Categories: PenguinPoop

Our Penguins and We Fans Have Been Blessed

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	1^st Team All-Rookie
2006-07	79	36	84	120	10	60	1^st 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	2^nd 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	1^st Team All Star, Pearson
2013-14	80	36	68	104	18	46	1^st Team All Star, Hart, Pearson, Ross
2014-15	77	28	56	84	5	47	2^nd Team All Star
2015-16	80	36	49	85	19	42	1^st Team All Star, Smythe
2016-17	75	44	45	89	17	24	2^nd Team All Star, Richard, Smythe
2017-18	82	29	60	89	0	46
2018-19	79	35	65	100	18	36	2^nd 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

Captain Sidney Crosby’s Career Statistics

Season	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	Awards
2006-07	78	33	52	85	2	80	1^st Team All-Rookie, Calder
2007-08	82	47	59	106	16	78	1^st Team All Star
2008-09	82	35	78	113	17	80	1^st 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	1^st 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

Evgeni Malkin’s Career Statistics

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	2^nd 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	2^nd 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

Kris Letang’s Career Statistics

Thank You for thinking about team first so that we fans could watch the three of you all these seasons

The Other Rick

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View Comments

Rick Buker says:

September 3, 2024 at 7:36 pm

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