For ex-Penguins forward Troy Loney, joining an expansion team offered 'opportunity and excitement'

Troy Loney can sympathize with at least one member of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ current roster.

The New York Islanders also brought his time with the Penguins to an end.

Back in 1993, the Penguins were the NHL’s best team in the regular season, having won the Presidents’ Trophy. They were a clear favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

But those Islanders pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NHL history, beating the Penguins in seven games during the Patrick Division Final. As a result, Loney went from wearing black and gold to … plum and jade?

In the 1993 offseason, the NHL staged an expansion draft for the incoming Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Loney, a physical left winger with the Penguins who helped the franchise win its first two Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and ’92, wound up with the Mighty Ducks.

“It was obvious that was going to happen, that I wasn’t going to be protected,” Loney said of the expansion draft. “Once we didn’t win three in a row … it was pretty obvious. As other teams do the same thing, they’ll go a little bit younger, a little bit less dollars. That’s just part of the business. When the Islanders scored (in overtime of Game 7), I knew I was going to be gone. Put it this way, I knew I would be unprotected. … That expansion draft, there were two teams, Florida and Anaheim. You knew there were two opportunities for someone to pick you up in the expansion draft.”

Almost three decades later, the Penguins are reeling from a first-round postseason loss to the Islanders and are facing another expansion draft, this time for the Seattle Kraken. Some member of that team, which was good enough to win the NHL’s East Division during the regular season, will be wearing … ice blue and deep sea blue … next season.

Even if the rules are wildly different and are geared toward the Kraken being more competitive than most expansion teams, Loney says one attribute of joining an expansion team remains universal.

“Any time you go to a new organization, you have a chance to remove any premonitions about what you are,” Loney said. “You do have a chance to kind of start new. It’s, ‘Hey, he’s only a defensive player but gosh, he’s actually scoring quite a few goals.’ Or ‘he’s an OK offensive player that turns into a tremendous offensive player’ because now, you’re put into those roles. And some guys thrive in that increased role, and some guys don’t thrive in those roles. … A lot of times, people just need a chance.”

Loney got a chance in Anaheim in 1993. Primarily delegated on the third or fourth lines with deep Penguins teams, he was one of the Mighty Ducks’ more accomplished players. With the benefit of more playing time, he scored a career-best 13 goals in 64 games in 1993-94.

“With the Penguins, I had a pretty specific role with them,” Loney said. “I was charged to be an aggressive defensive player, used in defensive situations late in a game, checking some of (the opposition’s) top line. … The Penguins (had) other people that were better goal-scorers than me. So why would I be on the power play?

“(With the Mighty Ducks), I started the year on the power play and I had pretty good success on the power play doing some net-front stuff, tipping in some goals. They took me off the power play. I remember going into (coach Ron Wilson’s office) and I said, ‘Hey Ron, this is the only time in my NHL career that I can say this, but I should still be on the power play.’ … Opportunity and excitement to do something that you haven’t done.”

As a two-time Stanley Cup champion, Loney also claimed the distinction of being that franchise’s first captain.

“Oh, it was really cool,” Loney said. “Number one, being part of a group of guys who were good, really salt-of-the earth players. … It wasn’t like we got top goal-scorers (or) prima donnas from somewhere, we didn’t have any of that. Being able to be considered as the captain of that team was a big honor for me.”

Every expansion team is unique by some measure. The Kraken is named after a mystical sea monster. The Mighty Ducks were owned by Disney and named after a wildly popular children’s movie from the early 1990s.

“It was Disney, basically their second foray into sports,” Loney said. “They owned (MLB’s California) Angels at the time. … After we were drafted, they brought us all out there. They brought all the players that were drafted out to (Disneyland) and had a big press conference. Michael Eisner was the CEO of Disney at the time. He was a big hockey fan. He brought us all out in one group and said, “Hey guys, what do you think of the name?’

“Guys were kind of mumbling, bumbling around because you had ‘The Mighty Ducks’ movie in your mind. … I just came from somewhere where I was a Penguin for 10 years. I’m a Duck now. I’m staying in the same family, it felt like.”

Any apprehension about the name quickly dissipated.

“(Eisner) said, ‘Listen guys, the marketing success behind this team will be phenomenal,’ ” Loney said. “And it was. They really marketed the team well. And they treated us first class from the second that we were there. They really treated the players well, they treated our families well. I didn’t have any questions as far as the organization and how we would be treated as players. Your apprehension is always (that) you’re going to a new organization, you’ve got new players, new coaches, new everything, new trainers, new arena. The question really in mind was more of how competitive were we going to be?”

The Mighty Ducks finished their inaugural season with a 33-46-5 record and 71 points, good for fourth place of the six-team Pacific Division. Their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, finished in fifth place (27-45-12 and 66 points).

“I knew we weren’t going to be last,” Loney said. “(The Mighty Ducks) had some players that were third-line guys, second-line guys with other organizations. It really thrived once we got together. Ron Wilson, the coach, had a very good, simple defense-first system. And we had two good goaltenders in (Guy) Hebert and (Ron) Tugnutt. But you don’t know until you get into it. But I was excited with the challenge of it.”

Regardless of the rules, team colors, nicknames or other factors, the biggest challenge for an expansion team? Becoming just that.

A team and not just a collection of castaway players.

“I knew no one there (with Anaheim),” Loney said. “Usually, you know somebody. I had no personal, even causal meetings. We had quite a few easterners and quite a few (Americans). Most of my junior career was in the west. And not many players from the Patrick Division (the Penguins’ former division). … It’s a mindset. You have a mindset that you’re the island of misfit toys. We all left teams where you were not wanted anymore. ‘Wanted’ meaning a whole bunch of things.

“So that team bond started right away with that. You’re going to prove to yourself because you think you can take on a bigger role. You’re going to prove to the team that let you go, and you’re going to prove to your new employer that we’re going to be a good, successful team.”