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.

From Madison, Wisconsin, Phil Kessel had a very successful career in the NHL, where he became the league’s “Iron Man”, setting a record for consecutive games played with 1,064.  As impressive as that accomplishment is, the other former players who had achieved that record over the previous decades were not the scorer that Kessel was.

Kessel was the 2006 WCHA Rookie of the Year in his lone year at the University of Minnesota, and the Boston Bruins were impressed enough to draft him with the fifth pick of that year’s draft.  The Right Wing made the team quickly, but suffered a setback immediately when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.   He would beat it, and as a rookie, he won the Bill Masterton Trophy.  Kessel played two more years in Boston and was a player on the rise, but that would take place elsewhere.  The Toronto Maple Leafs traded two first-round and one second-round pick for Kessel before the 2009-10 Season began.

Kessel was a top scorer in Toronto, going to three All-Star Games and posting four 30-Goal seasons.  Despite this, the Leaf fans turned on Kessel due to a perceived bad attitude and poor diet.  In the hockey-mad city of Toronto, Kessel became the scapegoat for the Leafs' failures.  He was traded to Pittsburgh in 2015 and played a significant role in the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017, and in the latter win, he mocked his own poor diet by filling the Cup with hot dogs, which he then proceeded to eat.  He would later have his best season in hockey, posting a career-best 92 Points in 2017-18, and in 2018-19, he led the NHL in Game-Winning Goals with 10.

He continued to play a few more seasons, but his skills began to decline.  In his final NHL campaign, Kessel won his third Stanley Cup as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.

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 have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023-24 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 looked to have thrown in the towel but rallied to make the playoffs, helped by a push by their veteran core.  We have several elevations and one new entrant.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes, though there is still news regarding the top group:

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

You can find the entire list here.

Crosby remains #2 but is closing in on the Hall of Famer, Mario Lemieux. 

Evgeni Malkin has a more arduous task. He was #3 last year, but overtaking Crosby and Lemieux seems like a tall order.

Like Malkin, Defenseman Kris Letang is in the same spot (#5) as last year and is unlikely to get past Jagr anytime soon.

Jake Guentzel, now with Tampa Bay, moved up two spots to #14.

Bryan Rust advanced three spots to #24.

Goalie Tristan Jarry moved up to #32 from #38.

Defenseman Marcus Pettersson makes his debut at #49

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

Marcus Pettersson was drafted by Anaheim in 2014, debuted for the Ducks four years later, but was traded to the Penguins during the 2018-19 season.

Pettersson was with Pittsburgh for over six years and proved to be dependable on lockdown defense.  The Blueliner had his best offensive year in 2023-24 with career highs in Points (30) and a plus/Minus (+28), but despite the improvement, the Penguins went into selling mode and dealt the Defenseman to the Vancouver Canucks during the 2024-25 campaign.

With the Penguins, Pettersson had 141 Points with a Plus/Minus of +68.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 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 not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Pittsburgh missed out on the playoffs, but there were still a pair of new entrants and some elevations. 

As always, we present our top five, which saw some changes:

1. Mario Lemieux

2. Sidney Crosby

3. Evgeni Malkin

4. Jaromir Jagr

5. Kris Letang

You can find the entire list here.

In the top five, Malkin overtook Jagr for the #3 spot in a reversal of the former Hart Trophy winners.  Letang remains at #5.

Center, Jake Guentzel, climbed to #16 from #23 and Right Wing, Bryan Rust, moved to #27 from #31.

The new entries were Defenseman, Brian Dumoulin and Goalie, Tristan Jarry at #37 and #38 respectively.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

A Second Round Pick in 2013, Tristan Jarry first made it to the Penguins in 2016, and was bouncing back and forth between the NHL and AHL for three years.  Jarry won the starting job in 2019/20, and posted a 2.43 GAA with a seventh-place finish in Vezina voting.

Jarry solidified himself as one of the better Goalies in the NHL, going to the All-Star Game in both 2020 and 2022. He would again finish seventh in Vezina voting in 2021/22, where he was sixth in GAA (2.42).  Still with Pittsburgh, Jarry’s rank could catapult with a top-five performance in net.

Brian Dumoulin was a Second Round Pick by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2008, but the product of Boston College never played for the organization as he was traded to Pittsburgh three years later while playing for the Eagles.

The American Defenseman made his first appearance for Pittsburgh in the 2013/14 campaign, playing a handful of Games that year and the next before finding a permanent place on the finding a permanent place on the Pittsburgh blueline.  The traditional Defenseman helped the Pens win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, with the finesse-based player netting two 20-plus point years and a fifth-place finish in Plus/Minus (+31) in 2018/19.

Dumoulin ha his best offensive year in 2022/23 with 25 Points, which was also his last year in Western PA, as he signed with the Seattle Kraken in the offseason.  He had 139 Points over 546 Games as a Penguin.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is important to us that the

Pittsburgh Penguins will be retiring the number 68 of Jaromir Jagr on February 18.

Jagr scored 1,079 of his 1,733 career NHL Points with Pittsburgh, a team he played 11 seasons (1990-91 to 2000-01), won the 1998-Hart Trophy, five Art Ross Trophies and won two Stanley Cups (1991 & 1992).

Jagr currently owns the Kladno Knights of the Czech League, who he played for last year, and could still again, as he has not yet officially retired despite being 51.  The Hockey Hall of Fame does not consider a player eligible until he stopped playing hockey in all major competitive leagues, hence why Jagr, who last played in the NHL in 2018, is not yet inducted.

He will become the third player to have his number retired by the Penguins, following Michael Briere (#21) and Mario Lemieux (#66).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Jaromir Jagr for his impending honor.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2021/22 revision of our top 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 not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Pittsburgh were bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and they feature multiple player who are highly ranked.

As always, we present our top five:

1. Mario Lemieux

2. Sidney Crosby

3. Jaromir Jagr

4. Evgeni Malkin

5. Kris Letang

You can find the entire list here.

Crosby remains at #2 from last year, but is he close to overtaking Lemieux?  He already is the all-time franchise leader in Point Shares.

At #4 is Malkin, who is super close to surpassing Jagr for #3, but Letang, who is in his second year at #5, will not likely pass Malkin or Jagr this year.

An All-Star last year, Center, Jake Guentzel, moved up to #23 from #29.

Right Wing, Bryan Rust debuts at #31, but we acknowledge that he should have been ranked when we did our first list last year.  The addition of Rust knocks Ulf Samuelsson off the Top 50.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Tenacious and quick, Bryan Rust sounds about right when you think of a man from Pontiac, Michigan.

Rust played collegiately at Notre Dame, where the Right Wing was good enough to gain a Third Round selection by the Penguins, though it was four years later until he debuted for the parent club.  Playing sparingly until his third year, Rust aided the Pens in their 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup Championships, even winning the nickname of “Mr. Eliminator” for his penchant to score series-closing Goals.

In all of his last six seasons, Rust has scored at least 20 Goals, and last year he set personal bests in Goals (31) and Points (65).  How fortunate have the Penguins been to have him over the last decade?

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021-22 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 NHL. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Please note, that this is our first revision in in the last two years, and it has generated two new entries, and some slight elevations.

As always, we present our top five immediately, and there is a new #5.

1. Mario Lemieux

2. Sidney Crosby

3. Jaromir Jagr

4. Evgeni Malkin

5. Kris Letang

You can find the entire list here.

Letang overtook Marc-Andre Fleury for the #5 slot, and Crosby and Malkin, who are still with Pittsburgh notably stayed in the same spots.

Current Center, Jake Guentzel, enters at #29.  While this seems like a very high debut for a player who has yet to appear as an All-Star, it reflects the drop off after #20 on this list in terms of Penguins accomplishments.

Patric Hornqvist, who was traded to Florida last September, moved up to spots to #30.

The second new addition is Goalie, Matt Murray, who won two Stanley Cups, at #38.  He is now with Ottawa.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Usually, Goalies are not unsung heroes in Stanley Cup wins, but a case could be made that Matt Murray falls into this category.

Murray toiled in the minors for two years before he was called up late in the 2015-16 Season, and he logged almost all of the minutes in between the pipes during the Penguins' Stanley Cup win.  The Penguins also had Marc-Andre Fleury, who was arguably the better Goalie, but he was injured. Murray looked like a superstar on the rise, though it was Sidney Crosby and company that gained the bulk of the attention.

Although he was already a Stanley Cup Champion, Murray was Calder eligible, finishing fourth for the honor and securing an All-Rookie nod with a 2.41 GAA and .923 Save Percentage, his best year in Pittsburgh.  The Penguins again repeated as Stanley Cup Champions, though they shared netminding duties with Fleury in their repeat.

Despite his youth, Murray seemed to regress and dealt with concussion issues.  After two more years in Pittsburgh, Murray was traded to the Ottawa Senators.  As a Penguin, Murray won two Cups and had a very good record of 117-53-19.

You don’t think of Omaha, Nebraska, as a hockey hotbed, but it was in Cornhusker territory where Jake Guentzel came from.  

The Nebraskan stayed in state, competing collegiately for the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and while this was not a hockey powerhouse, Guentzel impressed in college, bringing the school to their first Frozen Four.  Taken in the Third Round of the NHL Draft years before, Guentzel joined the Penguins in 2016, making the team after a brief stop in the AHL, and he would play a large role in the Penguins in their 2017 Stanley Cup win, where he led all skaters in Goals (13) and Even-Strength Goals (11).

The Center had 48 Points in its first full year (2017-18), and it increased that to 76 the following year.  In the last three years, Guentzel has averaged over a point per game, specifically 184 Points in 171 Games.  Guentzel went to his first All-Star Game in 2021/22, and tied his previous best of 40 Goals, and had 73 Points in 2022/23.

Although Guentzel was still performing at a point-per-game level in 2023-24 (52 Points and 50 Games), the Penguins, who were struggling, traded him to the Carolina Panthers at the trade dealine.  With Pittsburgh, Guentzel compiled 466 Points in 503 Games.

It is hard for many fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins to imagine this now, but for many years in the pre-Mario Lemieux era, Western Pennsylvania did not have a very good professional hockey team, and they almost lost their franchise.  One of the few bright spots of the Pens was Rick Kehoe, who was a two-time All-Star (1981 & 1983), a former 50 Goal scorer, and a three-time franchise leader in Points.  The Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1981 would score 767 Points over his career and would have had an outside shot at 1,000 had he not suffered a career-ending neck injury in the 1984/85 season.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins were part of the first wave of expansion in 1967, and they were off to a horrible start.  When they did make the playoffs, they were often bounced early, and fans grew tired. By 1983, the Penguins were close to folding or relocation, but then the words happened: 

Mario Lemieux.

Lemieux became an instant superstar and a must-watch team.  His existence saved the franchise, and with the addition of Jaromir Jagr and other stars, the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. 

Years later, with the Penguins in financial trouble again, Lemieux would buy the team and save it the organization from the same fate it had years before.  With the top pick in 2005, they chose Sidney Crosby, and with him and later Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins would win the Stanley Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

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 NHL.

3. Playoff accomplishments.

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

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2018-19 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Mario Lemieux

2. Sidney Crosby

3. Jaromir Jagr

4. Evgeni Malkin

5. Marc-Andre Fleury

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our All-Time Top 50 Chicago Cubs coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.

Petr Nedved arrived in Pittsburgh with a lot of baggage.  The former second overall pick was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, whose fans appreciated his skill, but not his soft play.  A contract dispute led to him being dealt to St. Louis, where he played for part of a season, before he went to the New York Rangers, where he failed to live up to expectations.  Still, there was so much talent in the Czech Center that the Penguins traded for him before the 1995-96 season.

As a player, Rick Tocchet is most closely associated with the other Pennsylvania hockey team, the Philadelphia Flyers, and he should consider that he spent four times longer there than he did with the Penguins.

John Cullen played college hockey at Boston University.  Although he was one of their best players, he went undrafted in the NHL.  Cullen left Boson University as the then all-time leading scorer, and he would try out for the Buffalo Sabres, who chose him in a Supplemental Draft.  He didn't make the Sabres, so Cullen would instead join Flint of the International Hockey League, wherein the 1987-88 season, he scored 157 Points.  As you can imagine, that turned many heads.

A native of Massachusetts, Ryan Whitney, played for Boston University and would be drafted in 2002 by the Penguins 5^th Overall in 2002.  The Defenseman would turn pro two years later, and after playing in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Pittsburgh’s AHL farm team), he debuted in 2005-06.