Why Was The 91-92 Cup Engraving So Odd?

[dr robbie]

I have a question about the 91-92 Cup Engraving. I'm not sure if it should be in the Pens forum or in the History of Hockey one, so feel free to move it if necessary. Just wondering if an older fan could help me understand this.

So, in the 1990-91 Cup engraving, it goes Lemieux (captain), then the alternate captains, and then the rest of the team in alphabetical order.

the 08-09 team is the exact same: Crosby (captain), then the alternates, then the rest of the team in alphabetical order

So, my question, why is the 91-92 engraved so randomly? It goes:
Lemieux (capt), Francis, Trottier (alt), Stevens, Errery (alt), Bourque, Loney, Tocchet, Mullen, Jagr, Hrdina, McEachern, U Samuelsson, K Samuelsson, Murphy, Roberts, Paek, Stanton, Barrasso, Wregget, Caufield, Leach, Young, Jennings, Taglianetti, Callander, Michayluk, Needham, Chychrun, Priestlay, Daniels

I'm just not figuring out the order I guess. Were Francis and Stevens alternates when they won the cup? Cause I didn't think they were yet. Also, what's with the seemingly chaotic order of the rest of the team?

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[Darth Vitale]

I don't know but I'm guessing this has something to do with the Kecksburg incident.

 

[Gwydyr]

I don't know but I'm guessing this has something to do with the Kecksburg incident.

 

[johnniewalker]

I always found the 90-91 engraving to be odd in that the engraving went to such great lengths to spell out the full name and at least some of the title of everyone in the front office, and then compressed the players' names down to first initial and last name:

Edit: In looking at the other engravings on that same ring, that appears to have been a trend at that time to do full front office names and then compressed player names.

 

[Dan Barr]

Says a lot about how the NHL viewed its players and owners, haha.

 

[bathroomSTAAL]

G. Roberts? Is he like the Pens' Richard Alpert?

 

[ibar726]

I'm just not figuring out the order I guess. Were Francis and Stevens alternates when they won the cup? Cause I didn't think they were yet. Also, what's with the seemingly chaotic order of the rest of the team?

Actually the order is not chaotic at all (for the most part). Players are simply listed in order by their position and line for the playoffs/finals. Lemieux, Francis, and Trottier were the 3 centers in order. Then the LWs Stevens, Errey, Borque, and Loney. Then the RWs (McEachern was included here since he mainly played RW in the playoffs/finals despite being listed as a Center for the season), Defense, and Goaltenders. Simple.

Next are players who only played a handful of games for the Penguins during the season/playoffs. I can not figure out the reason for the order here though. It does not seem to be by position, jersey #, amount of games played, or point totals? So maybe it was just a random naming of people not to be forgotten, or ordered by something silly like height, or the result of a locker room competition or something. Dunno...maybe someone else can figure it out.

It's a shame that traded players like Coffey and Recchi were not eligible to have their names put on the cup. That's always seemed like a dumb rule since they certainly had a heck of a lot more impact on the 1992 Penguins season than players like Daniels (2 whole games...not even qualified to play in the SCP) and Chychrun.

 

[dr robbie]

Actually the order is not chaotic at all (for the most part). Players are simply listed in order by their position and line for the playoffs/finals. Lemieux, Francis, and Trottier were the 3 centers in order. Then the LWs Stevens, Errey, Borque, and Loney. Then the RWs (McEachern was included here since he mainly played RW in the playoffs/finals despite being listed as a Center for the season), Defense, and Goaltenders. Simple.

Next are players who only played a handful of games for the Penguins during the season/playoffs. I can not figure out the reason for the order here though. It does not seem to be by position, jersey #, amount of games played, or point totals? So maybe it was just a random naming of people not to be forgotten, or ordered by something silly like height, or the result of a locker room competition or something. Dunno...maybe someone else can figure it out.

It's a shame that traded players like Coffey and Recchi were not eligible to have their names put on the cup. That's always seemed like a dumb rule since they certainly had a heck of a lot more impact on the 1992 Penguins season than players like Daniels (2 whole games...not even qualified to play in the SCP) and Chychrun.

Thank you! Makes more sense to me now (even if the end is still weird). I wasn't even thinking about positions - I was thinking more about point totals and jersey numbers .

 

[Crafton]

shudder...thank god she gave birth to a son. she may have her name on the Cup but she was a terrible owner for the niners. her and her husband ran the team into the ground.