Penguins Quarter-Century First Team: Sergei Gonchar
Today, we want to examine Sergei Gonchar's tenure with the club and his credentials for being honored on the Penguins' first team.
Presenting the Quarter-Century Team for the @penguins! 🐧 #NHLQCTeamRead more ➡️ https://t.co/3FwGGcrjqX pic.twitter.com/kYfDFcwkPE
— NHL (@NHL) January 9, 2025
Initially drafted by the Washington Capitals with the 14th pick in the 1992 Draft, Gonchar played parts of ten seasons in the nation's capital.
He scored 144 goals and 416 points in 654 games, finishing in the Top 10 in Norris Trophy voting on five occasions.
Eventually, he was dealt to the Boston Bruins, playing 15 games with the club before becoming a free agent. During the NHL lockout in 2004, Gonchar played in his native Russia, becoming a free agent.
He came to Pittsburgh on Aug. 5, 2005.
Interestingly, Gonchar recorded 100 penalty minutes during his first campaign with the Penguins, the only time he'd reach triple digits in his career.
However, in year two, he tied a career high with 67 points, which was followed by his final All-Star Game appearance in 2007-08.
Gonchar scored 14 points in 20 games and helped the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, where they lost to the Detroit Red Wings.
During Pittsburgh's championship season in 2008-09, he duplicated his totals from the previous run with 14 points in 22 games. Gonchar almost tied his regular season input of 19 points, having only played 25 games due to injury.
One year after earning a ring, he scored 11 goals, the last time he'd reach double digits with 50 points, the final time he'd score more than 37 in his career.
During Gonchar's five seasons with Pittsburgh, these were his totals and ranks among players over the past 25 years:
Games Played: 322 (21st)
Goals: 54 (54th)
Assists: 205 (7th)
Points: 259 (9th)
Plus/Minus: Minus-3 (210th)
Penalty Minutes: 268 (9th)
Hits: 268 (35th)
Blocks: 482 (11th)
Awards: None
All-Star Games: 2008
Honors: None
Stanley Cup Wins: 2009
Gonchar departed the Penguins as a free agent and signed with the Ottawa Senators on July 1, 2010. He played in Canada's capital city for three years, scoring 15 goals and 91 points in 186 games.
The Senators dealt him to the Dallas Stars on June 7, 2013, where he stayed for only 79 games, scoring two goals and 23 points before a trade to the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 11, 2014.
During the final 45 games in the NHL, Gonchar scored one final goal and 14 points to finish his 20-year career with 244 goals, 652 assists, and 896 points.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
25 minutes ago
- USA Today
All four Lakers Emirates NBA Cup group play games have been announced
Not all NBA fans take the Emirates NBA Cup seriously, but there is no doubt it has added intrigue to the early part of the league's regular-season schedule. It takes place during a time in the schedule when plenty of fans may be more preoccupied with college and pro football, and the intensity level during group play games tends to be higher than it is for non-cup games. It has been announced that the Los Angeles Lakers will start group play with a road game versus the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, Oct. 31. On Friday, Nov. 14, they will visit the New Orleans Pelicans, and they will host the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 25 and Nov. 28, respectively. In particular, the contests against the Clippers and Mavericks will be riveting. The Clippers, like the Lakers, have made a number of notable offseason additions, including three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal and future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul. The game against the Mavericks, of course, will have Luka Doncic taking on his former team, as well as former Lakers championship teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis facing off. This year, the Lakers are in West Group B as far as group play. The knockout rounds will begin on Dec. 9, and the semifinal and final rounds will take place in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, respectively.
New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
Burning Rangers questions for 2025-26: Should Mika Zibanejad play wing or center?
The bigger questions surrounding Mika Zibanejad's position aren't that different from those in the first installment of this offseason mini-series, which explored whether the Rangers should play Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Fox together. Does new coach Mike Sullivan want to load up the top of his lineup, at the expense of depth? Or would it be best to balance things out? Advertisement The 32-year-old Zibanejad is coming off a difficult season. His 62 points were his lowest in a full campaign since 2017-18, and his 20 goals were his fewest since 2016-17, his first in New York. Zibanejad has been a force on the power play during his time with the Rangers — he's only eight goals shy of Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the team record of 116 — but he got demoted to the second unit on multiple occasions in 2024-25. 'I know this wasn't the season that I wanted,' Zibanejad said on locker cleanout day in April. 'That's on me. I have some months here now to make sure I take advantage of and get ready for next season.' Getting Zibanejad back on track is vital for the Rangers, and he showed signs of turning a corner the second half of the season, especially after the Rangers acquired J.T. Miller from Vancouver. The Rangers played Zibanejad on Miller's wing for significant minutes, moving him away from his traditional center slot, and he responded with 11 goals and 33 points in 32 games after the acquisition. 'I thought he played better (on the wing),' said an NHL scout based in the East. 'Obviously when it comes to team needs, having him on a wing may have been a luxury at certain points because center is just so valuable. But I thought him and Miller's chemistry was good. … Once they made that trade for Miller it maybe injected a little bit of life into him.' One Eastern Conference executive said that the Rangers at times looked like 'a completely disengaged team' during the 2024-25 season. But with Miller, he said, 'You're not going to be disengaged with that f—ing guy in your lineup.' Miller and Zibanejad played 259 five-on-five minutes together, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers outscored opponents 14-12 in those minutes and commanded 52.14 percent of the expected goal share. Without each other, both players' expected goal rates dipped below 50 percent after the trade: Miller at 37.98 percent in 166 minutes and Zibanejad at 47.47 percent in 179 minutes. Advertisement Based on last year's results, Zibanejad playing on Miller's wing makes sense — not just to potentially get Zibanejad out of his funk, but also to help Miller, whose numbers dipped away from the Swede. 'It probably gives them their best top six with Zibanejad on the wing for right now,' one Western Conference executive said. 'Having to skate less and have to be less defensively responsible, I feel like that gives (Zibanejad) a little bit more jump where he can focus a little bit more on his game, making plays, creating offense,' the Eastern-based scout added. 'Maybe not having to do as much skating as you do when you're playing center might've been a little bit of a boost for him.' If Sullivan goes that route, he could put Will Cuylle on their line and then keep Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière together. He could also put Panarin with Miller and Zibanejad when in need of offense in late-game situations: the Rangers had 59.91 percent of the expected goal share with that trio on the ice in 62 five-on-five minutes last season. All of that sounds appealing, but it comes with a tradeoff. If those six forwards make up the top two lines, the third line would necessarily have Sam Carrick, Jonny Brodzinski or Juuso Pärssinen at center, likely with Taylor Raddysh and a younger winger — maybe Brett Berard, Gabe Perreault or Brennan Othmann — or perhaps veteran Conor Sheary, who is attending camp on a professional tryout. Barring a big jump from one of the less-experienced players, that does not feel like a contending third line. The alternative would be putting Zibanejad at center and having him, Miller, Trocheck and Carrick up the middle. That's a solid center group but leaves the team lighter on the wing. The best-case scenario for the Rangers is that the 24-year-old Pärssinen, acquired from the Avalanche in the Ryan Lindgren trade last deadline, develops into a capable third-line center. But that's a lot to ask for a player who has never played more than 48 games in an NHL season. He was a frequent healthy scratch under then-coach Peter Laviolette after the deadline, though he had multi-point games in two of the season's final three games. Advertisement '(Playing 3C) has been the expectation of him really probably going into the last two training camps,' the Western Conference exec said of Pärssinen. 'He's sort of been that 4C with 3C upside, and he's only 24. The last two years it was a little bit of a younger age. He's definitely coming into the age now that he's going to want to push himself to be that.' Pärssinen's best stretch of play came with Nashville in 2022-23, his rookie year. He got an extended run centering Filip Forsberg and had 20 points in his final 29 games of the year. That success did not continue when the Predators brought in Andrew Brunette as coach ahead of the next season, leading Nashville to trade him to Colorado in the middle of 2024-25. After 22 games with the Avalanche, he was flipped again. 'He kind of fell off for me,' one NHL scout based in the West said. 'I don't know if he just didn't know his role or what he could be or the skill set he would apply to a game. Seeing him after he got moved around, he wasn't the same player. If they can get back a little bit of what he was, I liked him early in his career in Nashville.' If Sullivan keeps Zibanejad on the wing and wants to give Pärssinen or another 3C option a boost, he could consider moving Cuylle to the third line and playing a high-skill youngster like Perreault in the top six. 'That's all part of the process: trying the different combinations and things,' the Eastern-based scout said. 'They can balance their lineup or they can push all their chips up top and rely on those top guys more.' And Zibanejad is perhaps the player who will most affect whatever Sullivan chooses. (Top photo of Mika Zibanejad: Joel Auerbach / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ryan Johansen Outcome Affirms Flyers' Cap Situation for 2025-26
With the arbitration in the Ryan Johansen grievance against the Philadelphia Flyers all but officially siding with the team in proceedings, the Flyers have received clarity on their salary cap situation for the 2025-26 season. Multiple reports indicate that Johansen, 33, will not be owed a penny moving forward, which is the expected outcome after the reported arbitration ruling. Johansen's contract would have expired on July 1 anyway, but the Flyers already terminated it last August, leading to this grievance and successful legal battle. So, with that in mind, the Flyers have avoided any potential cap charges in 2025-26 or beyond by winning the arbitration. Ditto for the Nashville Predators, who were already retaining half of Johansen's salary after trading him to the Colorado Avalanche to begin with. Simply put: this saga is done and dusted, for good. With that all said, the Flyers officially have $370k in cap space with 22 players on their NHL roster, excluding the injured Tyson Foerster and Ryan Ellis and including Rasmus Ristolainen, per PuckPedia. Further breathing room will be created with some roster cuts on defense, with newcomers Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert set to battle for one roster spot. In goal, Ivan Fedotov will likely be a cap casualty and find himself assigned to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms in short order. The cap relief for one of the defensemen and Fedotov will be fleeting at best, so the Johansen news benefits the Flyers in that they now can definitely plan for various scenarios to start the upcoming season. Flyers' Matvei Michkov Reveals One Important Goal for 2025-26 Season While star Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov has been careful about speaking about his individual goals and aspirations, one target for the 2025-26 season should make everyone excited despite being vague in nature. What's next for the Flyers and their 2025-26 roster largely depends on the outcome of training camp and which players, if any, stand out. Philadelphia always had a strong case in the Johansen grievance, but they can rest easy now and begin scheming for the future.
