Mark Madden: Eddie Johnston laid foundation for Penguins' success

Eddie Johnston gets inducted into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ in-house Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Johnston is renowned for much during his tenure with the team, but his masterpiece was general managing the Penguins to finishing last overall in 1984, then drafting center Mario Lemieux.

The tank job was fabulous, as is the fact that Johnston still hasn’t broken omerta.

Drafting Lemieux sounds simple.

It wasn’t.

Minnesota tendered all 12 of its draft picks.

Montreal dangled a big package that reportedly included future Hall of Famer Guy Carbonneau.

Quebec made the biggest offer, all three Stastny brothers: Peter, Anton and Marian. Peter racked up 1,239 points in 977 games and made the Hall of Fame.

The Penguins, then owned by Edward J. DeBartolo, were hemorrhaging money. DeBartolo didn’t like that.

Getting the Stastnys would have likely meant making the playoffs immediately. Less red ink. To that point, the Penguins had traded their first-round pick seven times in 17 years.

Lemieux wasn’t seen as a sure thing by some, largely because he played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which was all offense, all the time.

The Hockey News speculated that Lemieux might be a bust, that he paid minimal attention to defense.

One Penguins scout wanted Johnston to draft Kirk Muller instead. Muller played in the more highly regarded Ontario Hockey League, was a solid two-way performer and went on to a very respectable 19-season NHL career.

But in his final year with Laval, his junior team, Lemieux had 133 goals and 149 assists in 70 games.

Those numbers are from outer space.

One of Lemieux’s wingers that season, Jacques Goyette, had 76 goals and 94 assists in 62 games. He never played one game of pro hockey. Goyette became a policeman instead.

It wasn’t the last time Lemieux dramatically elevated a linemate. (See Young, Warren and Brown, Rob.)

Johnston said he saw Lemieux play in person a dozen times.

There was no YouTube, no camera phones, no social media, no preponderance of video.

But Johnston saw and he believed. He knew Lemieux could score at any level. (As Lemieux proved on his first NHL shift.)

Johnston never wavered.

Because of that, the Penguins remained in Pittsburgh and legendary things happened.

DeBartolo approved. “He told me I made the right decision,” Johnston recalled.

For all of us.

Lemieux even turned out to be good defensively — when he needed to be.

Hockey writer Tom McMillan asked Lemieux about his perceived defensive shortcomings, and Lemieux said, “I have the puck all the time. That’s how I scored 133 goals.”

It’s great to see recognition given to Johnston, 89.

Johnston served the Penguins well as coach from 1980-83 and 1993-97, as GM from 1983-88, and more recently as an ambassador.

Johnston traded for Paul Coffey in 1987. He laid the foundation for the Penguins’ first two Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and ’92.

He was a brilliant game-night coach, a master at matching lines or avoiding disadvantageous matchups.

He reinvented the power play during his first tenure as Penguins coach, using a series of picks inspired by basketball to guide a unit with average talent to an NHL-record 99 power-play goals in 1981-82. (Johnston has famously demonstrated his method using salt shakers and ketchup bottles.)

Johnston should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. His qualifications are evident.

He won two Stanley Cups as a goalie with Boston.

He was on Team Canada for the Summit Series in 1972, the first time Canadian pros played Russian “amateurs.”

He was the last goaltender to play every minute of every game in an NHL season: 1963-64, 4,200 straight minutes. (He didn’t wear a mask yet.)

Hockey was built by men like Johnston.

He won’t get in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Penguins Hall of Fame will have to do.

In Pittsburgh, we’ve always understood Johnston’s value.