Double Team: From Kunitz to Cullen, the best players to dress for the Penguins and Ducks

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 Anaheim Ducks, who entered the NHL in 1993 as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim off the heels of the wildly successful Disney movie. In 38 all-time games against the Ducks, the Penguins have a 21-13-4 record.

1. Chris Kunitz, left winger

Undrafted out of Ferris State, Kunitz considered retirement while bouncing between the Ducks and Atlanta Thrashers through waivers in 2005. Ultimately, he stuck with professional hockey and established himself as a valuable forechecker and a 20-goal threat on a line with Anaheim’s franchise forwards, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. After helping the Ducks win their only Stanley Cup title in 2006-07, he was dealt to the Penguins before the 2009 trade deadline. Finding a home on the left wing of franchise center Sidney Crosby, Kunitz became a 30-goal threat and was a vital component of the Penguins’ three most recent Stanley Cup championships in 2009, ’16 and ’17.

2. Petr Sykora, right winger

If you need a goal in a multi-overtime playoff game, Sykora is your guy. Joining the Mighty Ducks in a 2002 offseason trade, he was a key contributor to the franchise reaching a Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 2002-03. That postseason, he scored a goal 48 seconds into the fifth overtime of a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series, the fourth-longest contest in NHL history.

Four years later, he joined the Penguins as a free agent and found a home on franchise center Evgeni Malkin’s line in 2007-08 as a 20-goal threat. In Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, he scored 9:57 into the third overtime period of a 4-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings, which was merely the 31st longest game in league history.

In 2009, he helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.

3. Nick Bonino, center

If you need an overtime goal to win a series, Bonino is your guy. Acquired by the Ducks in a 2009 trade with the San Jose Sharks, Bonino established himself as a full-time NHLer in 2011-12. Based on individual accomplishments, his 2013-14 season remains his best as scored 22 goals and 49 points, figures that remain career highs. That postseason, his goal at 2:47 of overtime in Game 6 of a Western Conference first-round series ended the Dallas Stars’ season.

After spending a season with the Vancouver Canucks, Bonino was traded to the Penguins in the 2015 offseason and found a home as center of the vaunted “HBK” line along with left winger Carl Hagelin and right winger Phil Kessel. That trio produced Bonino’s series-clinching overtime goal against the rival Washington Capitals in a 4-3 home win in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference second-round series.

Roughly a month later, Bonino and the Penguins won the first of their back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

4. Matt Cullen, center

Once upon a time, Matt Cullen didn’t just look young. He was young. A second-round pick of the Mighty Ducks in 1996, Cullen spent the first six seasons of his 21-year career in Anaheim, primarily as a second-line center on some unremarkable teams that made the playoffs only once during that span. In 427 games with Anaheim, he produced a solid (for that era) 200 points. After bouncing around the NHL for the better part of a decade and half, Cullen signed with the Penguins for the first of several “final” encores late in the 2015 offseason. Serving as a veteran mentor to several younger teammates, Cullen buttoned down the fourth line and won the Stanley Cup in 2016 as well as ’17.

5. Ben Lovejoy, defenseman

An undrafted free-agent signee out of Dartmouth, Lovejoy worked his way into being a somewhat irregular member of the Penguins NHL roster in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Bloated depth on the blue line during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign forced ex-Penguins general manager Ray Shero to deal Lovejoy to the Anaheim, where he found far more opportunity. Serving as a counterbalance to the aggressive offensive nature of young star defenseman Cam Fowler, Lovejoy enjoyed far more success than he realized in Pittsburgh.

At the 2015 trade deadline, new Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford reacquired Lovejoy. By 2015-16, Lovejoy once again served as a steady partner for a young defensive prospect by the name of Brian Dumoulin for most of the regular season. Lovejoy’s second tenure with the Penguins saw him win the Stanley Cup in 2016.

Honorable mentions: Alex Hicks, left winger; Frederik Olausson, defenseman; Carter Rowney, center; Tomas Sandstrom, right winger; German Titov, left winger.

Follow the Penguins all season long.