By Mike Palm

Published: Friday, June 1, 2012, 12:26 a.m.
Updated: Friday, June 1, 2012

Just six months after the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup, they lost beloved coach Bob Johnson to brain cancer. With Scotty Bowman taking the reins and another trade deadline shakeup (Mark Recchi and Paul Coffey departed, with Rick Tocchet and Kjell Samuelsson arriving), the Penguins finished third in the Patrick Division. But they overcame Mario Lemieux's broken hand to win their final 11 games en route to a second straight Cup. These are the players whose names will forever be inscribed in silver, in the order in which they appear:

Mario Lemieux

By the numbers: 64 games, 44 goals, 87 assists, 131 points; Playoffs: 15-16-18-34

What he's up to now: Co-owner/chairman of the Penguins; chairman of Mario Lemieux Foundation, which supports cancer, neo-natal research; inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997

Ron Francis

By the numbers: 70 games, 21 goals, 33 assists, 54 points; Playoffs: 21-8-19-27

What he's up to now: Director of hockey operations for the Carolina Hurricanes; inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007

Bryan Trottier

By the numbers: 63 games, 11 goals, 18 assists, 29 points; Playoffs: 21-4-3-7

What he's up to now: Motivational speaker; inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997

Quotable: “Craig Patrick and I were chatting prior to the season and he goes, ‘Oh, what do you think?' (I said) I won't come back unless both of us believe we can win the championship again. We talked about it up in his office for a good hour about different things that we have to overcome, and Bob Johnson was a big part of that. ... At the end, both of us looked and each other and said, ‘Well, we repeated, but it didn't look like either one of us was right on how we were going to get there.' ”

Kevin Stevens

By the numbers: 80 games, 54 goals, 69 assists, 123 points; Playoffs: 21-13-15-28

What he's up to now: Living in the Boston area

Bob Errey

By the numbers: 78 games, 19 goals, 16 assists, 35 points; Playoffs: 14-3-0-3

What he's up to now: Root Sports color commentator for Penguins broadcasts

Phil Bourque

By the numbers: 58 games, 10 goals, 16 assists; 26 points; Playoffs: 21-3-4-7

What he's up to now: Penguins Radio Network color commentator

Troy Loney

By the numbers: 76 games, 10 goals, 16 assists, 26 points; Playoffs: 21-4-5-9

What he's up to now: President of state and government division at Catalyst Rx, a pharmacy benefit management company

Quotable: “You've always got to get goals from people you never thought you were going to get goals from. The defensive players have to play well, and your goalie's got to stand on his head. And (Tom) Barrasso was fantastic. Barrasso, for the style of hockey we played, had a lot of odd-man rushes and made a lot of tremendously big saves. I think sometimes he gets a little overlooked, in my opinion, in the grand scheme of things. He played fantastic for us.”

Rick Tocchet

By the numbers: 19 games, 14 goals, 16 assists, 30 points; Playoffs: 14-6-13-19

What he's up to now: Comcast SportsNet analyst for Philadelphia Flyers broadcasts

Joe Mullen

By the numbers: 77 games, 42 goals, 45 assists, 87 points: Playoffs: 9-3-1-4

What he's up to now: Assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers; inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000

Jaromir Jagr

By the numbers: 70 games, 32 goals, 37 assists, 69 points; Playoffs: 21-11-13-24

What he's up to now: Recently completed 19th NHL season as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers

Jiri Hrdina

By the numbers: 56 games, 3 goals, 13 assists, 16 points; Playoffs: 21-0-2-2

What he's up to now: European amateur scout for the Dallas Stars, based out of the Czech Republic

Shawn McEachern

By the numbers: 15 games, 0 goals, 4 assists, 4 points; Playoffs: 19-2-7-9

What he's up to now: Assistant director of athletics/head hockey coach for The Rivers School in Weston, Mass.

Quotable: “It was pretty wild. The year before, I was playing for Boston University and reading in the paper about Ulf Samuelsson being the biggest villain in Boston. Then joining Pittsburgh and coming to town and getting bodyguards for Ulfie, it was a lot of fun.”

Ulf Samuelsson

By the numbers: 62 games, 1 goal, 14 assists; 15 points; Playoffs: 21-0-2-2

What he's up to now: Head coach for Modo in Swedish Elite League

Kjell Samuelsson

By the numbers: 20 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points; Playoffs: 15-0-3-3

What he's up to now: Works in player development for the Philadelphia Flyers

Quotable: “I don't think they got me there to score goals, that's for sure. The forwards, you look at them, half of the forwards are Hall of Famers. You get the puck over the blue line, and they took over. There was some unbelievable talent on that team.”

Larry Murphy

By the numbers: 77 games, 21 goals, 56 assists, 77 points; Playoffs: 21-6-10-16

What he's up to now: NHL Network and Fox Sports Detroit analyst; inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004

Gord Roberts

By the numbers: 73 games, 2 goals, 22 assists, 24 points; Playoffs: 19-0-2-2

What he's up to now: Head coach for Elk River (Minn.) High School

Quotable: “Scotty Bowman, obviously, had a great track record and history; he'd been around the team the year before, and he knew the players well. But it was an adjustment getting used to Scotty's style. I thought that Scotty's coaching peaked at the right time in the playoffs. That's when you really saw the matchups and the way he just started taking charge more and more of the team.”

Jim Paek

By the numbers: 49 games, 1 goal, 7 assists, 8 points; Playoffs: 19-0-4-4

What he's up to now: Assistant coach for the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Detroit Red Wings's AHL affiliate

Quotable: “Our team got even scarier. You add a guy like (Rick Tocchet) in there, oh my gosh. He could score, he could fight. He was a great leader in the dressing room. That was a tremendous addition. Craig Patrick did a fantastic job of filling in those gaps for what we needed. Those guys were just incredible for us.”

Paul Stanton

By the numbers: 54 games, 2 goals, 8 assists, 10 points; Playoffs: 21-1-7-8

What he's up to now: Living in Naples, Fla.

Tom Barrasso

By the numbers: 57 games, 25-22-9, .885 save percentage, 3.53 GAA; Playoffs: 21, 16-5, .907, 2.82

What he's up to now: Assistant coach for the Carolina Hurricanes

Ken Wregget

By the numbers: 9 games, 5-3-0, .847 save percentage, 4.15 GAA; Playoffs: 1, 0-0, .750, 6.00

What he's up to now: Owns Goal Line Insurance, which deals with companies' employee benefits

Quotable: The confidence was pretty high, which I found surprising. I remember speaking to my brother and saying, ‘I can't believe these guys are acting like this, with such a confidence level, when we're a few points out of not even being in the playoffs. It was like, you're on the verge of not making the playoffs to being in the playoffs and then to come on and win the Stanley Cup. That group could turn it on.”

Jay Caufield

By the numbers: 50 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points; Playoffs: 5-0-0-0

What he's up to now: Root Sports postgame analyst

Jamie Leach

By the numbers: 38 games, 5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: Operates Shoot To Score Hockey development program

Wendell Young

By the numbers: 18 games, 7-6-0, .889 save percentage, 3.79 GAA; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: General manager of the Chicago Wolves, the Vancouver Canucks' AHL affiliate

Grant Jennings

By the numbers: 53 games, 4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points; Playoffs: 10-0-0-0

What he's up to now: Flight engineer for Northern Air Cargo, living in Tampa, Fla.

Quotable: “Going into Boston and winning four straight, going into Chicago and winning four straight, that's just phenomenal. ... It was a very dominant performance.”

Peter Taglianetti

By the numbers: 44 games, 1 goal, 3 assists, 4 points; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: Living in Pittsburgh

Jock Callander

By the numbers: DNP; Playoffs: 12 games, 1 goal, 3 assists, 4 points

What he's up to now: Director of hockey affairs and team services for the Lake Erie Monsters, the Colorado Avalanche's AHL affiliate

Quotable: “You dream of it your whole life, playing street hockey and pond hockey and pretending you're in the Stanley Cup. And you actually get to live that dream. My family and friends from back home were there. It was just a great time.”

Dave Michayluk

By the numbers: DNP; Playoffs: 7 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points

What he's up to now: Runs family farm in Wakaw, Saskatchewan

Quotable: “When you're a young kid playing hockey, you think it's a dream. You're playing in the street for the Stanley Cup. You never think that it's actually going to happen. At that time of our careers, I didn't think we'd ever have a chance for something like that. Then being a part of it, it was a dream come true. Guys play their whole careers in the NHL and never get a chance to play for one. And I know we were just a little cog, a little part of it, but it's something people back home talk about all the time.”

Mike Needham

By the numbers: DNP; Playoffs: 5 games, 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point

What he's up to now: Head coach for Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, British Columbia

Quotable: “As a young guy coming in, nervous as can be, having Bryan Trottier and Joey Mullen and guys like that around the locker room, Larry Murphy, it made it a hell of a lot easier coming in. They were true professionals that made the young guy feel important.”

Jeff Chychrun

By the numbers: 17 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: Owner/associate editor of Tire Guides Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla.

Quotable: “I think there's a lot of people, when they discuss their children playing sports, they say, ‘Well, what are the chances of your children actually making it?' After actually being there, I don't find the odds quite so against you. I think dreams do come true now as a result. It's a pretty neat experience to look back on, and really to believe that these things happen to normal people.”

Ken Priestlay

By the numbers: 49 games, 2 goals, 8 assists, 10 points; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: Living in Delta, British Columbia

Jeff Daniels

By the numbers: 2 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points; Playoffs: DNP

What he's up to now: Head coach and general manager of the Charlotte Checkers, the Carolina Hurricanes' AHL affiliate

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