And the opposition focused on neutralizing Lemieux which created other lines a lot more space. Besides Stevens-Lemieux-Jágr was hardly ever a thing, just as well Francis played with Lemieux or indeed Stevens (and Jágr). Especially on PP even Stevens-Lemieux-Francis quite a lot.C’mon man. Stevens played with Jagr and Lemieux while Francis played the other teams’ top lines. Anyone who watched that Pens team knows Francis was more important to it than Stevens.
The all star selections are tougher for Francis as well as he was up against Mario, Wayne, Steve Y, and Sakic.
If you want to know the quality of player Stevens really was, take a look at how he did on other teams where he didn’t play with Mario and Jagr. Away from Pitts Francis still scored over 100 whereas Steven’s career high is 43.
Stevens was a good and physical complementary winger who had the two best line mates in history while Francis was a two-way play driving star.