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 Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise. Entering the NHL along with the Penguins as part of the 1967 expansion class, the North Stars were named after the state’s official motto “L’Étoile du Nord” which is French for “The Star of the North.” The franchise operated out of Bloomington, Minn., for 26 years and played for the Stanley Cup twice, including losing to the Penguins in 1991. Lured south in 1993, the team’s name was shortened to “Stars” as Texas is known as the “Lone Star State.” In 148 all-time games against the Stars/North Stars, the Penguins have a 72-62-14 record.

1. Sergei Zubov, defenseman

Yes, Sergei Zubov only played one season in Pittsburgh. But goodness, it was quite a season.

In the 1995 offseason, Penguins general manager Craig Patrick, dealing with some financial constraints, had to reconfigure his lineup and jettisoned several players who were members of the team’s Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992.

One of the changes involved dealing away defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and forward Luc Robitaille to the New York Rangers for Zubov and forward Petr Nedved.

In Zubov, the Penguins were adding a young (25), dynamic offensive dynamo who read the ice like a librarian. Blessed with a cannon-blast of a point shot, tapioca-smooth passing and the agility of a lynx, Zubov was an immediate fit for a team that still had the Hall-of-Fame talents of Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux up front.

Zubov was limited to 64 games in 1995-96 but he put up 66 points with nearly half of those coming on the power play (32). And while rumors have persisted over friction between Lemieux and Zubov as it pertained to their chemistry on the power play – Zubov has publicly dismissed that notion – the Penguins were dominant with the man-advantage that campaign with a league-leading conversion rate of 26%, an astronomical figure when you consider that was the beginning of the sluggish “dead puck era.”

That mark remained the franchise record until the 2017-18 squad with the likes of forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel nudged past it at 26.2%.

Zubov continued to produce in the postseason with 15 points in 18 games, including the primary assist on Nedved’s power-play goal in the fourth overtime of a 3-2 road win against the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference Final, one of the longest games in NHL history.

After being upset by the “rat trap” Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference final that spring, the Penguins inexplicably traded Zubov to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Kevin Hatcher. Hatcher was an All-Star caliber player who was viewed as a better defensive presence.

Regardless of the motivation, the Penguins clearly missed on this transactions as Zubov lasted 12 seasons in Dallas and developed a resume worthy of his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019 while Hatcher, 30 at the time of the trade, lasted three seasons in Pittsburgh, each of which saw his production decline.

A vital member of the franchise’s only Stanley Cup championship in 1999, Zubov appeared in 839 games for the Stars and posted 549 points, seventh-most in club history.

Selected for four All-Star Games while with the Stars, Zubov’s 2005-06 campaign saw him set a single-season club record for defensemen with 71 points in 78 games.

By the time he retired in 2009, Zubov was the NHL’s all-time leader in points (771) among Russian-born defensemen.

2. James Neal, left winger

A second-round pick in 2005, Neal was a steady, reliable 20-goal threat in his first three NHL seasons, primarily played with the Stars. Debuting in 2008-09, Neal scored 24 goals in 77 games, a high-mark for the franchise since it moved to Dallas. He then followed that up with 27 goals and 55 points in 2009-10.

While he was consistent in Dallas, Neal never fully seemed to realize his full potential until he was dealt to the Penguins at the 2011 trade deadline.

With Malkin returning to the lineup at the start of the 2011-12 season from a serious knee injury, Neal was placed on the franchise center’s line. Additionally, he was flipped from left to right wing. That resulted in Neal erupting for a career-high 40 goals and 81 points in 80 games. That performance led to him being selected for an All-Star Game for the first time in his career. Not coincidentally, Malkin won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP that season.

Malkin and Neal were welded together for the next two seasons with the latter consistently reaching the 20-goal mark with his laser-precise wrister despite various absences due to injuries as well as suspensions.

While Neal’s ability to produce offense was undeniable, his demeanor on and off the ice soured management. With the encouragement of ownership, Jim Rutherford’s first trade as Penguins general manager saw him move Neal to the Nashville Predators during the 2015 draft.

3. Trevor Daley, defenseman

Daley entered the NHL close to the right time in 2003-04. As a 5-foot-11, 199-pound defenseman, he probably wasn’t what most NHL teams wanted on the blue line from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s when general managers coveted large defensemen who looked more like club bouncers than puck movers.

But following the 2004-05 lockout, new rules emphasized speed as well as skill, and that’s what Daley offered the Stars consistently for 11 seasons.

Primarily used as a second-pairing defenseman, Daley quietly but reliably played in 756 career games, ninth-most in franchise history. Despite that longevity, Daley rarely enjoyed team success with the Stars. He reached the postseason only five times in Dallas with a lone appearance in the 2008 Western Conference Final being the high point.

After a 2014-15 season in which Daley set career highs with 16 goals and 38 assists, he was traded at the age of 32 in a salary cap move during the 2015 offseason. Landing with the Chicago Blackhawks, Daley just never seemed to fit in with that franchise and was even scratched occasionally throughout the early stages of the 2015-16 campaign.

Midway through that season, the Penguins, who wanted to alter their identity under new coach Mike Sullivan, acquired Daley from the Blackhawks. His arrival was a major step in transforming the Penguins into a squad that attacked the opposition with speed.

In 53 games with the Penguins that season, Daley posted 22 points while providing a veteran presence on the second defensive pairing as well as the second power-play unit. While he suffered a broken ankle in the Eastern Conference finals that spring, he was the first teammate Crosby presented the Stanley Cup after the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks in the Final.

Like most of the team’s defensemen in 2016-17, Daley was battered by various injuries and he was limited to 56 games as well as 17 points. Returning from midseason knee surgery, Daley help make up for the absence of All-Star defenseman Kris Letang as the Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive spring.

He joined the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent the ensuing offseason.

4. Larry Murphy, defenseman

Murphy was in need of the proverbial change of scenery late in the 1988-89 season. As an offensive defenseman in the highly-offensive 1980s, Murphy was struggling to produce as a member of the Washington Capitals that campaign. In 65 games with Washington that campaign, he only had 36 points. His play grew so anemic, Capitals fans began taunting him with “Woop! Woop! Woop!” chants anytime he touched the puck.

In March of 1989, he was traded to the North Stars and regained his confidence as well as his scoring touch. After helping Minnesota return to the playoffs that spring following a two-year absence, Murphy enjoyed a strong rebound in 1989-90. In 77 games, he posted 68 points, a figure which remains the fourth-best in franchise history among defensemen.

Murphy was on the move again by December of 1990. Patrick, wanting to make his defense more dynamic, acquired Murphy and defenseman Peter Taglianetti from the North Stars in exchange for defensemen Chris Dahlquist and Jim Johnson.

Murphy proved to be a natural fit on a team with star forwards such as Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Mark Recchi and others. For most of the 1991 postseason, Murphy took over at the team’s No. 1 defenseman as Paul Coffey recovered from facial injuries and helped the franchise claim its first Stanley Cup title. In 23 playoff games that spring, Murphy put up 23 points, a mark that remains the franchise’s single-postseason record for defenseman.

With Coffey traded by the 1992 trade deadline, Murphy took over as the team’s top defenseman and in 1991-92, he recorded 21 goals and 77 points in 77 games then lifted the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive year.

Murphy’s signature season of 1992-93 saw him record career-highs of 22 goals and 85 points in 83 games and garner a third-place finish for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which recognizes the league’s top defenseman.

A selection for the All-Star Game in 1994, Murphy spent two more very productive seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1995 offseason in a cost-cutting transaction.

5. Bill Guerin, right winger

Ultimately, Guerin was a disappointment as a Dallas Star. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t good.

As one of the NHL’s top free agents in the 2002 offseason — a handful of years before the salary cap was introduced — Guerin signed a bountiful five-year deal worth more than $31 million with the Stars, one of the relatively few teams in the NHL that could afford such contracts.

Guerin seemed to live up to expectations early in the life of the deal as he was selected as an All-Star in his first two seasons with Dallas and he even led the team in 2003-04 with 35 goals and 69 points. But the Stars, with one of the league’s top payrolls, failed to even get past the second round in each of those campaigns. And Guerin struggled to record points in each of those postseasons.

Following the 2004-05 lockout, the salary cap arrived and Guerin was bought out after he struggled with only 40 points in 70 games in 2005-06.

Rediscovering his scoring touch and becoming more of a net-front player during stops with the St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders, Guerin joined the Penguins at the 2009 trade deadline for a marvelous final act to his career.

Placed on Crosby’s line and the top power-play unit, Guerin was a key component to the Penguins’ Stanley Cup title in 2009, posting 15 points in 24 postseason games.

He lasted one more season for an encore in 2009-10 with a solid 21 goals and 45 points in 78 games before retiring.

Honorable mention: Alex Goligoski, defenseman; Hatcher; Gilles Meloche, goaltender; Gordie Roberts, defenseman; Darryl Sydor, defenseman.

Follow the Penguins all season long.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)