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Kevin Stevens

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For other people named Kevin Stevens, see Kevin Stevens (disambiguation).
Kevin Stevens
Born (1965-04-15) April 15, 1965 (age 59)
Brockton, MA, USA
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 230 lb (104 kg; 16 st 6 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–1995)
Boston Bruins (1995–1996)
Los Angeles Kings (1996–1997)
New York Rangers (1997–2000)
Philadelphia Flyers (2000–2001)
Pittsburgh Penguins (2001–2002)
National team  United States
NHL draft 108th overall, 1983
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 1987–2002

Kevin "Artie" Stevens (born April 15, 1965) is an American retired ice hockey player and former NHL scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played left wing on a line with Mario Lemieux during the Penguins' Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. During his career, he played with the Penguins, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers. Stevens was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, but grew up in Pembroke, Massachusetts.

Early career

While attending Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, Massachusetts, Kevin Stevens played both hockey and baseball. He was invited to try out for both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies; however, admitting that he wasn't a great hitter in baseball, he decided to play hockey instead. Stevens accepted a full scholarship to play hockey for Boston College, and was drafted in the sixth round (108th overall) in the 1983 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Several months later, his rights would be traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Anders Håkansson, a left winger from Sweden who had recently been traded to the Penguins along with Ron Meighan from the Minnesota North Stars for the Penguins' first round pick of the 1983 draft (Brian Lawton).

Upon graduating from Boston College in 1987, Stevens joined the U.S. National Team and represented the US at the 1987 World Championships and at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Stevens' play steadily improved during his time with the team and in 1987-88 he finished with 45 points in 44 games.

NHL career

After a year of jumping back and forth from the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League (IHL), Stevens became one of the top left wingers and power forwards in the league over the next four seasons. He had four-straight seasons of at least 40 goals and 80 points from 1990–94 and surpassed 50 goals and 100 points in back to back seasons of 1991–92 and 1992–93. In the 1991–92 NHL season, Stevens became only the 3rd person in NHL history to outscore Wayne Gretzky in the regular season, though he still finished 2nd in points to teammate Mario Lemieux. His 123 points that year also set a record for the most points by an American-born player and a left wing in one season. During the Pittsburgh Penguins back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons of 1990–91 and 1991–92, Stevens was the only Penguin to play in every regular season and playoff game. He's also one of four NHL players to have accumulated more than 50 goals and at least 200 PIM in a season, with the others are Keith Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan and Gary Roberts. His 17 goals during the 90–91 playoffs are tied for 3rd all-time (only Jari Kurri and Reggie Leach with 19 and Joe Sakic with 18 have surpassed that mark). He scored 13 more in the 91–92 postseason.

On May 21, 1992, during game 3 of the Prince of Wales Conference Final against the Boston Bruins, Stevens became only the 25th player in NHL history to score 3 goals in a single period. Scoring a hat trick in the first period, he would add one more goal before the end of the game. The Penguins defeated the Bruins 5–1, with Stevens scoring 4 of the 5 goals in the game, Bryan Trottier with the other goal. The Penguins went on to win the series, sweeping the Bruins and subsequently sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks to win their second straight Stanley Cup.

One year later, on May 14, 1993, the Penguins were playing the New York Islanders in game seven of the Patrick Division Finals. Early in the first period, Stevens skated in and checked Islanders defenceman Rich Pilon, but Pilon's visor with so much force that it knocked him unconscious. He landed face first on the ice; having been knocked unconscious, he was unable to soften the blow when he landed. Stevens shattered most of the bones in his face and required extensive reconstructive surgery. Doctors cut an incision below his hairline from ear-to-ear, which was later closed with over 100 stitches, peeled back his skin and reassembled the bones in Stevens' face with the use of metal plates. Stevens came back to have one more strong season for the Penguins in 1993–94 (41 goals, 47 assists), before being traded the next year.

Stevens was sent to the Boston Bruins in 1995 along with Shawn McEachern for Glen Murray and Bryan Smolinski. After being traded from the Penguins, Stevens never again reached the success that he had while in Pittsburgh. After "disappointing" in Boston with 23 points in 41 games, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. After a dismal season, he was traded to the New York Rangers in 1997, where he experienced several solid seasons, but failed match the expectations levied on him from his marked success playing with Mario Lemieux and the Penguins.

During the 1999–2000 season, Stevens would struggle in his NHL career. Not only did he rarely see the ice during this season, but after a game against the St. Louis Blues, he was caught in an East St. Louis, Illinois motel with a prostitute and crack cocaine.[1] After this event, Stevens entered the NHL Substance Abuse Program.

After being released from the program, he played a brief stint with the Philadelphia Flyers before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second time. After one decent season and another season where he rarely received playing time, he retired from the NHL in 2002.

Post-NHL

On September 1, 2005, Stevens began his NHL career off the ice as he was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as a talent scout. In 2011, Stevens left the Pittsburgh Penguins organization as a pro scout to spend more time with his family. He coaches youth hockey including a traveling team in the Boston area.

In June 2015, his son, Luke Stevens, was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes 5th round, 126th overall pick. Luke entered his senior year of high school in September 2015 and has signed a letter of intent to play college hockey at Yale for the 2016-2017 season.

Awards and honors

Transactions

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1983–84 Boston College NCAA 37 6 14 20 36 — — — — —
1984–84 Boston College NCAA 40 13 23 36 36 — — — — —
1985–86 Boston College NCAA 42 17 27 44 56 — — — — —
1986–87 Boston College NCAA 39 35 35 70 54 — — — — —
1987–88 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 16 5 2 7 8 — — — — —
1988–89 Muskegon Lumberjacks IHL 45 24 41 65 113 — — — — —
1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 24 12 3 15 19 11 3 7 10 16
1989–90 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 29 41 70 171 — — — — —
1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 40 46 86 133 24 17 16 33 53
1991–92 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 54 69 123 254 21 13 15 28 28
1992–93 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 72 55 56 111 177 12 5 11 16 22
1993–94 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 83 41 47 88 155 6 1 1 2 10
1994–95 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 27 15 12 27 51 12 4 7 11 21
1995–96 Boston Bruins NHL 41 10 13 23 49 — — — — —
1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 20 3 10 13 22 — — — — —
1996–97 Los Angeles Kings NHL 69 14 20 34 96 — — — — —
1997–98 New York Rangers NHL 80 14 27 41 130 — — — — —
1998–99 New York Rangers NHL 81 23 20 43 64 — — — — —
1999–00 New York Rangers NHL 38 3 5 8 43 — — — — —
2000–01 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 23 2 7 9 18 — — — — —
2000–01 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 32 8 15 23 55 17 3 3 6 20
2001–02 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 32 1 4 5 25 — — — — —
NHL totals 874 329 397 726 1470 103 46 60 106 170

See also

References

  1. ^ HOCKEY; Stevens Is Arrested in Drug-Related Case – New York Times. Nytimes.com (2000-01-24). Retrieved on 2012-06-24.

Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

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