From Architects to Champions: Penguins Announce New Hall of Fame Inductees

1983-84 is the worst season in Pittsburgh Penguins history, and it was deliberate. The team's roster was reduced on purpose to allow losses to mount, and they did.

The Penguins limped to a 16-58-6 record, a terrible mark that still kept the future of the franchise alive. That dreadful year allowed Pittsburgh to draft Mario Lemieux, the superstar player who kept the team from moving or folding.

Without it, the Penguins might have disappeared like the city's lost tennis and basketball franchises of the earlier decades.

General manager and coach Eddie Johnston was the genius who orchestrated that season. While never admitting it publicly, "tanking," Johnston knew the franchise needed to have the number one overall pick.

His gamble paid off, as Lemieux's arrival made the Penguins a dynasty that would go on to win five Stanley Cups, more than any other team since 1991.

Johnston's contribution will finally be recognized in a month's time when the Penguins induct him into their Hall of Fame along with coach Scotty Bowman, center Ron Francis, and winger Kevin Stevens.

They all played key roles in the first titles of the franchise. Bowman shifted behind the bench during the 1991-92 seasons when Bob Johnson's ill-fated sickness caused his absence. He led Pittsburgh to consecutive titles.

Stevens, a physical power forward, still maintains the team's record for one postseason with 17 goals in 1991.

Francis, whom the Penguins acquired in a blockbuster trade in 1991, quietly thrived as one of the NHL's best two-way centers without ever requiring the limelight that was Lemieux's.

Four decades on, the Penguins are hockey's model franchise. And all of it began with a season designed to fail, a failure that guaranteed long-term success.