Re: Pens
Two words: Mario Lemieux
Of course the Pens did tank to get Lemieux in ‘84, it’s a strategy that paid off but not immediately. The Pens didn’t seem good until the late 80’s with Lemieux and that record breaking season and that’s when the fans came. I think most of the current fan base were kids during this time. It takes awhile to build a fan base.
Pittsburgh almost lost the team to Kansas City a while back in the pre-Crosby days. People sometimes forget that Lemieux had to come out of retirement in 2000 just to rescue the team.