Revisiting the Penguins’ Luc Robitaille Trade With the Rangers

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded for future Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille on July 29, 1994, in exchange for a second-round pick in 1995 (Pavel Rosa) and Rick Tocchet.

During the first eight years of his career with the Los Angeles Kings, Robitaille never scored fewer than 44 goals a year and compiled 392 lamplighters in 640 games. His points-per-game average was 1.25.

Debuting in 1986, he played two seasons without Wayne Gretzky and then skated with The Great One for six seasons. In 1994, the Penguins acquired Lucky Luc so he could play alongside Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

However, Robitaille didn’t move the needle in Pittsburgh. Considering the NHL cut the season in half following a preseason lockout, teams only played 46 games. In his limited time in black and gold, he scored 23 goals and 42 points to finish fourth in team scoring.

Besides his appearance in the action film Sudden Death, Robitaille’s legacy with the Penguins was short-lived. Outside of his fictional goal in Game 7 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, most fans may not even remember him playing with the organization.

On Aug. 31, 1995, the Penguins dealt Robitaille and defenseman Ulf Samuelsson to the New York Rangers for Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov.

Future Hall of Famers Traded

Robitaille played on Broadway for two seasons, scoring more than 20 goals in each campaign. He finished his stint there with 47 goals and 117 points in 146 games.

In 1997, he returned to Los Angeles and would win the Stanley Cup in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings. When Robitaille retired after the 2006 season, he had 668 goals, 726 assists, and 1,394 points in 1,431 games.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

Zubov, a Stanley Cup winner with a career-high 89 points in 1994, was acquired by Pittsburgh in the deal. He was 25 during his lone campaign with the Penguins, during which he netted 11 goals and 66 points in 64 games.

Within a year, the organization dealt him to the Dallas Stars in favor of Kevin Hatcher in a one-for-one swap. Zubov would win another Stanley Cup in 1999 and finish his career with the Stars, collecting 549 points in 839 games.

Highly regarded as one of the top defensemen during his era, Zubov would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.

Meanwhile, Nedved had the most productive year of any player in the deal on a new team. Initially drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, he played one year in New York before the trade to Pittsburgh.

In his first season, he scored a career-high 45 goals and 99 points while skating alongside fellow countryman Jagr. Nedved finished fourth in team scoring behind Lemieux (161 points), Jagr (149), and Ron Francis (119).

Before a trade back to the Rangers in November 1998 for Alex Kovalev, he wrapped up his Penguins tenure with 78 goals and 170 points in 154 games.

Upon a return to Broadway, Nedved was a routine 20-goal scorer who would finish his career with 310 lamplighters and 717 points in 982 games.

Finally, Samuelsson, the fourth player in the deal, was influential in the Penguins’ two Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992 after coming to town from the Hartford Whalers.

Over five seasons in the Steel City, he scored 11 goals, 94 points, and collected 804 penalty minutes in 277 games. Samuelsson played in New York for four years before finishing his career with the Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers.

The Robitaille for Zubov deal was one of the more significant trades the Penguins made in the mid-1990s. To stay competitive moves like this had to be made, and big names were on the move, although none resulted in another Stanley Cup parade.

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