Double Team: Bob Errey helped turn around the Penguins and Sharks

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 San Jose Sharks. Founded in 1991, the expansion franchise was named in part due to the significant shark population in the Bay Area.

In 43 all-time games against the Sharks, the Penguins have a 17-18-8 record.

1. Bob Errey, left winger

The Penguins’ first-round pick in 1983, Errey didn’t turn the franchise around. The guy they drafted in the first round the following year did that.

But Errey was a major component in helping franchise icon Mario Lemieux transform the Penguins from losers to champions beginning in the mid-1980s.

One of the top defensive forwards in franchise history, Errey established himself as a full-time NHLer in 1986-87 by appearing in 72 games and putting up 34 points.

After being hobbled for most of 1987-88 due to injuries, Errey rebounded in 1988-89 by setting career-highs with 26 goals and 58 points while helping the Penguins reach the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

Errey had two more 20-goal seasons with the Penguins, including a 1990-91 campaign that ended with the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. A year later, Errey and the Penguins were repeat champions.

At the 1993 trade deadline, Errey was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres. Following a brief stay in Western New York, he joined the two-year-old Sharks as a free agent and was immediately installed as the franchise’s second captain. Errey appeared in 64 games and put up 30 points. Under his tutelage, the Sharks made one of the largest turnarounds in NHL history, improving by 58 points and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time.

As the No. 8 seed, the Sharks staged one of the biggest upset in league history by knocking off the top-seeded Red Wings in the Western Conference quarterfinal round. In the semifinal round, they nearly upset the Toronto Maple Leafs as well but lost in seven games.

Early in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, Errey was claimed on waivers by the Red Wings.

2. Paul Martin, defenseman

After failing to re-sign All-Star defenseman Sergei Gonchar in the days leading to the start of free agency during the summer of 2010, Penguins general manager Ray Shero broke the bank to sign Martin to a five-year contract worth $25 million.

Martin looked like he was well worth it during his first season in Pittsburgh of 2010-11 as he played in 77 games and recorded 24 points while primarily playing with Zybnek Michalek on a defensive pairing that routinely saw matchups against the opposition’s top line.

Things fell apart for Martin and Michalek, who each struggled badly in 2011-12, and Michalek was dealt away. Martin remained and leveled off his game. During the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Martin was teamed primarily with Brooks Orpik and enjoyed his most potent offense season, putting up 23 points in 34 games and helping the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference final.

Martin struggled with injuries in 2013-14, playing in only 39 games, then rebounded in 2014-15. Primarily serving as a partner to Kris Letang, Martin played in 74 games and netted 20 points.

During the 2015 offseason, Martin joined the Sharks as a free agent and immediately found a role on the top pairing with All-Star defenseman Brent Burns. Martin appeared in 78 games and recorded 20 points as the Sharks reached the franchise’s first and still only Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Penguins.

Martin spent two more seasons in San Jose, helping Burns win the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defnseman in 2017, before retiring in 2018.

3. Doug Bodger, defenseman

Bodger’s time with the Sharks was not the high point of his steady career, but he inhabited a key role in San Jose as a veteran mentor to a mostly younger blue line for parts of three seasons.

The Sharks actually paid a heavy price to acquired Bodger from the Sabres via trade in November of 1995, sending a handful of middling prospects and two draft picks, including a first-rounder, to Buffalo.

Bodger had two solid seasons with the Sharks but failed to reach the postseason. In 1995-96, he appeared in 57 games and put up 23 points.

In 1996-97, he played in 81 games and netted 16 points. By December of 1997, Bodger was traded again to the New Jersey Devils.

More than a decade earlier, Bodger was seen as the future of the Penguins. Along with Lemieux and Roger Belanger, Bodger was one of three first-round picks for the team in 1984.

Bodger was solid but hardly spectacular in Pittsburgh. Often overshadowed by the likes of defensemen Paul Coffey or Moe Mantha Jr., Bodger was a steady offensive producer. In parts of five seasons, he played in 299 career games with the Penguins and put up 167 points (35 goals, 132 assists).

In November of 1988, Bodger was traded to the Sabres as part of the deal that netted franchise goaltender Tom Barrasso.

4. Marty McSorley, defensemen

Most hockey fans remember McSorley primarily for his days with the Los Angeles Kings or as a member of two Stanley Cup championship teams with the Edmonton Oilers.

His time with the Penguins was fleeting, even if he produced a handful of memorable moments in Pittsburgh.

Undrafted, McSorley was signed as a free agent in 1982 and made his NHL debut with the wretched 1983-84 Penguins, largely doing what became his signature attribute as an NHLer. That’s to say he fought, a lot. In 72 games, he racked up 224 penalty minutes, setting a franchise rookie record.

After spending most of 1984-84 with the Baltimore Skipjacks of the American Hockey League, McSorley was traded to the Oilers in September of 1985.

McSorley’s orbit brought him back to Pittsburgh by August of 1993 when the Kings dealt him to the Penguins. He lasted 47 games and recorded 139 penalty minutes — including five from a memorable fight with legendary Red Wings enforcer Bob Probert on Feb. 4, 1994 — before he was dealt back to the Kings on Feb. 16.

In August of 1996, the Sharks acquired McSorley via trade from the New York Rangers. By this point, McSorley’s solid offensive game had abandoned him, but he still could fight and in 57 games during the 1996-97 season, he racked up 186 penalty minutes.

He followed that up in 1997-98 with 56 games and 140 penalty minutes.

Prior to the 1998-99 season, he rejoined the Oilers as a free agent.

5. Tyler Kennedy, center

Kennedy’s time in San Jose was largely disappointing, but the options are limited here.

The Sharks acquired him from the Penguins during the 2013 offseason. The hope was his acumen as a postseason producer could aid a talented team which usually struggled in the spring.

Alas, it was not to be as Kennedy, who produced only 17 points in 67 games during the regular season, was a healthy scratch during the Sharks’ 2014 playoff appearance which lasted only six games.

The following season, he appeared in only 25 games before being traded to the New York Islanders in March of 2015.

Kennedy’s best days were clearly in Pittsburgh. A fourth-round pick in 2004, he debuted in 2007-08, finding a fit on the team’s third line and helping the team reach the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Red Wings.

The following season, Kennedy appeared in 67 games and put up 35 points, including 15 goals. That postseason, Kennedy appeared in all 24 games and recorded nine points, including a league-leading three game-winning goals, as the Penguins claimed the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title.

Kennedy’s best individual season came in 2010-11 when he played in 80 games and set career highs with 21 goals and 45 points.

Honorable mention: Matt Bradley, right winger; Wayne Primeau, center; Neil Wilkinson, defenseman.

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