According to records at NHL.com, 709 skaters, excluding goalies, have dressed for a game with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
One of the team’s forgotten players is former Jack Adams Award winner as NHL coach of the year, Ted Nolan.
Initially drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round (78th overall) of the 1978 Draft, Nolan was a left winger who scored 68 points in 126 games in the QMJHL.
The Red Wings assigned him to the Kansas City Red Wings for a season (1978-79) before he made his AHL debut with the Adirondack Red Wings.
Nolan was productive over two campaigns with 90 points in 148 games but didn’t get a chance in the NHL until 1981. His first run in Detroit only lasted 41 games, with another 39 contests in the AHL.
Unable to crack the Red Wings lineup in the NHL, Nolan signed with the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent in 1985. He then found an assignment in the AHL (again) with the Rochester Americans, where he served as captain for the 1984-85 season.
However, he never made it to Buffalo as the team traded him to the Penguins on Sept. 16, 1985, in exchange for cash.
In Pittsburgh, Nolan dressed in 18 games, scoring a goal and picking up an assist for two points. As usual, he spent time in the AHL with the Baltimore Skipjacks, scoring eight points in 10 games.
His NHL totals included six goals and 22 points in 78 games over three seasons. He scored 116 goals and 280 points in the AHL with 626 penalty minutes in 374 contests.
Nolan’s Ascend Into NHL Head Coach Immortality
Once Nolan’s playing days ended in 1986, he got an assistant coach job with the Soo Greyhounds in the OHL in 1988. By the end of the season, he was promoted to head coach, a role he’d have until 1994, winning the Memorial Cup in 1993.
In 1994, the Hartford Whalers offered him an assistant coach position, but they lost him the following summer to the Sabres, who promoted him to head coach ahead of the 1995-96 season.
Within two years, Nolan won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. However, the relationship between coach and management soured, and he left within weeks of winning the award.
In 1997, Ted Nolan won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year. But the Buffalo Sabres decided they didn’t want him to return as their head coach.
Years later, this is how Nolan views his Jack Adams trophy.
The Unwanted Visitor, airing Friday on @SportsCentre…#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/lIclhpGQBF
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) January 26, 2021
Nolan disappeared from the pro hockey scene for almost a decade, resurfacing as a head coach in the QMJHL before the New York Islanders offered him a job.
He stayed on Long Island for two seasons before the Sabres made him vice president of hockey operations in Rochester. At that point, Nolan started to work with Latvia to grow their international hockey program.
His NHL career came full circle in 2013 when the Sabres hired him as head coach midway through the campaign. This partnership lasted for a season and a half. Nolan last appeared in the NHL at the end of the 2015 season.
Nolan had a successful coaching career with a 188-227-57 record in the NHL and a 226-144-30 record in junior hockey.
Unless you were a season ticket holder or an avid fan of the 1986 Penguins, there’s a chance you may have forgotten that Nolan once wore black and gold, one of the few who went on to have a successful career after their playing days.
