Rick Kehoe was one of the few bright spots in some awful Pittsburgh Penguins teams of the late 70s and early 80s.

Kevin Stevens played the first half of his NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it was in the Steel City where he easily had his best success.

Paul Coffey will always be known for what he did in Edmonton, but if you were to come up with a second team for Coffey (he actually played for nine NHL teams) it should be the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tom Barrasso may not have been the most natural person to like, but make no mistake that this is a Goaltender who is Hall of Fame worthy, a lot of which was due to what he accomplished in Pittsburgh.

Let's get this out of the way before we discuss more of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the pre-Mario Lemieux era is simply to state that they were not very good.  They would annually struggle to make the post-season, and they did not elicit excitement among hockey fans anywhere in the country, let alone in Western Pennsylvania.

When Ron Francis retired, he was second all-time in Assists with 1,249.  It needs to be mentioned that, 449 of them came as a Pittsburgh Penguin.

Larry Murphy played for six teams in his career in the National Hockey League, and it was with the Pittsburgh Penguins where he had his biggest batch of success.

Mark Recchi began his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where the fourth round pick immediately exceed expectations.  The Right Wing would have 67 Points in his first full season with the Pens (1989-90) and would break-out with a 113 Point campaign and helped Pittsburgh win their first Stanley Cup.  The following year was a little bittersweet as he was traded late in the season to Philadelphia in a blockbuster trade.  Recchi was named a Second Team All-Star that year, but the Penguins would win their second Stanley Cup that year.

Rob Brown began his NHL career with Pittsburgh when the 4^th Rounder debuted for the big club the year after.  Brown had a good rookie year scoring 44 Points, but he was on a line the season after with Mario Lemieux, and he took advantage of the golden opportunity.

Lowell MacDonald was claimed by the Los Angeles Kings in the Intra-League Draft, and realistically, there was no reason to believe that when the Penguins chose him that he would be a productive player in the NHL.  That being said, his was the strange expansion world of the 1970s, and that is precisely what he would become.  

Despite the fact that he was a proven scorer with the Maple Leafs, he was not a fan-favorite in Toronto, and as the Leafs were looking to rebuild anyway, Kessel was shopped around in the summer of 2015.  They found a taker in Pittsburgh, and it turned out to be one of the smartest transactions that the Penguins ever made.

Kris Letang has to date spent his entire professional hockey career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the organization has to be thrilled with the return on their 2005 Third Round Pick.  

Placing Jaromir Jagr only at number three seems so strange considering all that he accomplished there, but don’t think of this as a slight on Jagr. We ask you to view it as a testament to what Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby accomplished over their careers, and Jagr was only with Pittsburgh for roughly half of his career.  But what a half it was!

The city of Pittsburgh should erect as many statues as possible of Mario Lemieux.  If it wasn’t for him, there is a good chance that Pittsburgh Penguins would not exist today.  The Penguins did not draw well, and they were more often than not on the losing end, but everything changed when "Super Mario" was drafted first overall in the 1984 Draft.

Marc-Andre Fleury was the First Overall Draft Pick of 2003 would actually start in net for the Pittsburgh Penguins that year as an 18-year old, making him the youngest ever to start in between the pipes.  He would get better annually and would be the starting Goalie in the Pens Stanley Cup Championship in 2009.  While he was not a threat for the Vezina as a Penguin, he was a steady presence for Pittsburgh and a definite asset for Pittsburgh as they made their Championship runs.  He would help Pittsburgh win the 2016 Cup (though played sparingly due to post-concussion syndrome) and again in 2017, where he backstopped them to their fifth Championship.  

The Pittsburgh Penguins chose Evgeni Malkin with the second overall pick in 2004, but due to a transfer dispute between the NHL and the IIHF, Malkin could not report until the 2006/07 season.  The Russian star was worth the wait!

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the lottery to draft Sidney Crosby, who lived up to all of the enormous expectations that were placed upon him, and it took him no time to do it.  As a rookie, Crosby scored 102 Points and missed out on the Calder to Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals, a rivalry that still exists to this day.  Crosby would have no sophomore jinx with a 120 Point campaign, a Hart Trophy, A Ted Lindsay Award, an Art Ross Trophy, and, more importantly, q Stanley Cup RIng.

When Rick Tocchet entered the National Hockey League, he seemingly did so with the strength of his pugilistic skills. Tocchet still fought, but by his fourth season he emerged as an effective scorer as well. Tocchet was as hard nosed as they came and was the quintessential power forward of the game. The popular winger won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh and though he played for six different teams throughout his career he was always among the more popular. Tocchet did score a lot of points, but it may not have been enough to gain entry. Let’s hope that Rick Tocchet isn’t betting on his chances.

One of the better offensive defenseman of the 1980’s, Randy Carlyle saw his career take off when he got traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Carlyle won the coveted Norris Trophy in 1981 and was consistently among the top points performers amongst defensemen in the 80’s. Carlyle’s career pinnacle may have been as a head coach when he led the Anaheim Ducks to their first Stanley Cup in 2007. It is possible that should they combine his efforts on both sides of the bench, Carlyle could receive a solid look from the Hall.