Kevin Stevens

[lextune]

Come on... we're not talking Rob Brown here. Of course Stevens benefited from playing with Mario, but not everyone who played with Mario (or Gretzky etc.) was just some kind of pylon.

It would be cool if there was some way to pro rate his stats to what they might have been if he had played wing with an "average" 1st line center... say, Alexander Semak.

Have you read the thread?

I am in no way comparing him to the likes of Brown.

As I said, I see him as a big bruising 30 to 35 goal scoring power forward without Mario. I don't see that as a denigration of any sort.

....but when someone points out his 50+ goal, 110+ point seasons; it has to be noted that there is one reason for them. Mario. That is just reality.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Have you read the thread?

I am in no way comparing him to the likes of Brown.

As I said, I see him as a big bruising 30 to 35 goal scoring power forward without Mario. I don't see that as a denigration of any sort.

....but when someone points out his 50+ goal, 110+ point seasons; it has to be noted that there is one reason for them. Mario. That is just reality.

i see his ceiling, sans-lemieux to be a little higher, but i agree he's not an art ross candidate. with recchi and cullen for most of the year, stevens scored 40/85 in '90-'91. and that was when he just started to hit his prime. i don't think it's unreasonable to compare stevens' sans-lemieux ceiling, at least production-wise, to tocchet's sans-lemieux ceiling: 40-45 goals, 85-95 points. adjusted for era, that's pretty much john leclair's ceiling without lindros.

 

[Oilers1*]

Hey, Mario or no Mario. . . 54 goals and 254 penalty minutes is still one helluva season!

 

[Burgs]

Since someone asked what he's doing today, the Pens brought him back as a scout (for the New England region) a couple years ago.

After he knocked himself unconscious on Pilon's visor and smashed his face on the ice into a hundred shards, he became depressed and/or addicted to painkillers (leading to crack, eventually). Not even a trade to his beloved hometown Bruins could get him back to his old self. Before the injury, Artie was as fearless as they came, but he was never the same afterwards.

One of my earliest favorite players when I got into NHL hockey. Wales Conference Finals '91, Pens down 0-2 against Boston. Stevens publicly guarantees a Pittsburgh series win, then goes berserk on the Bruins. Pens win series 4-2, then go on to win their first Cup. Good times.

 

[Malkin4Top6Wingerz]

Have you read the thread?

I am in no way comparing him to the likes of Brown.

As I said, I see him as a big bruising 30 to 35 goal scoring power forward without Mario. I don't see that as a denigration of any sort.

....but when someone points out his 50+ goal, 110+ point seasons; it has to be noted that there is one reason for them. Mario. That is just reality.

During his big four years in Pittsburgh Mario was injured for the equivalent of two full seasons. People don't seem to realize that when they give Lemieux all the credit for Steven's success.

 

[lextune]

I don't know of anyone who gives Mario all the credit.

 

[member 51464]

Anyone have any facial pics from shortly thereafter?

 

[Heat McManus]

Last I heard (mid 2006) he was in a half-way house in Mass. Sad.

 

[Malkin4Top6Wingerz]

I don't know of anyone who gives Mario all the credit.

Oh you're completely wrong. I must have misquoted you. Let me just find the quote to make sure ..

One word. Mario.

Never mind.

 

[clefty]

Last I heard (mid 2006) he was in a half-way house in Mass. Sad.

Yeah......he's been a Penguins scout for about six years now.

 

[Sens Rule]

I don't know anything about Kevin Stevens except he was a very good player. He was certainly helped by Mario but he was a very, very good player with quite a few really great years. He was not a Warren Young flash in the pan or a Rob Brown one dimensional guy.

Howeve about his crack stuff... that is sad. It really is. But as a guy who has dealt with addiction in his life... and knows others that have suffered from that while I was getting well from it. Crack is not some kind of rare thing only deadbeats do.... I met crack heads that were genious's... gentle smart people with huge IQ's and huge successes in their lives. The thing is if you have an addictive personalty.. and you are drinking and drunk... anything else you do after you get drunk becomes a mess. You drink... you end up in bad situations with bad peopel and do things you would not even dream of doing and then.... you end up there again and again.

I never did crack... but whatever.. crack is not only a problem for the bottom of the barrell hopeless homeless (even if it was it still is horrible)

Anyway.. my point is unless you have been caught up in addiction you don't know... it is such a twisted place to be... and when you are messed up you will end up doing stuff you never thought you would. It does not excuse it... but when you are there... you are in a different place. And many guys... drink... drinking is okay... but get 6 or 8 or 10 drinks into someone and if they are an addict and they end up in the wrong situation that stuff happens.. and alot of drugs are really really exciting to do.

I am saying anyone could do crack.... anyone. It is not something we should look down on unless you just want to judge people.... If you die on the streets doing drugs.. then that is horrible... If you are John Kordic or Bryan Fogarty.. if you get your ass off that **** like Stevens apparently did and it seems Fleury has then that is a victory.

I mean I see guys in baseball judging Tim Raines negatively because he was a crazy cokehead at 21 or 22... and he plays 20 more seasons.. clean as the inspirational great teammate and leader.... a guy teams kept in the dressing room past his prime just to be around their team. For decades he was a leader.. a character guy and people want him out of the Hall of Fame because he used coke.. in his 1st and 2nd and 3rd years as a teen and a 20 and 21 year old. If anything he is an inspiration... It is a positive more than a negative but still it lingers.

I am not saying that Stevens drug use is okay or that he is some idol to honour but hey people make mistakes.. people get really sick with addiction... and they relapse too. And some recover... and are better as people for the whole experience.

Well Raines is not a hockey guy but he is the prime example... he was a kid he did coke big time then played 20 more years as the kind of player in every way every fan and coach and GM would want his whole team to be like. But still he is stigmatized.

 

[Heat McManus]

Yeah......he's been a Penguins scout for about six years now.

I had heard from somebody. They could have been misinformed....or talking out of their ass. They were in recovery as well and it's not somebody I know currently.

I hope the guy is sober. Better for everybody that way.

 

[BNHL]

I had heard from somebody. They could have been misinformed....or talking out of their ass. They were in recovery as well and it's not somebody I know currently.

I hope the guy is sober. Better for everybody that way.

Kevin is living in Pembroke after splitting with his wife who continues to live in Duxbury. He does some color and scouting for Pittsburgh. He is also involved in Duxbury Youth Hockey and has a couple of youngsters that are very good players. He is a very normal and friendly guy to talk to and a guy everyone here would like. He has problems like everyone else but has managed to plow through. Would rather not talk hockey constantly. Probably about 260 pounds on that 6'3" frame. He's still very good friends with Mario and Ulfie and others. Bristles at the notion that he was "Mario made". Who wouldn't?

 

[#66]

Kevin is living in Pembroke after splitting with his wife who continues to live in Duxbury. He does some color and scouting for Pittsburgh. He is also involved in Duxbury Youth Hockey and has a couple of youngsters that are very good players. He is a very normal and friendly guy to talk to and a guy everyone here would like. He has problems like everyone else but has managed to plow through. Would rather not talk hockey constantly. Probably about 260 pounds on that 6'3" frame. He's still very good friends with Mario and Ulfie and others. Bristles at the notion that he was "Mario made". Who wouldn't?

Its good to hear he's doing well.

People forget that he had a great year playing with Cullen and Recchi in 1990 and had a great playoff in 1991 playing with Francis and Mullen. IMO his skillset was as good as any other power forward from that era. Mario enhanced... sure. Mario made... no way.

 

[lextune]

Oh you're completely wrong. I must have misquoted you. Let me just find the quote to make sure ..



Never mind.

And the sentence right before that....

"I see him as a big bruising 30 to 35 goal scoring power forward without Mario. I don't see that as a denigration of any sort."

 

[seventieslord]

Exactly.

Also, I clearly remember the end of the finals against the North Stars when Stevens was handed the cup, he wasn't even skating with it for ten seconds when the ESPN cameras caught him yelling "**** you Minnesota!" They cut away instantly, but we all heard him, lol.
I always thought that was a pretty unsportsmanlike thought to have going through your head while hoisting the cup.

Anyone else remember that getting on the air?

Seriously? Wow. That's pretty bad.