The organizational history of the Pittsburgh Penguins has a plethora of great players, and we decided to review the best Penguins players to wear each jersey number. Today we continue the list by naming the best #55 in Penguins history.
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Six players have worn the number 55 in the team’s history, with forward Noel Acciari currently wearing it. Most of them were defenders. Ric Jackman wore it during the Penguins’ X-Generation era in 2004, and Philip Samuelsson – the son of famous Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson – wore it briefly in 2014.
But it was really a two-person race between a great defenseman on the team in the Lemieux era and another in the Crosby era. And although Sergei Gonchar made significant contributions to the Penguins’ Stanley Cup run in 2009, the best number 55 in team history is Larry Murphy.
Murphy – who was the mastermind behind what is now known as “Murphy Dump” – was traded to Pittsburgh. December 11, 1990as well as defenseman Peter Taglianetti, of the Minnesota North Stars for defensemen Chris Dahlquist and Jim Johnson.
The trade ended up paying dividends for Pittsburgh, as Murphy played an integral role in the 1991 and 1992 Cup runs.
Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #54
Murphy scored five goals and collected 28 points in the 44 games following the tradeand he helped guide the team to the playoffs in 1991. He led Penguins defensemen in scoring during the playoffs, scoring one point per game and scoring five goals and 23 points in 23 playoff games.
One of the goals came in Game 6 of the Cup Final against none other than his former team, the North Stars:
In 1991-92, Murphy finished the regular season with exactly one point per game with 21 goals and 77 points in 77 games played. His 16 points in 21 playoff games helped the Penguins win their second straight Stanley Cup in 1992.
And he, once again, lit the lamp in the decisive fourth game during the third period.
Murphy played for Pittsburgh for three more seasons, recording 52 goals and 196 points in 215 games during that span. He was distributed to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 8, 1995, in exchange for defenseman Dmitri Mironov and Toronto’s second-round pick in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.
He won – again – back-to-back Cups with the Detroit Red Wings in 1996-97 and 1997-98. He finished his career ranked fifth all-time in scoring among NHL defensemen with 288 goals and 1,217 points in 1,615 games.
Murphy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
