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Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman and NHL All-Star has passed away
Jim Morrison, a former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman, has died at 94, and it hits harder than you expect for an old-school blueliner.
The NHL Alumni Association shared the news in a tribute that laid out a full, proud hockey life.
Morrison was born in Montreal, Quebec, and broke into the NHL with the Boston Bruins on November 25, 1951.
He later became a Toronto Maple Leafs regular, earning three straight NHL All-Star Game appearances from 1955 to 1957.
For Penguins fans, the key chapter came late, when the franchise was still finding its legs.
Morrison spent two seasons on the Pittsburgh blue line, skating 59 games in 1969-70 with a 5-15-20 line, then 73 games in 1970-71 with 0-10-10.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Seth Rorabaugh and beat reporter Dave Molinari also flagged the passing, calling him a long-ago Penguins defenseman.
Jim Morrison and the Pittsburgh Penguins still mattered
Honestly, Penguins fans are wired to think "Crosby era," but losses like this remind you the early grinders built the foundation in silence.
Morrison’s NHL career totaled 704 regular-season games, spread across Boston, Toronto, Detroit, the Rangers, and Pittsburgh.
He also played 721 AHL games, won the Eddie Shore Award in 1965-66, and helped push player rights as the first president of the AHL players’ association in 1967.
He even returned to Baltimore as a player-coach before a long coaching run, then spent 18 years scouting for the Bruins.
For the Penguins, Morrison’s 132 games in black and gold are a clean reminder that every era counts, even the ones we only know from boxscores.
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| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 3|75 ANSWERS Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman and NHL All-Star has passed away Should the Pittsburgh Penguins honor former defenseman Jim Morrison this season? | ||
| Yes | 47 | 62.7 % |
| No | 28 | 37.3 % |
| List of polls | ||