A little earlier today, a friend of mine texted me the news that Leon Draisaitl was about to sign an 8-year, $14 million per year contract with the Oilers. It wasn’t too long before the confirmation of that rumor hit the internet. I guess I am beginning to get desensitized to obscenely excessive dollars and terms contracts being thrown about that at first, I didn’t blink an eye. However, as I had time to ruminate on the latest long-term, big-money contract I began to realize how lucky we were here in Pittsburgh. For nearly two decades now, we Penguins’ fans have been treated to not one but two generational talents, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and one other almost certain Hall of Famer, Kris Letang, who always cared more about the team than their own dollar-driven egos.
These three amigos always negotiated their way to team friendly deals that allowed their GMs plenty of Cap Space to build a team around them. Not all the GMs took advantage of the wiggle room afforded them by those mega stars. All too often, they squandered the Cap space with no help fossils.
As I thought about the careers of our big three and how they gave to us fans not only with their On – Ice brilliance, but their Off – Ice selflessness, I could help myself, I just felt a need to say a big Thank You!
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | Awards |
| 2005-06 | 81 | 39 | 63 | 102 | -1 | 110 | 1st Team All-Rookie |
| 2006-07 | 79 | 36 | 84 | 120 | 10 | 60 | 1st Team All Star, Hart, Pearson, Ross |
| 2007-08 | 53 | 24 | 48 | 72 | 18 | 39 | |
| 2008-09 | 77 | 33 | 70 | 103 | 3 | 76 | |
| 2009-10 | 81 | 51 | 58 | 109 | 15 | 71 | 2nd Team All Star, Messier, Richard |
| 2010-11 | 41 | 32 | 34 | 66 | 20 | 31 | |
| 2011-12 | 22 | 8 | 29 | 37 | 15 | 14 | |
| 2012-13 | 36 | 15 | 41 | 56 | 26 | 16 | 1st Team All Star, Pearson |
| 2013-14 | 80 | 36 | 68 | 104 | 18 | 46 | 1st Team All Star, Hart, Pearson, Ross |
| 2014-15 | 77 | 28 | 56 | 84 | 5 | 47 | 2nd Team All Star |
| 2015-16 | 80 | 36 | 49 | 85 | 19 | 42 | 1st Team All Star, Smythe |
| 2016-17 | 75 | 44 | 45 | 89 | 17 | 24 | 2nd Team All Star, Richard, Smythe |
| 2017-18 | 82 | 29 | 60 | 89 | 0 | 46 | |
| 2018-19 | 79 | 35 | 65 | 100 | 18 | 36 | 2nd Team All Star |
| 2019-20 | 41 | 16 | 31 | 47 | -8 | 15 | |
| 2020-21 | 55 | 24 | 38 | 62 | 8 | 26 | |
| 2021-22 | 69 | 31 | 53 | 84 | 19 | 32 | |
| 2022-23 | 82 | 33 | 60 | 93 | 8 | 52 | |
| 2023-24 | 82 | 42 | 52 | 94 | 7 | 40 | |
| Career | 1272 | 592 | 1004 | 1596 | 217 | 823 |
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | Awards |
| 2006-07 | 78 | 33 | 52 | 85 | 2 | 80 | 1st Team All-Rookie, Calder |
| 2007-08 | 82 | 47 | 59 | 106 | 16 | 78 | 1st Team All Star |
| 2008-09 | 82 | 35 | 78 | 113 | 17 | 80 | 1st Team All Star, Ross, Smythe |
| 2009-10 | 67 | 28 | 49 | 77 | -6 | 100 | |
| 2010-11 | 43 | 15 | 22 | 37 | -4 | 18 | |
| 2011-12 | 75 | 50 | 59 | 109 | 18 | 70 | 1st Team All Star, Hart, Pearson, Ross |
| 2012-13 | 31 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 5 | 36 | |
| 2013-14 | 60 | 23 | 49 | 72 | 10 | 62 | |
| 2014-15 | 69 | 28 | 42 | 70 | -2 | 60 | |
| 2015-16 | 57 | 27 | 31 | 58 | 1 | 65 | |
| 2016-17 | 62 | 33 | 39 | 72 | 18 | 77 | |
| 2017-18 | 78 | 42 | 56 | 98 | 16 | 87 | |
| 2018-19 | 68 | 21 | 51 | 72 | -25 | 89 | |
| 2019-20 | 55 | 25 | 49 | 74 | 7 | 58 | |
| 2020-21 | 33 | 8 | 20 | 28 | -4 | 24 | |
| 2021-22 | 41 | 20 | 22 | 42 | -10 | 24 | |
| 2022-23 | 82 | 27 | 56 | 83 | -12 | 82 | |
| 2023-24 | 82 | 27 | 40 | 67 | 5 | 70 | |
| Career | 1145 | 498 | 798 | 1296 | 52 | 1160 |
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | Awards |
| 2006-07 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 4 | |
| 2007-08 | 63 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -1 | 23 | |
| 2008-09 | 74 | 10 | 23 | 33 | -7 | 24 | |
| 2009-10 | 73 | 3 | 24 | 27 | 1 | 51 | |
| 2010-11 | 82 | 8 | 42 | 50 | 15 | 101 | |
| 2011-12 | 51 | 10 | 32 | 42 | 21 | 34 | |
| 2012-13 | 35 | 5 | 33 | 38 | 16 | 8 | 2nd Team All Star |
| 2013-14 | 37 | 11 | 11 | 22 | -8 | 16 | |
| 2014-15 | 69 | 11 | 43 | 54 | 12 | 79 | |
| 2015-16 | 71 | 16 | 51 | 67 | 9 | 66 | 2nd Team All Star |
| 2016-17 | 41 | 5 | 29 | 34 | 2 | 32 | |
| 2017-18 | 79 | 9 | 42 | 51 | -9 | 56 | |
| 2018-19 | 65 | 16 | 40 | 56 | 13 | 48 | |
| 2019-20 | 61 | 15 | 29 | 44 | 0 | 38 | |
| 2020-21 | 55 | 7 | 38 | 45 | 19 | 32 | |
| 2021-22 | 78 | 10 | 58 | 68 | 20 | 49 | |
| 2022-23 | 64 | 12 | 29 | 41 | -13 | 30 | Masterton |
| 2023-24 | 82 | 10 | 41 | 51 | 13 | 62 | |
| Career | 1087 | 166 | 576 | 742 | 100 | 753 |
Thank You for thinking about team first so that we fans could watch the three of you all these seasons
Hey Other Rick,
I second your sentiments! We’ve, indeed, been blessed to watch these terrific players all these years. Although some would beg to differ, we’ve been double-blessed that Geno and Tanger probably took less than they could’ve gotten on the open market a couple of seasons back to stay put. Unfortunately, we just haven’t been able to surround them with an effective supporting cast.
I don’t know what the future holds for our Pens. I was (greatly) encouraged by the McGroarty acquisition, drafting a battler like Tanner Howe in the second round and signing Sergei Murashov…perhaps our next great goalie. There are a smattering of other prospects (Ponomarev, Koivunen, Blomqvist and Broz) in the pipeline where there once were none. However, the next few years are likely to be a struggle…especially if we aren’t able to land a franchise-level player in the draft (like Gavin McKenna).
It could be quite a while before we have another run like we’ve enjoyed with Sid, Geno and Tanger serving as our core. Enjoy ’em while they’re still here. And, as you suggest, thank ’em, too.
Rick