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Pittsburgh Penguins History: Revisiting the 1992 Draft Class

By Rob Joncas

Pittsburgh Penguins, Martin Straka. Mandatory Credit: Donald Miralle /Allsport
Pittsburgh Penguins, Martin Straka. Mandatory Credit: Donald Miralle /Allsport /
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A look back at the players the Pittsburgh Penguins took in the 1992 Draft.

This is the next installment in our series “Pens Draft Class Rehash” where we profile Pittsburgh Penguins draft choices by draft year that made the NHL.

We will be looking at the player’s time with Pittsburgh and try to dig up interesting facts and stats on the picks and recount interesting events that they may have been a part of.

Here is our rehash of the Pittsburgh Penguins 1992 Draft Class.

First the specifics of the picks.

The Penguins took 10 players in the draft, five forwards, four defensemen and one goalie with three of ten players selected (30 percent) playing for the Penguins.

Brian Bonin

Bonin was selected by the Penguins with the 211th pick in the ninth round of the draft. Bonin was named Minnesota Mr. Hockey following a stellar 1991-92 season with White Bear Lake High School, which saw Bonin score 25 goals and 55 points in 44 games played (GP).

In 1995-96, Bonin earned the Hobey Baker Award following a 34 goal and 81 point season with the University of Minnesota.

The next few seasons saw Bonin score 39 points with the Cleveland Lumberjacks (IHL) in 1996-97 and a combined total of 104 points with the Syracuse Crunch and Adirondack Red Wings (AHL) from 1997-99.

Bonin made his NHL debut on Apr. 08, 1999, in the Penguins 4-3 loss to the Philidelphia Flyers, and spent a total of 13 minutes and two seconds on the ice.

Bonin played four more games with Pittsburgh through the conclusion of the 1998-99 season and made appearances in three playoff games during the Penguins series vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs.

More from History

Philippe DeRouville

The Penguins took DeRouville in the fifth round of the draft with 115th pick.

Prior to his debut with Pittsburgh in 1994-95, DeRouville was named the QMJHL’s Defensive Rookie of the year and named a second-team all-star in 1993 and 1994.

DeRouville earned a win in his first NHL game after he made 24 saves on 27 shots, in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 win over Ottawa on Apr. 10, 1995, and would play two more games with Pittsburgh in 1996-97, finishing his time with Penguins with a record of 1-2-0 with goals-against-average of 3.16.

Martin Straka

Straka was selected with the 19th pick in the first round made his NHL debut on Nov. 7, 1992, and scored his first goal (assists from Shawn McEachern and Jaromir Jagr) on Feb. 10, 1993, in the Penguins 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

Straka finished his rookie season with three goals and 16 points in 42 regular-season games and two goals and three points in 11 postseason games.

On Apr. 7, 1995, Straka was traded to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver and finished his first run with the Penguins scoring 37 goals and 96 points in 157 regular-season games and three goals and four points in 17 playoff games.

Straka returned to Pittsburgh as a free agent signing on Aug. 6, 1997, and over the next seven seasons (1997-2003) raked up 128 goals and 346 points 403 regular-season games and 16 goals and 42 points in 48 playoff games.

Straka stayed a member of the Penguins until he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 30, 2003, for Martin Strbak and Sergei Anshakov.

Over Straka’s 10 seasons Pittsburgh he earned all-star honors in 1999 and compiled:

  • Two playoff overtime goals
  • Six penalty shots (two goals)
  • Five hat tricks

Here are a few more players that were chosen in the 1992 draft that would spend time with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the course of their careers: Darius Kasparaitis (5th), Sergei Gonchar (14th), Peter Ferraro (24th), Eric Cairns (72nd), Matthew Barnaby (83rd), Dan Trebil (138th), Jeff Toms (210th), Ryan VandenBussche (173rd)

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