Enjoying two runs (2018-21 & 2021-25) with the Jets, Mason Appleton filled every team’s need as the Center of a checking line, and/or a penalty kill, and as such, he often flew under the radar.

Appleton’s best year with Winnipeg was in 2023-24, when he had 36 Points, a plus-16 16 and 44 Blocked Shots.  Overall, he scored 121 Points in 351 Games with the Jets.

Pierre Luc-Dubois wanted to be traded out of Winnipeg, and the Jets were able to pull the trigger, netting three players and a pick for him.  One of those men was Gabriel Vilardi, and if it were one-for-one just for him, Winnipeg might be declared the winner of the deal.

Playing at Center, Vilardi’s puck skills and shooting have improved in Winnipeg in the brief two years he has played in the province of Manitoba.  Scoring 22 Goals in his first year as a Jet, he increased that to 27 last year, with 61 Points overall.  Proving his worth on the power play, Vilardi begins this season with a fresh six-year contract and a prime period to jump into.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we maintain and update our existing Top 50 lists annually.  As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024/25 revision of our top 50 Pittsburgh Penguins.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Penguins were unable to make the playoffs, but there were still two elevations based on the previous season.  There were no new entrants in the Top 50.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes, even though three active players are included. 

1. Mario Lemieux
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Evgeni Malkin
4. Jaromir Jagr
5. Kris Letang

You can find the entire list here.

Within the Top Five, Sidney Crosby is closing in on Mario Lemieux, but we feel he hasn’t supplanted him yet.  Behind Crosby, Evgeni Malkin held at #3, and Kris Letang remained at #5.

Right Wing Bryan Rust has broken into the top 20.  He was previously at #24.

Goalie Tristan Jarry advanced two spots to #30.

Defenseman Marcus Pettersson climbed six spots to #43.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Setting records with Saginaw in the OHL, Cole Perfetti parlayed that into Winnipeg’s tenth overall pick in the 2020 Draft.

Perfetti only needed one year to first crack into the Jets lineup, and he quickly showed his offensive versatility and patented wrist shot.  Last season, he scored 50 Points for the first time.  Although he begins this year on the shelf, when he returns, his PPG could be his greatest yet.