While the NHL is on hold because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer the Double Team project, an examination of the five best players who have contributed substantially to the Penguins and another franchise. For consideration, a player must have played at least the equivalent of a full season for each franchise. (Sorry, Jarome Iginla fans.)

Today, a look at the New York Rangers. Pleased with the success of the now-defunct New York Americans franchise’s first season of 1925-26, the NHL decided to put a second team in Gotham in 1926. While the franchise was being assembled by boxing promoter and Madison Square Garden president G.I. “Tex” Rickard, local sportswriters began informally using the name “Tex’s Rangers.” Rickard thought well of the term and formally adopted the name.

In 280 all-time games against the Rangers, the Penguins have a 127-117-36 record.

1.) Andy Bathgate, right winger

Before Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, Pierre Larouche or Jean Pronovost, there was Andy Bathgate.

He was the Penguins’ first star.

Acquired in the 1967 expansion draft, the Penguins’ motivation for pursuing Bathgate was clear: to sell tickets.

Even at the age of 35, Bathgate was a major name who legitimized the expansion franchise.

More than a decade earlier, Bathgate was a superstar in the six-team NHL as a member of the Rangers. While the 1950s were dominated by the likes of Gordie Howe and Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Bathgate was very much their peer. But competitive imbalance that dominated the so-called “Original Six Era” as the Rangers were largely an inferior team to the likes of the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. As a result, Bathgate didn’t receive nearly the adulation as other stars of the era, even in New York.

Regardless, Bathgate, who initially signed with the team in 1949, remains one of the greatest players in Rangers history. An eight-time All-Star with New York, Bathgate became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer in 1958-59, the same season he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP.

Today, Bathgate, who served as captain and had his No. 9 retired by the franchise, remains the Rangers’ fourth-all-time leading scorer with 729 points in 719 games. He still holds the franchise record for consecutive games with a goal, scoring in 11 straight contests during the 1962-63 season.

Between 1964 and ‘67, Bathgate spent a few unremarkable seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1964. By the time he joined the Penguins, he had failed to reach the 20-goal mark for four consecutive seasons.

While the Penguins were primarily interested in Bathgate’s box office appeal, he was able to reinvigorate his career in Pittsburgh. Scoring the first goal in franchise history during a 2-1 home loss to the Canadiens on Oct. 11, 1967, at Civic Arena, Bathgate was the Penguins’ leading scorer with 59 points (20 goals, 39 assists) while playing all 74 games that inaugural season.

Pittsburgh Penguins The box score from the Penguins’ first game, a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at the Civic Arena, Oct. 11, 1976.  

He joined the Vancouver Canucks of the now-defunct Western Hockey League the following offseason, spending two seasons with that club before returning to Pittsburgh for his final NHL season in 1970-71. In 78 games that season, he scored 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists).

In 1978, Bathgate was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

2.) Jaromir Jagr

After a productive but ultimately disappointing three-year run with the Washington Capitals, Jagr was dealt to the New York Rangers at the 2004 trade deadline. Even if Jagr was largely a flop in Washington, he was still a star, and the Rangers always have offered safe harbor to players of Jagr’s stature.

Following the 2004-05 lockout, Jagr’s new surroundings sparked his game. With the benefit of the NHL’s new rules promoting offense, he erupted for 123 points, including 54 goals — each franchise records — while playing all 82 games. Leading the Rangers to the postseason for the first time in eight years, Jagr finished second in voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy but won the Lester B. Pearson Award, which recognizes the league’s best player as voted on by players.

Jagr lasted two more seasons in Manhattan, and while his numbers gradually declined, it was an otherwise productive tenure. Serving as captain for each of those seasons, Jagr helped the Rangers reach the playoffs each spring before joining a team in Russia during the 2008 offseason.

Of course, Jagr’s greatest days came in Pittsburgh. The No. 5 overall pick in the 1990 draft, Jagr played a key role in the franchise’s first two Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and ‘92.

He won his first Art Ross Trophy during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season with 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 45 games. In 1995-96, he had 149 points in 82 games, second in the NHL to Lemieux’s 161 points.

After Lemieux’s first retirement in 1997, Jagr won another Art Ross Trophy in 1997-98 with 102 points. He followed that in 1998-99, his first season as captain, by winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP for the only time in his career as well as the Art Ross Trophy again with 127 points.

Jagr spent two more seasons in Pittsburgh and won the Art Ross Trophy twice, with 96 points in 2000 and 121 points in ’01 then was traded to Washington in July 2001.

3.) Vic Hadfield, left winger

Claimed from the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1961 intra-league draft, Hadfield spent 13 seasons with the Rangers and became one of the most prolific players in franchise history.

One of the premier power forwards of his era, Hadfield broke through as a full-time NHLer in 1963-64 by appearing in 69 games and leading the NHL with 151 penalty minutes.

Over time, Hadfield became more of a well-rounded player, and by 1967-68, he recorded the first of his nine seasons with 20 or more goals.

The 1971-72 campaign was the signature season of Hadfield’s career. Named as captain, Hadfield became the first Rangers player to reach the 50-goal mark to go with 106 points. Along with Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle, Hadfield was part of the “G-A-G Line” (Goal A Game”), and they became the first linemates in NHL history to each reach the 40-barrier.

Hadfield led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Final in 22 years that spring, losing to the Boston Bruins.

A two-time All-Star with the Rangers, Hadfield’s No. 11 was retired in 2018.

During the 1974 offseason, the Rangers dealt Hadfield to the Penguins, and he enjoyed two productive seasons as a second-line winger, reaching the 30-goal mark in 1974-75 then 1975-76, helping the Penguins reach the postseason each spring.

A knee injury in March 1976 led to Hadfield retiring early in the 1976-77 season.

4.) Alexei Kovalev, right winger

Kovalev made NHL history before he even played in the league when, as the 15th overall pick in the 1991 draft, he became the first Soviet-born player to be drafted in the first round.

Debuting in 1992-93, Kovalev showed he was capable of playing in North America by putting up 20 goals and 38 points in 65 games.

He improved upon those figures in 1993-94 by recording 23 goals and 56 points. That spring, Kovalev was a vital component to the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in more than half a century. In 23 postseason games, he was fourth on the team with 21 points and, along with teammates Alexander Karpovtsev, Sergei Nemchinov and Sergei Zubov, was among the first Russians to get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Kovalev lasted another five seasons in New York but was as inconsistent as he was talented. Frustrated, Rangers management traded him to the Penguins in November of 1998. In Pittsburgh, Kovalev thrived in the team’s mostly offensive-minded approach.

Reaching the 20-goal barrier all five seasons he played for the Penguins, Kovalev’s greatest individual season came in 2000-01. Playing on a line with Robert Lang and Martin Straka, Kovalev established a career-high in goals (44) and points (95) in 79 games, earning his first selection for an All-Star Game.

Kovalev actually had two tenures with the Rangers and Penguins. But his second acts with both franchises were not that memorable.

Because of financial limitations, the Penguins traded Kovalev back to the Rangers by February 2003. Any hopes Kovalev would bring the success he enjoyed in Pittsburgh back to New York were not to be, and he was traded to the Canadiens by March 2004.

Less than seven years later, the Penguins re-acquired Kovalev in a trade with the Ottawa Senators in February 2011, hoping to squeeze out whatever he had left. Alas, there wasn’t much left, and Kovalev, on creaky knees by this point, produced only seven points in 20 games.

5.) Sergei Zubov, defenseman

Zubov was not in New York very long. But if it weren’t for him, opposing fans probably still would be mocking the Rangers with “Nine-teen Forr-Teee!” chants.

A fifth-round pick in 1990, Zubov debuted with Kovalev in 1992-93, putting up 31 points in only 49 games.

The following season, Zubov led a team stocked with All-Stars and future Hockey Hall of Famers in scoring with 89 points in 78 games. In the process, he became the first defenseman in NHL history to lead the league’s overall top regular season team in scoring.

In the playoffs, Zubov recorded 19 points in 22 games and provided a counter to All-Star defenseman Brian Leetch, forcing opposing teams to account for both blueliners. That balance led to the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940.

Zubov’s career with the Rangers came to an unceremonious end after a dispute with management about a wrist surgery early in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season soured their relationship. Zubov posted 36 points in 38 games, then, in the ensuing offseason, he was traded to the Penguins.

Zubov’s wizardry with the puck meshed well with the likes of Jagr and Lemieux, particularly on the power play, which clicked at a then-franchise record 26% throughout the 1995-96 season.

Limited to 64 games that season, Zubov recorded 66 points, with nearly half of those coming on the power play (32). In the postseason he had 15 points in 18 games, helping the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference final.

After being upset by the “Rat Trap” Florida Panthers in that series, the Penguins wanted to add a veteran player with better defensive acumen and dealt Zubov, then 25, to the Dallas Stars for 30-year-old Kevin Hatcher.

Hatcher lasted only three seasons in Pittsburgh, and Zubov enjoyed a 12-year run in Dallas that included the 1999 Stanley Cup championship. In 2019, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Honorable mention: Carl Hagelin, left winger; Pierre Larouche, center; Greg Polis, left winger; Dean Prentice, left winger; Tomas Sandstrom, right winger.

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