rival Flyers in the 2000 offseason. After 32 mostly ineffective games with the Flyers, Stevens was returned to Pittsburgh through a Jan. 2001 trade in exchange for John Slaney. Brought in during Lemieux's comeback from retirement, the 35-year-old Stevens found a way to squeeze out a respectable 23 points in 32 games. During the team's memorable playoff run that spring, he added six points in 17 games.
As the Penguins sputtered along in 2001-02 following the trade of Jaromir Jagr, the end had clearly come for Stevens. At 36, the years of battling in the crease and in the corners had clearly worn out his battered body. He could only muster seven points in 32 games. He retired following the season.
Hired as a professional scout in 2005, Stevens' name can be found throughout the franchise's record books. In 522 regular season games with the Penguins (12th-most in franchise history), Stevens scored 260 goals (fourth-most), 295 assists (seventh-most) and 555 points (sixth-most). 
His 110 power-play goals are third-most while his 27 game-winning goals are fourth-most. Additionally, he's the only player in franchise history with more than 1,000 career penalty minutes (1,048). Stevens is also one of two players in team history with double-digit figures in career hat tricks. Stevens had 10 while Lemieux recorded 40.
Steven's postseason numbers may be even more impressive. He appeared in 103 playoffs games (third-most) and scored 46 goals (third-most), 60 assists (fourth-most) and 106 (third-most). He also contributed nine game-winning goals (third-most) and guess what? His 170 penalty minutes are the most in franchise history.
First memory of Mellon/Civic Arena:
"Probably the first night I played in here. It’s been great memories. It’s going to be sad seeing this place go down. Lots of big games. Lot's of great times. It’s hard. This is where I played most of my games. We won. It’s tough to see the place go. But it’s time I guess."
Favorite memory of Mellon/Civic Arena:
"The goal I scored down there against Washington in overtime. That’s probably the goal I remember mostly in here."
(Note: This goal is from Game 2 of the 1991 Patrick Division final:)
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"There’s a couple other ones, the Rangers’ overtime goal."
(Note: This goal is from a regular season game, March 17, 1991. Coming all of 13 seconds into overtime, it is the fastest overtime goal in franchise history.)
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Worst Memory of Mellon/Civic Arena:
"The one where I got hurt down there in the corner. That’s probably the worst memory."
(Note: Stevens was knocked unconsious when he hit Islanders defenseman Rich Pilon in Game 7 of the 1993 Patrick Division final.)
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"I remember too when we lost to the Islanders where we needed to get one point for the playoffs (at the end of the 1989-90 season). It was tied in overtime and Uwe Krupp scored."
On the infamous vulgarity-filled video of Stevens and Bryan Trottier heckling Minnesota North Stars forward Brian Bellows from the bench during the 1991 Stanley Cup Final:
"Yeah, I remember just because everyone talks about it. It’s one of those things with the cameras and the mic, you never know where they are. There must’ve been something on the bench. It was kind of funny they got it on tape. That was part of the game back then."
(Note: You can view the video here at your own discretion. The link is very, very, VERY vulgar.)
On returning to Mellon Arena as a visitor for the first time after being traded to Boston in the 1995 offseason:
"It was tough. It was weird playing as a visitor but that’s part of the game. I don’t really remember it as much as playing here as a Penguin. You come here as a visitor, it’s like coming to just another rink. When you’re home here and it’s you’re home rink, it’s nice to be here."
Favorite thing about playing at Mellon/Civic Arena:"I don’t know about any one thing. Just a lot of memories here. I’ll miss the building. I’ll miss the people. The crowd. Everything. It’s going to be different with the new building next year. All the old buildings, I think they’re always better than the new buildings. New buildings are nice to go into and everything but the old buildings still have all the mystique and everything about them. They’re always louder. The new ones are big and gawdy and stuff but there’s nothing like the old buildings."
(Photos: First, third, fourth, sixth and eighth-Post-Gazette archives; Second, fifth and seventh-Penguins Hockey Cards)