Today is Thursday, and that means we’re throwing it back!
Every Thursday, we will take a trip down memory lane and recall the careers of former Pittsburgh Penguins who helped lead the team to Stanley Cup Championships. This week, we look back on the career of all-time great Penguins’ defenseman Larry Murphy, who played a critical role in helping the Penguins win their back-to-back Cups in 1991 and 1992.
© Charles LeClaire – USA TODAY Sports
On December 11, 1990, the Minnesota North Stars traded Murphy, along with defenseman Peter Taglianetti, to Pittsburgh for defensemen Chris Dahlquist and Jim Johnson. As it turns out, it was one of the best trades in franchise history.
At the time, North Stars GM Bobby Clarke and then-Penguins GM Craig Patrick wanted to switch gears with their rosters. Mario Lemieux was out with a back injury, and the Penguins were struggling. They needed offense, and Murphy could help provide that for them.
And that he did. After the trade, Murphy scored five goals and put up 28 points in 44 games, helping the team get back to the playoffs. He didn’t disappoint in the playoffs, either, as he led Penguins’ defensemen in scoring, registering five goals and 23 points in 23 playoff games, including this one in the title-clinching Game 6 against – you guessed it – the North Stars in the Stanley Cup Final:
Murphy followed up his first year in black and gold with a remarkable season in 1991-92, finishing at point-per-game with 21 goals and 77 points in 77 games. He was, again, a force in the playoffs, too, registering six goals and 16 points in 21 games en route to the second of back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships.
He scored two goals in Game 4 and helped lead the Penguins to a clean sweep in the Final, including this one assisted by Lemieux in the second period to temporarily put the Penguins ahead, 5-4. Pittsburgh ultimately won Game 4 by a final score of 6-5:
Following the Cup runs, Murphy’s last three seasons as a Penguin were as impressive as the first two, as he registered a total of 196 points in 215 games, including 52 goals. He was ultimately traded 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.
Murphy went on to play seven more seasons in the NHL, with the last five in Detroit, where he – again – won back-to-back Cups with the Red Wings in 1996-97 and 1997-98. He finished his career fifth all-time among NHL defenseman in scoring with 288 goals and 1,217 points in 1,615 games and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004. He later became a broadcaster for the Red Wings.
Among all the things Murphy did for the Penguins, he will, perhaps, be most-remembered for what Penguins legendary broadcaster Mike Lange coined “The Murphy Dump.” It has been used throughout the NHL ever since and has helped secure Murphy’s legacy in the sport.
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