Penguins won Stanley Cup twice after 1991 blockbuster trade with Whalers

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
Following the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, Fischler reaches back 32 years to analyze one of the most compelling deals in League history.

On March 4, 1991, one of the biggest trades in NHL history was completed between the Hartford Whalers and Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a 3-for-3 blockbuster that greatly helped Pittsburgh win consecutive Stanley Cup championships.
The Whalers traded their popular captain and best player, Ron Francis, along with defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings to the Penguins in exchange for offensive-minded defseneman Zarley Zalapski, high-scoring forward John Cullen and minor league forward Jeff Parker.
The Hartford Courant called it the biggest deal in Whalers history and Whalers owner Richard Gordon said his team won the trade.
"With Cullen, the deal gives us tremendous scoring down the middle," Gordon said. "In Zalapski we have the offensive defenseman we so badly needed."
The Hockey News also declared Hartford the winner of the mega-deal. Rob Del Mundo, co-author of "The Best, Worst and Biggest NHL Trades of All Time" called it a draw.
"When the deal was made," Del Mundo explained, "the exchange appeared to benefit both teams."
Just about the only thing everyone agreed on was its enormity and the intense repercussions it would have on the respective franchises.
Yet, few -- if anybody -- suggested that the deal would produce a Stanley Cup winner.
But it did. And for the Penguins, not one but two championships in succession.
"I made the move," Penguins general manager Craig Patrick explained, "because, at the time, we weren't a championship-caliber team until we made that deal. We had made a lot of changes that whole season but, for us, this one was icing on the cake."
Many hockey strategists believed that two top centers were necessary to build a Cup winner. "Strength down the middle" was behind Patrick's thinking.
"Now we had two top centermen," Patrick said. "Ron had been No. 1 in Hartford. To bring him to Pittsburgh where we already had Mario Lemieux was really something. When a club has two guys like that, it's pretty special at any time. It gave us something really important."

Whalers GM Eddie Johnston was fully aware of Francis' value but he balanced that against Hartford's needs. Cullen ranked fifth in NHL scoring (94 points) when the deal was consummated. A year later Zalapski scored an NHL career-high 20 goals for Hartford, exceptional for a defenseman.
"The Penguins paid a steep price in the deal," observed Dave Molinari in the Pittsburgh Press.
"Zarley was the defenseman that we needed but didn't have," Whalers coach Rick Ley said. "He became the quarterback on our power play."
The blockbuster moves stunned Hartford's hockey fans to the core. That included former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin, who had approved the drafting of Francis with the NO. 4 pick in the 1981 NHL Draft.
Nicknamed "Ron Franchise," Francis had become the face of the Whalers and blossomed into their captain, highest scorer and easily the city's most beloved pro athlete.
"Ronnie was to our team what Derek Jeter meant to the New York Yankees," Baldwin said. "I had sold the Whalers before the trade was made. Had I remained the owner, Francis never would have been dealt."
Meanwhile, Cullen's departure shook up the Penguins. In addition to being an offensive threat, Cullen was regarded as the heart and soul of the team, on and off the ice.
"Johnny really was the glue of our club," Penguins forward Phil Bourque said. "When Mario Lemieux was injured, Johnny was the guy who really carried us and kept us afloat. But this was the perfect trade for us. Those three guys were the ingredients we needed to win a Cup."
As for Zalapski, the No. 4 pick in the 1986 draft, he never adjusted to being second banana to Paul Coffey among Pittsburgh's offensive defensemen.
"I wasn't getting the opportunity to contribute as much as I wanted with the Penguins," Zalapski explained. "I wanted to be the guy the Whalers look to."
Not surprisingly, the media had a field day. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette employed its largest type -- TRADE! -- over Tom McMillan's story.
In Hartford, the Courant ran two leads, side by side, one by Jeff Jacobs and the other by Viv Bernstein. The headline over both stories was WHALERS TRADE FRANCIS TO PENGUINS.
Cullen had 77 points (26 goals, 51 assists) in 77 games with Hartford in 1991-92, but back problems prematurely detoured his career, leaving the Whalers with a void up front.
Early in the 1992-93 season, Cullen was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a second-round pick. Surprisingly, he returned to Pittsburgh in 1994-95, but wasn't the same dynamic player, before finishing his NHL career with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Zalapski had 165 points (44 goals, 121 assists) in 229 games with the Whalers from 1991-94. He went on to play five seasons with the Calgary Flames before brief stops with the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.
By contrast, Francis quickly adjusted to the Penguins and was a catalyst on two Cup-winning teams.
"We gave up two excellent players," Penguins coach Bob Johnson said at the time, "but we got two all-stars."
Not only did Francis emerge as a future Hall of Famer but Samuellson infused snarl and smarts to Pittsburgh's defense. He skated for two Cup-winners and played five full seasons with the Penguins before moving on to the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Flyers. Jennings proved a solid, if not fancy, defenseman, who helped the Penguins win consecutive championships.
The smooth jelling of Pittsburgh's newcomers was evident as the 1991 playoffs unfolded. Francis & Co. played big roles when the Penguins steamrolled their way to the Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins defeated the Minnesota North Stars in six games, including 8-0 in the Cup clincher.
A year later, Pittsburgh successfully defended its title with a four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks in the Final. This time it was Francis who led the way after Lemieux was injured in the second round against the Rangers. Francis had 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) in 21 playoff games in 1992.
In his book, Del Mundo asserted that Francis easily was the biggest prize in the six-man deal. Francis was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007, is fifth all-time in NHL history with 1,798 points (549 goals, 1,249 assists) in 1,731 games (also fifth in League history) and is regarded as one of the best two-way, 200-foot centers in the history of the game.
"Taken as a whole," Del Mundo concluded, "Pittsburgh won the trade in a landslide. But, had Cullen stayed as healthy as Francis, it might have been more even."