The Pittsburgh Penguins’ organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we’ve decided to go through the best Penguins’ players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best #56 in Penguins’ history.
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Two players have worn #56 in team history, with one of them being Eric Tangradi, who only wore it for a brief time. But the other #56 – although he was only in Pittsburgh for one season – was very good for the Penguins and, eventually, earned a Hockey Hall of Fame bid.
That was defenseman Sergei Zubov.
Zubov was drafted by the New York Rangers in the fifth round of the 1990 NHL Draft. After a few good seasons with the Rangers – including a 12-goal, 89-point campagin in 1993-94 that ended with a Stanley Cup – he was traded to Pittsburgh, along with Petr Nedved, in the summer of 1995 in a deal that sent left wing Luc Robitaille and defenseman Ulf Samuelsson to New York.
He only lasted one season in Pittsburgh, but it was a good one. Over the course of the 1995-96 season, Zubov registered 11 goals and 66 points in 64 games, and he was a consistent presence on the Penguins’ first power play unit that featured him, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, and Petr Nedved.
There were rumors that Lemieux did not get along with Zubov because of the way he ran the power play. Whether or not those rumors hold any truth, Zubov was dealt to the Dallas Stars during the 1996 offseason and won a second Cup with Dallas in 1999.
He finished his NHL career in Dallas after the 2008-09 season, retiring with 152 goals and 771 points in 1,068 games.
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