It was Pierre Turgeon’s first practice with the Islanders after he was sent to New York early in the 1991-92 season and Glenn Healy had a problem. His goalie pads weren’t big enough to stop Turgeon from scoring.
“I realized,” Healy told The Post over the phone, “I had to go out and get illegal pads. Something wasn’t working for me, so time to cheat. Pierre’s lighting me up like a Christmas tree — it’s time for Glenn Healy to cheat.”
The illegal pads were no better, but there was little shame in allowing Turgeon to score.
He would do so 40 times by the end of that season, then 58 more the next year — the most any Islander not named Mike Bossy has ever scored in a single season.
Turgeon, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, spent just two full seasons on Long Island between two blockbuster deals, one of which settled Pat LaFontaine’s trade demand by sending him to Buffalo for a package in which Turgeon was the centerpiece, the other of which sent Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov to Montreal for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby — a deal that helped usher the team’s entrance into the Mike Milbury era.
“Probably hastened my exit from Long Island by making that move,” Don Maloney, the Islanders’ general manager at the time, told The Post.
In between, Turgeon put together a 1992-93 season that stands as the best individual year for any Islander since the Dynasty for a team that, if not for one of the most plainly dirty hits in NHL history by Dale Hunter on Turgeon, might have been the only one to get past the conference finals for the Islanders since the Dynasty.
He played just 255 games out of 1,294 in his career for the Islanders. But Turgeon — who also had stints in St. Louis, Dallas and Colorado — is as forever welcome on Long Island as anyone whose number hangs in the UBS Arena rafters.
“His hockey IQ is off the charts,” Derek King, Turgeon’s linemate with the Islanders, told The Post. “What takes me five seconds to realize there’s a play, he does it in under a second. He’s so quick. He just reads things ahead of the time. He could score goals. He had that little quick wrister coming down the wing and could beat a goalie far side. He was great around the net.”
“He wasn’t overly physical, but strong on his skates, very strong on the puck,” Maloney said. “Very creative player, creative thinker, very good hockey mind.”
“Any point in any game, no matter what the shots, chances, penalties — no matter what any part of the game was, he could win the game for you,” Healy said. “He was our go-to guy who could break a game open all by himself.”
When Turgeon came to Long Island, it was not off the heels of Cup runs, but off three straight sub-.500 seasons.
During LaFontaine’s trade saga, Steve Yzerman was quoted as saying he would refuse to report if dealt to the Islanders, saying, “It doesn’t appear their team cares about winning.”
That is the culture Turgeon walked into and helped change almost instantly.
“I think the culture change happened quick,” King said. “You never know what you’re gonna get and I think management saw that and put some pieces together to make us a little more competitive. I thought it paid off.”
In Turgeon’s first full season with the Islanders, he scored 132 points and helped them sneak into the playoffs by beating New Jersey on the last day of the regular season.
He kept up the scoring pace in the first round against the Capitals, with four goals and four assists in six games.
But on the last of those goals, Hunter hit Turgeon from behind while he was celebrating — an offense for which he was eventually suspended 21 games after an outcry that included New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone calling for a criminal investigation.
Turgeon returned from a separated shoulder in time to get some fleeting minutes as the Islanders completed a miracle Game 7 win against the heavily favored Penguins in overtime. But he was far from himself and the Islanders went quietly against the Canadiens in the conference finals.
“We didn’t [have] that one guy where you give him nothing and he creates chicken salad out of chicken s—,” Healy said. “Pierre could do that. We just didn’t have him. But the fact he tried, he had every bit of respect from every player.”
That ended up being the last best chance for Turgeon to win a Stanley Cup in New York. His scoring dropped off the next season as speculation swirled that he was still affected by the shoulder and the Islanders were swept by the Rangers in the first round. By April 1995, Turgeon was in Montreal.
He never got a championship in a career that would go until 2006-07.
But Turgeon will receive eternal recognition on Monday.
“It was deserving,” King said. “I think it’s a great honor for him. A well-respected guy and even now that he’s retired, just one real good human being.”
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