The Penguins have been around for a long time at this point. They have been pretty successful, too. Since becoming a team in 1967 they have the second most Stanley Cups of any franchise with five. Only Montreal (10) has more and Edmonton with five is tied with Pittsburgh.
When you combine the time the Penguins have been around with the success they’ve had you have a lot of really good players that have come through the ranks. Given the pool of players to choose from I thought I would have a little fun with creating two rosters from the wealth of players they’ve had.
I saw an interesting question posed about the Buffalo Sabres
I thought it would be fun to do something similar with the Penguins. It will look a little different because there is no way to split up the jersey numbers the way they did with the Sabres and come away with two fair teams. The Penguins are unique in that they are LOADED with historical talent in the higher numbers. Even if you break things off at 69 or 70 so Lemieux and Jagr don’t get Crosby and Malkin on their team you don’t have enough players to fill out two full rosters. Instead, I am going to split things up a little differently. Odd jersey numbers versus even jersey numbers. Some of these players have worn multiple numbers with the Penguins and I am using my better judgment on which number that player is best known for with the Penguins. For example Sergei Zubov technically wore #3, but his 56 is better known. Ron Francis wore #9, but is definitely known for wearing 10.
I am trying to create the best 20 man roster. Some players might be slightly out of position. It is OK to have two players with the same number on the team. It only matters if the number is odd or even for which team they play on.
I’m only taking into consideration their time on the Penguins. So bad news for someone like Markus Naslund who was amazing, but not with the Penguins.
I’m also under the impression this game is going to be wide open and a run and gun style given all the offensive talent. Let’s be honest, the Pittsburgh Penguins have never been known for their defensive prowess.
I will have four forward lines, three pairs of defensemen, and two goalies.
You can vote on which team you think would win a best out of seven series at the end
So here goes nothing. Let’s start with Team Odd
Forwards
We are really leaning into the salary cap era for the core members of the forward group. The legendary trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal will reprise their roles on the depth chart which became almost impossible for opponents to match up with during their time together.
The top line is certainly not lacking in creativity nor the physical ability to utilize that creativity. Alexei Kovalev may be the most gifted puck handler on either team and the idea of Sidney Crosby creating time and space for him and vice versa is really fun to think about. Kovalev is obviously well known for his legendary snap shot and finishing ability, but Jake Guentzel is right there with him in finishing ability even if he goes about it in a different way. Jake has a 16.2 shooting percentage as a Penguin while Kovalev’s was 12.3%. Sid has no shortage of help to finish off his historically great passing.
The second line is certainly full of personality. Kevin Stevens is going to be a beast alongside Evgeni Malkin. Malkin is the closest in style to Mario Lemieux we’ve seen since the big guy retired and we know how Stevens meshed with 66. Malkin and Kessel are a known commodity and when things were going good with those two they were going really good. Phil is not only going to contribute at 5v5, but he is going to find himself on the left wall on the top power play. Doing so on this team is quite an honor considering all the talent.
Third line won’t be flashy, but they will get things done. Petr Nedved is remembered for one of the most famous goals in franchise history when he scored in the fourth overtime against Washington in 1996. He also deserves to be remembered as an offensive beast. He had 170 points in 152 games as a Penguin. Joe Mullen had the record for most goals scored in league history as an American for a while and he had 153 of his 502 goals with the Penguins. Jordan Staal at his best can defend against almost any line thrown his way and it is a good thing he can because he might be drawing the Lemieux-Jagr assignment. At least he has the size to have a puncher’s chance (but probably not haha).
The fourth line digs further back into the team’s history with Jean Provovost who should blend nicely with the seasoned Bryan Trottier. Alexei Morozov deserves his spot in the starting lineup. We never got to see him at his full powers. He left for the KHL by the time the Penguins could surround him with a good team. Although, I was very tempted to put Ziggy Palffy’s 2005-06 point per game performance in that slot. I don’t think he would quit this team.
Defense
No shortage of talent on the blue line here. The Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy pairing is legendary from the first Cup run and combines two Hall of Fame talents. Paul Coffey was a point per game player with Pittsburgh which is always a remarkable achievement as a defenseman. Larry Murphy came close with 301 points in 336 games in Pittsburgh. This is a hilariously gifted pairing.
The second pairing has a Norris Trophy winning Carlyle and one of the best free agent signings of the Crosby era in Gonchar. The puck is going to get to the forwards with Carlyle and Gonchar and lead to many wonderful controlled zone exits and entries. To have this as a second pairing is quite the luxury even if Gonchar is playing on the right side.
The third pairing could have gone in a lot of different directions as you can see from the honorable mentions list. Ron Stackhouse was consistently good in the 70’s for the Penguins and deserves his slot. Darius Kasparaitis is a combination between Paul Martin and Ulf Samuelsson. Pound for pound he is one of the most talented hitters in the history of the game. His puck skills are good enough to transition things up to the talented forwards. There is also some personal bias here. He is a personal favorite of mine. Plus, he has a history of getting under Mario Lemieux’s skin which will come in handy in this hypothetical seven game series.
Goaltenders
This was very easy and straight forward. You have the two goalies who had the best careers as a Penguin. Fleury gets the nod to start. He is just more physically gifted even if he plays the puck like a live grenade while Barrasso can fling saucer passes on the tape to a player in stride at the far blue line. Their personalities are as much of a polar opposite as their puck handling. Fleury is a gem of a human being and Barrasso, well, not so much. We’ll see how Barrasso handles being told he is the backup. Both of these goalies have the ability to be awesome and both can crumble so it is a wild card on what performance you will get on any given night.
To no surprise Team Odd is going to have a hell of a power play. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will be joined by Alexei Kovalev, Phil Kessel, and Paul Coffey. We know how great the trio of Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel are on the power play. They provided some of the finest play this franchise has ever seen on the power play and that is saying something. Now consider them getting a supercharged upgrade on the point with Coffey and Kovalev. Phil is going to do his thing on the half wall on the left side. Malkin gets to go to his natural home on the right circle. Sid is going to play down low and be the most talented bulldog the sport has ever scene. He is going to tip everything, win every puck battle, and his passing below the goal line is going to create some of the most fear inducing scenarios the penalty killers will have to navigate. Kovalev and Coffey are going to do whatever they damn well please up top while setting up those forwards. Godspeed to the penalty killers stopping this power play breakout.
Let’s see if the even squad can hold their own
Forwards
Well that first line isn’t too shabby. You have the best duo of all-time in Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. I’m not really sure anybody else is close. Yeah, Gretzky and Kurri, but also Lemieux-Jagr played against real goalies and defensemen in the dead puck era. Add Rick Tocchet to the mix and you not only have a lot of skill, but a lot of physicality to deal with. Tocchet is feistier in the traditional sense while Lemieux and Jagr are like graceful redwood trees. Good luck handling that line.
The second line has one of the best centers to ever play the game in Ron Francis. I was tempted to recreate the Francis-Lemieux-Jagr line from 1995-96, but didn’t have the center depth to pull it off. Mark Recchi had a few stints with the Penguins, but we are using the early 90’s version here where he was well over a point per game including a season with 113 points in 78 games. Marian Hossa wasn’t with the Penguins long, but he was elite and in the prime of his career. He was a phenomenal Penguin even if it was short lived. This is why he makes the roster and a player like Markus Naslund does not. There is no shortage of hockey IQ or passing ability on this second line.
The third line almost revives one of the best second lines the Penguins have ever had. Martin Straka joins forces again with Robert Lang. Alexei Kovalev did wear number 72 with the Penguins and I would have LOVED to place him here, but the #72 version of Kovalev wasn’t exactly going to take over the #27 one on the other roster. Rick Kehoe will instead take his place and he is no slouch even though he is often forgotten about. In 722 games with the Penguins Kehoe had 636 points including five 30 goal seasons. In 1980-81 he had 55 goals. He’ll slot in just fine in the Kovalev slot with Straka and Lang.
The fourth line should be able to put up some points. Chris Kunitz certainly benefited from playing with Sidney Crosby for the majority of his career, but he was really good in his own right. There is a reason he was stapled to Sid’s line. I am making a controversial pick by putting Neal here over Hornqvist. The Penguins made the right decision in real life by swapping Neal for Hornqvist. The results speak for themselves. However, this is a hypothetical seven game series. Neal has more puck skills and I think he is the better fit with this made up lineup. I think people forget just how good Neal was with the Penguins because things ended on a sour note. He had 184 points in 199 games with the Penguins including 89 goals. His shot was at its peak powers in Pittsburgh. His 40 goals and 81 points in 2011-12 dwarfs any individual season Hornqvist had as a Penguin where he topped out at 53 points. Hornqvist also isn’t playing on the top power play on this team so one of the most valuable things he does won’t even be applicable. Syl Apps is another Penguin from the early years that can’t be ignored. He was over a point per game as a Penguins putting up 500 points in 495 games. He is currently 10th on the all-time point list among Penguins players. He rounds out the center depth nicely here and should be able to feed off of the different skill sets Kunitz and Neal bring
Defense
Team Even has some quality defenders, but at a first glance this is one area where the Team Odd has an advantage. We have an excellent top pairing. In fact, it is one of the better pairings in the modern game, analytically speaking. Kris Letang is the best Penguins defender in franchise history, but Brian Dumoulin is not Paul Coffey. The fact Dumoulin is probably the best natural left defender Team Even shows how thin things are compared to the other group.
I love the irony of the second pairing. Both of these players were traded for one another. Sergei Zubov is playing the left side because Sergei Zubov is amazing and can play wherever the hell you want him to play. I wish there was a timeline where the Penguins didn’t trade him after one season. The guy the Penguins did trade him for wasn’t bad. Kevin Hatcher was known for his physicality, but that isn’t all he could do. He had 140 points in 220 games as a Penguin. Those are decent offensive numbers at the defense position. Hatcher gets the right side for the mere fact he is nowhere close to the skater Zubov is. This is a very good pairing.
The third pairing is where things get dicey. Matt Niskanen is a perfectly good third pairing defenseman. We saw how great he was in that role when he teamed up with Olli Maatta in 2013-14. In fact, I think Niskanen might be solely responsible for why people thought Maatta was ever good in the first place. Niskanen’s skillset should blend in perfectly fine for what the forwards on this team need. Justin Schultz is certainly the wild card. I’m really leaning into his puck skills and skating and hoping for the 2015-17 version. He certainly has his warts and the end of his Penguins tenure was terrible for multiple reasons. Terrible might not even be harsh enough of an assessment. When you look at the honorable mentions you can see this isn’t an area where Team Even is thriving.
Goaltenders
While Fleury and Barrasso have had the better Penguins careers Matt Murray and Tomas Vokoun have strung together some of the strongest playoff performances in team history. Vokoun is one of the very best goalies of his era even though he never gets the credit for it. Playing on the Predators and Panthers have kept him from getting his proper due. He was a .933 goalie in his only playoff run with the Penguins. Matt Murray gets the start because Matt Murray was AMAZING in back to back years where the team won the Stanley Cup. He went .923 and .937 in those two seasons. While his play trailed off he never hit the lows Marc-Andre Fleury did in the playoffs. Murray’s next three years were .906, .908. and his last series against Montreal was .914 in a losing efforts. Notice there isn’t an 8 in front of any of those save percentages. Something Fleury “accomplished” on six separate years in the playoffs for Pittsburgh.
I think the goaltending between the two teams is pretty close to a tossup. You shouldn’t sleep on the Murray-Vokoun tandem, though.
Team Even is also going to have an amazing power play anchored by Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Does it even matter who the other three are on the power play. Is it possible to have a bad power play with Lemieux and Jagr on it? Good news for those two is that they are going to have three great players joining them. The three who will be on the top power play alongside 66 and 68 are going to be Ron Francis, Sergei Zubov, and Marian Hossa. Zubov and Francis will man the point while Lemieux and Jagr will play on their respective half walls. I thought about putting Tocchet in front of the net, but Marian Hossa is a beast in his own right and can handle that responsibility. Hossa also gets the nod for being more gifted with the puck and being able to play in any spot on the power play when there is inevitable player movement. Tocchet loses his spot because he is more one-dimensional. Martin Straka was also given high consideration to play the point, but Ron Francis is Ron Francis.
So now that you have seen both rosters it is time to try and figure out who would win this hypothetical seven games series. I thought it worked out nicely to have Lemieux/Jagr go up against Sid/Geno. The forward groups overall are really close. You are splitting hairs. However, nobody has a higher ceiling than a Lemieux/Jagr duo and if all things are equal you might not want to bet against 66. Especially, since in this hypothetical he is fully healthy at the height of his powers.
Team Odd has a distinct advantage on the blue line, but does it matter if they get a full serving of Lemieux/Jagr?
Goaltending is also really close. You have the longevity of Fleury and Barrasso versus the short but impressive stays of Murray and Vokoun. I think Murray/Vokoun has a higher floor and probably the higher celling as well. Truth be told I pity all four of these goaltenders. Good luck against these two teams!
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