Bill Guerin - Playing Career

Playing Career

Guerin was drafted in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft fifth overall by the Devils and played with the team from 1991 to 1998.

Midway through the 1997-98 season, Guerin was traded (along with Valeri Zelepukin) to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Jason Arnott and Bryan Muir.

After a 41-goal season in 2001–02, he left the Bruins as a free agent and signed a five-year contract with the Dallas Stars. Guerin performed below expectations during his tenure with the Stars. After a disappointing season in 2005–06 where he notched only 40 points, Dallas decided to buy out the remainder of his contract. The conditions of buyouts in the NHL meant that the Stars would pay him two-thirds of the remaining salary on his contract spread out over twice as many years. This meant $6.7 million over one year became $4.4 million over 2 years.

On July 3, 2006, Guerin signed a one-year, $2 million dollar deal with the St Louis Blues. Playing on a line with former Oiler teammate Doug Weight, Guerin revived his career, easily eclipsing his disappointing goal-scoring mark from the 2005–06 season. He was named to the 2007 All-Star game (hosted by the Dallas Stars) to represent the Blues. Despite numerous criticisms of his play during his time as a Star, Guerin received a standing ovation from the Dallas fans in recognition as his status as a longtime fan favorite.

On February 2, 2007, Guerin became the 214th NHL player to play in 1,000 games.

On February 27, 2007, Guerin was traded to the San Jose Sharks for Ville Nieminen, prospect Jay Barriball, and a conditional first-round pick (either New Jersey's in 2007 or San Jose's in 2008).

On July 5, 2007, Guerin signed a two-year contract with the New York Islanders. On July 9, 2007, Guerin was named captain of the Islanders, making him the eleventh captain in team history.

On March 4, 2009 Guerin was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional draft pick. The pick, a 2009 fourth-round pick if the Penguins made the playoffs, was later turned into a 2009 third-round pick once the Penguins advanced to the second round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs.

On April 17, 2009 Guerin scored the overtime winning goal at 18:29 in the overtime period to put the Penguins up 2-0 in the playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Guerin won the Stanley Cup on June 12, 2009 with the Penguins, defeating the Detroit Red Wings, by a final score of 2-1 for Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena. His 14 years between Stanley Cups as a player was the third-longest wait in NHL history, behind Chris Chelios (16) and Mark Recchi (15).

After vocal encouragement for his return from the crowd and teammates at Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup parade on June 15, as well as expressing his own affection for the city and team, Guerin signed a one-year contract extension with the Penguins on June 29 at a greatly reduced salary, to play through the 2009–10 season.

He is the first player to have a 20-goal season with 7 different teams.

Ray Shero, the general manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins, decided not to offer Guerin a contract for the 2010-2011 season. On September 7, 2010 the Philadelphia Flyers invited Guerin to try out at training camp, However, on October 4, the Flyers released him prior to the start of the regular season.

On December 6, 2010, Guerin announced his retirement as a player from the NHL as a Pittsburgh Penguin. At the time of his retirement, Guerin ranked seventh all-time among Americans in the NHL with 429 goals.

On June 6, 2011, The Pittsburgh Penguins hired Guerin as their player development coach.