Athletes - Kevin Stevens

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	Athletes - Kevin Stevens

Kevin Stevens (Born on April 15, 1965 in Brockton, Massachusetts) is a retired NHL hockey player and current NHL Scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins who is best known for being the left wing for Mario Lemieux during the Pens Stanley Cup runs in the 1990/91 and 1991/92 seasons.

Kevin Stevens played hockey and was a catcher in baseball for the Silver Lake Lakers in high school, garnering 51 points in only 18 games in hockey. Stevens was so good at baseball, that he had been invited to tryout for both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies. However, admitting that he wasn't a great hitter in baseball, he decided to play hockey. Stevens accepted a full scholarship to play hockey for Boston College, and was drafted in the sixth round (108th overall) in the 1983 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Several months later, his rights would be traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Anders Hakansson, a left winger from Sweden who had recently been traded to the Penguins along with Ron Meighan from the Minnesota North Stars for the Pens' first round pick of the 1983 draft (Brian Lawton).

After four years at Boston College (where he would amass 170 points in 158 games), Stevens joined the U.S. National Team under the direction of famed head coach Herb Brooks, where his play steadily improved over his time with the team (he finished with 45 points in 44 games). When Stevens joined the Pens later that year, he scored his first goal in his first game in the NHL.

After a year of jumping back and forth from the NHL and the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL and several good seasons for the Penguins, Stevens was placed on the first line of the team along with Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, making one of the most fearsome lines in hockey for several years and being a key component to the Penguins' Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. During this time he picked up his nickname, "Artie."

After a few more seasons in Pittsburgh, Stevens was traded to the Boston Bruins along with Shawn McEachern for Glen Murray and Bryan Smolinski. After being traded from the Penguins, he never reached the success that he had with being on a line with Lemieux and Jagr. After "disappointing" in Boston with 23 points in 41 games, he was traded to Los Angeles. Aftera dismal season, he was traded to the New York Rangers, where he would experience several solid seasons, but it still did not match the expectations levied on him when he played for Pittsburgh.

During the 1999/2000 season, Stevens would hit rock bottom in his NHL career. Not only did he rarely see the ice during this season, but after a game against the St. Louis Blues, he was caught in a St. Louis motel with a prostitute and crack cocaine, supposedly bought with stolen meal money from the Rangers. After this humiliating event, Stevens entered the NHL Substance Abuse Program. After being released from the program, he would play a brief stint with the Philadelphia Flyers before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second time. After one decent season and another season where he rarely received playing time, he retired from the NHL.

On September 1, 2005, Stevens began his NHL career off the ice as he was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as a scout.

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