The Toughest Penguins Ever: The Mighty Macs

The Penguins of the early 1980s weren’t very good. In fact, awful is a better way to describe them. The ’82-83 and ’83-84 “Boys of Winter” squads were the absolute pits, compiling a combined record of 34-111-15.One of their few distinctions? They were among the tougher squads to sport the black and gold.

Sick of watching his teams get bludgeoned by the likes of the Flyers and ultra-tough Bruins, GM Baz Bastien decided to fight fire with fire. The feisty ’81-82 club that came within a hairs-breadth of dethroning the two-time Cup champion Islanders boasted toughies such as penalty-king Paul Baxter, Pat Price and Russ Anderson on defense, reinforced by giant Paul Mulvey and scrappers Pat…