1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins season

1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins
1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division	5th West
1968–69 record	20–45–11
Goals for	189
Goals against	248
Team information
General manager	Jack Riley
Coach	George "Red" Sullivan
Captain	Vacant
Alternate captains	Lou Angotti; Noel Price; Ken Schinkel; Bob Woytowich
Arena	Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Average attendance	6,008
Team leaders
Goals	Keith McCreary (25)
Assists	Charlie Burns (38)
Points	Ken Schinkel (52)
Penalty minutes	Dunc McCallum (81)
Wins	Les Binkley, Joe Daley (10)
Goals against average	Marv Edwards (3.00)
	← 1967–68 1969–70 →

The 1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise's second season in the National Hockey League.

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

West Division^[1]
v
t
e
		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	St. Louis Blues	76	37	25	14	204	157	+47	88
2	Oakland Seals	76	29	36	11	219	251	−32	69
3	Philadelphia Flyers	76	20	35	21	174	225	−51	61
4	Los Angeles Kings	76	24	42	10	185	260	−75	58
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	76	20	45	11	189	252	−63	51
6	Minnesota North Stars	76	18	43	15	189	270	−81	51

Record vs. opponents

1968-69 NHL Records
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	LAK	MIN	MON	NYR	OAK	PHI	PIT	STL	TOR
Boston	—	5–2–1	3–2–3	5–1	4–0–2	4–2–2	3–3–2	3–1–2	4–2	5–1	2–2–2	4–2–2
Chicago	2–5–1	—	3–4–1	5–1	5–0–1	1–7	4–3–1	1–5	3–0–3	4–2	3–2–1	3–4–1
Detroit	2–3–3	4–3–1	—	4–2	4–2	2–5–1	4–3–1	3–2–1	3–1–2	4–2	0–4–2	3–4–1
Los Angeles	1–5	1–5	2–4	—	1–4–3	0–4–2	3–3	4–2–2	3–4–1	5–2–1	1–6–1	3–3
Minnesota	0–4–2	0–5–1	2–4	4–1–3	—	0–5–1	1–5	3–4–1	2–3–3	3–5	2–4–2	1–3–2
Montreal	2–4–2	7–1	5–2–1	4–0–2	5–0–1	—	3–4–1	2–3–1	5–1	4–1–1	5–0–1	4–3–1
New York	3–3–2	3–4–1	3–4–1	3–3	5–1	4–3–1	—	5–1	3–1–2	5–1	3–1–2	4–4
Oakland	1–3–2	5–1	2–3–1	2–4–2	4–3–1	3–2–1	1–5	—	4–2–2	4–2–2	1–7	2–4
Philadelphia	2–4	0–3–3	1–3–2	4–3–1	3–2–3	1–5	1–3–2	2–4–2	—	4–1–3	1–6–1	1–1–4
Pittsburgh	1–5	2–4	2–4	2–5–1	5–3	1–4–1	1–5	2–4–2	1–4–3	—	3–4–1	0–3–3
St. Louis	2–2–2	2–3–1	4–0–2	6–1–1	4–2–2	0–5–1	1–3–2	7–1	6–1–1	4–3–1	—	1–4–1
Toronto	2–4–2	4–3–1	4–3–1	3–3	3–1–2	3–4–1	4–4	4–2	1–1–4	3–0–3	4–1–1	—

Schedule and results

1968–69 Schedule

October: 1–4–2 (Home: 1–2–1 ; Road: 0–2–1), 4 Points

November: 4–8–2 (Home: 1–4–2 ; Road: 3–4–0), 10 Points

December: 2–10–2 (Home: 1–6–0 ; Road: 1–4–2), 6 Points

January: 3–10–1 (Home: 1–4–1 ; Road: 2–6–0), 7 Points

February: 4–6–2 (Home: 4–2–2 ; Road: 0–4–0), 10 Points

March: 6–7–2 (Home: 4–2–0 ; Road: 2–5–2), 14 Points

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie

Playoffs

The Penguins were unable to make the playoffs for the second straight year.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season^[2]
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Ken Schinkel	76	18	34	52	–39	18
Charlie Burns	76	13	38	51	–9	22
Keith McCreary	70	25	23	48	–23	42
Jean Pronovost	76	16	25	41	–4	41
Lou Angotti	71	17	20	37	–21	36
Bob Woytowich	71	9	20	29	–26	62
Val Fonteyne	74	12	17	29	–25	2
Wally Boyer	62	10	19	29	–21	17
Gene Ubriaco^‡	49	15	11	26	0	14
Earl Ingarfield^‡	40	8	15	23	–17	4
Noel Price	73	2	18	20	–30	61
Billy Harris^†	54	7	13	20	–18	8
Billy Dea	66	10	8	18	–32	4
Leo Boivin^‡	41	5	13	18	–6	26
Dunc McCallum	62	5	13	18	–35	81
Paul Andrea	25	7	6	13	–10	2
Duane Rupp^†	30	3	10	13	–13	24
George Swarbrick^†	19	1	6	7	–4	28
Tracy Pratt	18	0	5	5	6	34
Bill Speer	34	1	4	5	–16	27
Bryan Watson^†	18	0	4	4	–11	35
Ron Snell	4	3	1	4	4	6
Garry Swain	9	1	1	2	–1	0
Dick Mattiussi^‡	12	0	2	2	–2	14
John Arbour	17	0	2	2	–14	35
Doug Barrie	8	1	1	2	–2	8
Jean-Guy Lagace	17	0	1	1	–8	14
Bill Lecaine	4	0	0	0	0	0
Bob Dillabough^‡	14	0	0	0	–6	2
Total		189	330	519	—	667

Goaltenders

Regular Season^[3]
Player	GP	W	L	T	GA	SO
Les Binkley	50	10	31	8	158	0
Thomas Daley	29	10	13	3	87	2
Marv Edwards	1	0	1	0	3	0
Total		20	45	11	248	2

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Penguins. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.

Awards and records

Leo Boivin became the first to play 100 games for the Penguins during a 1–2 loss to Los Angeles on December 14th. He played 100 of Pittsburgh's first 101 games.
Ken Schinkel established a new franchise record for lowest plus-minus with –39. He topped the previous record of –23 held by Val Fonteyne.
Jean Pronovost established a rookie record for the Penguins in terms of assists (25) and points (41).

Transactions

The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1968–69 season:

Trades

July 4, 1968	To Oakland Seals George Konik	To Pittsburgh Penguins cash
September 1, 1968	To Philadelphia Flyers loan of Bob Rivard	To Pittsburgh Penguins cash
October 1, 1968	To Minnesota North Stars 1972 1st round pick	To Pittsburgh Penguins Bob Woytowich
October 1, 1968	To Detroit Red Wings cash	To Pittsburgh Penguins Doug Barrie
November 22, 1968	To Montreal Canadiens Larry Hillman	To Pittsburgh Penguins Jean-Guy Lagace cash
November 29, 1968	To Oakland Seals Bob Dillabough	To Pittsburgh Penguins Billy Harris
January 24, 1969	To Minnesota North Stars Leo Boivin	To Pittsburgh Penguins Duane Rupp
January 30, 1969	To Oakland Seals Earl Ingarfield Sr. Dick Mattiussi Gene Ubriaco	To Pittsburgh Penguins Tracy Pratt George Swarbrick Bryan Watson
May 30, 1969	To Toronto Maple Leafs cash	To Pittsburgh Penguins Forbes Kennedy
June 6, 1969	To St. Louis Blues Lou Angotti 1971 1st round pick	To Pittsburgh Penguins Craig Cameron Ron Schock 1972 2nd round pick

Additions and subtractions

Additions
Player	Former team	Via
Charlie Burns	Oakland Seals	Intra-League Draft (1968–06–12)
Larry Hillman	Minnesota North Stars	waivers (1968–11–22)

Subtractions
Player	New team	Via

Roster

#	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	NHL Draft	Birthplace
22	Paul Andrea	RW	L	27	Undrafted	North Sydney, Nova Scotia
7	Lou Angotti (A)	C	R	31	Undrafted	Toronto, Ontario
3	John Arbour	D	L	23	Undrafted	Niagara Falls, Ontario
23	Doug Barrie	D	R	22	Undrafted	Edmonton, Alberta
30	Les Binkley	G	R	34	Undrafted	Owen Sound, Ontario
18	Wally Boyer	C	L	31	Undrafted	Cowan, Manitoba
9	Charlie Burns	C	L	33	Undrafted	Detroit, Michigan
1	Thomas Daley	G	L	26	Undrafted	Winnipeg, Manitoba
14	Billy Dea	LW	L	36	Undrafted	Edmonton, Alberta
30	Marv Edwards	G	L	33	Undrafted	St. Catharines, Ontario
8	Val Fonteyne	LW	L	35	Undrafted	Wetaskiwin, Alberta
15	Billy Harris	C	L	33	Undrafted	Toronto, Ontario
23	Jean-Guy Lagace	D	R	24	Undrafted	L'Abord-a-Plouffe, Quebec
17	Bill Lecaine	LW	R	29	Undrafted	Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
6	Dunc McCallum	D	R	29	Undrafted	Flin Flon, Manitoba
21	Keith McCreary	RW	L	28	Undrafted	Sundridge, Ontario
11	Tracy Pratt	D	L	26	Undrafted	New York City, New York
4	Noel Price (A)	D	L	33	Undrafted	Brockville, Ontario
19	Jean Pronovost	RW	0	23	Undrafted	Shawinigan Falls, Quebec
2	Duane Rupp	D	L	31	Undrafted	MacNutt, Saskatchewan
12	Ken Schinkel (A)	RW	R	36	Undrafted	Jansen, Saskatchewan
16	Ron Snell	RW	R	20	1968	Regina, Saskatchewan
17	Bill Speer	D	L	27	Undrafted	Lindsay, Ontario
24	Garry Swain	C	L	21	1968	Welland, Ontario
10	George Swarbrick	RW	R	27	Undrafted	Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
5	Bryan Watson	D	R	26	Undrafted	Bancroft, Ontario
20	Bob Woytowich (A)	D	R	27	Undrafted	Winnipeg, Manitoba

Draft picks

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	4	Garry Swain	Center	Canada	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA)
2	14	Ron Snell	Right Wing	Canada	Regina Pats (WCHL)
3	21	Dave Simpson	Defense	Canada	Port Arthur Marrs (TBJHL)

References

External links

[standings-div-1] "1968–1969 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.

[2] "1968–1969 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – All Skaters – Summary – Points – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

[3] "1968–1969 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – Goalie – Summary – Wins – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

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v t e Pittsburgh Penguins
Founded in 1967 Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Expansion draft Seasons Current season
History	1967 expansion Owners Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) Fenway Sports Group (majority) Ronald Burkle Mario Lemieux General manager Kyle Dubas Head coach Mike Sullivan Team captain Sidney Crosby Current roster
Arenas	Civic Arena PPG Paints Arena
Rivalries	Philadelphia Flyers Washington Capitals
Affiliates	AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ECHL Wheeling Nailers
Media	TV SportsNet Pittsburgh Radio Pittsburgh Penguins Radio Network WXDX WBGG
Culture and lore	Penguins lore Bob Gessner Vince Lascheid Jeff Jimerson Penguin Pete Iceburgh Russian Penguins YinzCam Foundation Sudden Death She's Out of My League "Black and Yellow" Penguins–Islanders brawl 2008 NHL Winter Classic 2011 NHL Winter Classic 2014 NHL Stadium Series 2017 NHL Stadium Series 2019 NHL Stadium Series Mullet (haircut) 2023 NHL Winter Classic 2024 Big City Greens Classic
Category Commons

v t e Pittsburgh Penguins seasons
1960s	1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1968–69 NHL season
East	Boston Chicago Detroit Montreal New York Toronto
West	Los Angeles Minnesota Oakland Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
See also	Amateur draft Intra-league draft All-Star Game Stanley Cup Finals