Mark Madden: On 30th anniversary of trade, Ulf Samuelsson remembered as Penguins X-factor

Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Ham is arguably the greatest outside linebacker of all time, right there with Lawrence Taylor. Ham once told me if New Orleans had drafted him instead of Pittsburgh, no one would have ever heard of him.

He’s right. For athletes, it’s about where you play as much as how you play.

This week (specifically Thursday) is the 30th anniversary of the trade that brought center Ron Francis and defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings from Hartford to Pittsburgh. The Stanley Cup followed nearly three months later, the first of five for the Penguins.

Francis was the best player acquired. He’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame and sits fifth among the NHL’s all-time leading scorers.

But Samuelsson was the X-factor. He had huge, very tangible impact. He is a perfect example of a perfect fit. If Samuelsson had stayed in Hartford, he’d have stayed anonymous.

Samuelsson personified in-your-face, except he often got you from behind. At 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, he was physical, dirty, merciless and uncompromising. Samuelsson was christened “Jack Lambert on skates,” great PR in a city where the Steelers are king. (Lambert was also lucky New Orleans didn’t draft him. Joe Greene was the most foolproof of those ’70s Steelers.)

In the 1991 Eastern Conference final, Samuelsson and Boston winger Cam Neely butted heads like bighorn sheep. It was an epic individual battle. Samuelsson got Neely with a knee-on-knee hit in Game 3. Boston coach Mike Milbury went berserk. Neely was permanently hobbled.

Neely finished the series but missed many more games than he played over the next five seasons before his career ended too soon at 30.

Boston won the series’ first two games. The Penguins won the next four. Samuelsson ruined Neely and demoralized the Bruins. That wasn’t Samuelsson’s only contribution to the Penguins winning Cups in 1991 and ’92. But it was a big one, if not necessarily a proud one.

If Samuelsson stays with Hartford, he never gets the opportunity to play in a situation like that. A player utilizing Samuelsson’s style is useless to a bad team. It doesn’t accomplish anything. You’re just a villain. With a championship team, you’re a gladiator.

Within that trade’s context, Samuelsson is second fiddle to Francis. But he’s not forgotten.

John Cullen, who went to Hartford, largely is.

The Hockey News, among others, thought the Whalers won that trade initially. That’s because defenseman Zarley Zalapski was just 22, had first-round pedigree and a lot of tools.

But it was mostly because Cullen was on his way to a career-best 110 points. He finished fifth among NHL scorers, had 23 more points than Francis and was the Penguins’ offensive fulcrum that season while Mario Lemieux was sidelined until late January after having back surgery.

The Penguins plucked him out of the now-defunct International Hockey League as a free agent in 1988. Cullen’s resume wasn’t overwhelming to that point.

But Cullen was a smart, skilled, fiery player with great vision and a knack for playmaking. He meshed perfectly on a line with Mark Recchi and Kevin Stevens.

Lemieux and Francis were a dynamic duo for the ages at center.

But Lemieux and Cullen were also an effective 1-2 punch when Lemieux was healthy. In 1989-90, Lemieux had 123 points in 59 games, Cullen 92 points in 72 games.

It’s not absurd to think the Penguins could have won the Stanley Cup in ’91 without making that deal. But it’s accurate to say that the years gave them a marked edge in that trade.

Cullen didn’t get his name on the Stanley Cup in 1991. But most of those who did knew how much he meant to that team.