Kevin Stevens

Kevin Michael Stevens (born April 15, 1965) is an American former professional ice hockey left wing and current NHL scout. He is best known for playing alongside Mario Lemieux on the Pittsburgh Penguins teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992. Originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the sixth round (108th overall) of the 1983 NHL draft, his rights were traded to Pittsburgh later that year. Over his career, he also suited up for the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers. In 2017, he became a Special Assignment Scout for the Penguins.

Stevens grew up in Pembroke, Massachusetts, after being born in Brockton. As a youth, he played in the 1978 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Hobomock minor team from Pembroke. At Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, Massachusetts, he played both hockey and baseball. He tried out for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies but chose hockey because he felt he wasn’t a strong hitter. He accepted a full scholarship to Boston College and was drafted in 1983. After college, he joined the U.S. National Team, playing at the 1987 World Championships and the 1988 Winter Olympics. In the 1987–88 season, he posted 45 points in 44 games.

Stevens debuted with the Penguins late in the 1987–88 season and split the 1988–89 campaign between Pittsburgh and the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL. Starting in 1989–90, he emerged as a top left wing and power forward, recording 29 goals and 41 assists for 70 points with 171 penalty minutes. The next season, he scored 40 goals and 46 assists, earning an All-Star Game selection and Second-Team NHL honors. In the 1991 playoffs, he led the Penguins with 17 goals and added 16 assists, tying for the third-most goals in a single postseason in NHL history. After falling behind 2–0 in the conference finals against Boston, Stevens publicly guaranteed a series win; the Penguins took the next four games, with Stevens scoring in game three and adding three more goals over the next two games.

In 1991–92, Stevens peaked with 54 goals and 69 assists for 123 points, second in the league behind Lemieux. He became the fastest American-born player to reach 50 goals, doing so in his 62nd game, and joined Gary Roberts as the first players to record a 50-goal season with 200 penalty minutes. His 123 points set a record for most points by an American-born player and a left wing in a single season. He finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting and was named to the First All-Star Team. During both Stanley Cup runs, Stevens was the only Penguin to play every regular-season and playoff game. In the 1992 playoffs, he scored 13 goals, including a hat trick in the first period of game three of the conference finals against Boston. The Penguins swept the Bruins and then the Chicago Blackhawks for their second straight Cup.

The following season, Stevens scored 55 goals and 56 assists for 111 points in 72 games, earning Second-Team honors. His 55 goals tied Jimmy Carson’s mark for most by a U.S.-born player in a single season, a record that stood until Auston Matthews broke it in 2022. On May 14, 1993, in game seven of the Patrick Division finals against the New York Islanders, Stevens checked defenseman Rich Pilon so hard that he knocked himself unconscious. He landed face-first on the ice, shattering most of the bones in his face. He lay on the ice for six minutes before being stretchered off and underwent extensive reconstructive surgery, including an ear-to-ear incision closed with over 100 stitches. He returned for a strong 1993–94 season (41 goals, 47 assists) before being traded the next year.

In 1995, Stevens was sent to the Boston Bruins along with Shawn McEachern for Glen Murray and Bryan Smolinski. He was never given a chance to succeed in Boston except in preseason when he was paired with Adam Oates.