Follow me on twitter
Today is the Fourth of July and as America celebrates its 237th birthday I wanted to take a peek at the American influence throughout the Pittsburgh Penguins history.
Last year there were 11 Americans either playing for the Penguins or part of Hockey Operations. Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma are both American and will be part of Team USA’s staff for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
Assistant coaches Tony Granato and Todd Reirden are also American, as is player development coach Billy Guerin.
Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, Mark Eaton, Joe Vitale, Matt Niskanen, and Beau Bennett were the American skaters on the club last season.
The Great Herb Brooks coached for the Penguins in the 1999-2000 season.
Herb Brooks’ assistant coach from the Miracle On Ice eventually worked his way up the food chain to become the Penguins General Manager. That man was Craig Patrick.
Badger Bob Johnson coached the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup championship before he tragically passed away from brain cancer early the next season. Badger Bob’s famous phrase is still a huge part of Penguins hockey,”It’s a Great Day for Hockey”
As you can see the Pittsburgh Penguins have greatly benefited from Americans that have general managed and coached for them. Each one of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup championships was under the guidance of an American GM (Patrick, Shero) and two out of the three coaches that have won a Cup with Pittsburgh were American (Johnson, Bylsma).
Kevin Stevens holds the single season mark for most goals in a season by an American with the Penguins with 55 in the1992-1993 season. He is also the career leader for goals by an American with the Penguins with 260.
Kevin Stevens also had the best single season for points by an American with 123 in the 1991-1992 season. He is the highest scoring American Penguins with 555 career points in Pittsburgh.
Only Mario Lemieux (172) and Jaromir Jagr (147) have more career playoff points than Stevens (106).
Safe to say, Kevin Stevens is the best American born player in Penguins history.
Below is an alphabetical list of all the American players who played in at least one game with the Penguins. I tried my best, if I omitted anybody feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list. Currently the list is 104 players long.
A: Russ Anderson
B: Tom Barasso, Beau Bennett, Harvey Bennett Jr., Scott Bjugstad, Doug Brown, Greg Brown, Eric Boguniecki, Brian Bonin, Chris Bourque, Phil Bourque, Andy Brickley, Charlie Burns
C: Dave Capuano, Jay Caufield, Tom Chorske, Ty Conklin, Chris Connor, John Curry
D: Ab Demarco, Justin Duberman, Larry Depalma, Chris Dahlquist, Jeff Dziedzic
E: Mark Eaton, Bryan Erickson
F: Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Rusty Fitzgerald
G: Stan Gilbertson, Hal Gill, Alex Goligoski, Nate Guenin, Bill Guerin
H: Adam Hall, Kevin Hatcher, Wayne Hicks, Andy Hilbert, Brian Holzinger, Matt Hussey, Andrew Hutchinson
I: N/A
J: Bob Johnson, Brent Johnson, Jim Johnson, Mark Johnson
K: N/A
L: Dan LaCouture, Stephen Leach, John LeClair, Jordan Leopold, Ben Lovejoy
M: Colin MacDonald, Ryan Malone, Paul Martin, Moe Mantha Jr., Pat Mayer, Sean McEchern, Bob McManama, Kevin Miller, Kip Miller, Ian Moran, Joe Mullen, Matt Murley
N: Patrick Neaton, Matt Niskanen, Joe Noris, Jeff Norton
O: Eddie Olczyk, Tom O’Regan, Brooks Orpik
P: Bob Paradise, Tobey Petersen, Corey Potter, Tracey Pratt
Q: N/A
R: Mike Ramsey, Dylan Reese, Gordie Roberts, Mike Rupp
S: Grant Sasser, Dwight Schofield, Rob Scuderi, Jeff Serowik, Bryan Smolinski, Carl Sneep, Garth Snow, Paul Stanton, Brett Sterling, Kevin Stevens, Brian Strait
T: Jeff Taffe, Peter Taglianetti, Chris Tamer, Eric Tangradi, Bill Thomas, Billy Tibbetts, Dan
Trebil
U: N/A
V: Joe Vitale
W: Steve Wagner, Tim Wallace, Noah Welch, Ryan Whitney, Landon Wilson
X: N/A
Y: Scott Young
Z: N/A
Happy Fourth of July and thanks for reading!
You can find my NON-Penguin related articles over at
HockeyHurts.com
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»