About Pittsburgh Penguins
The franchise was formed in 1967 and as many new teams it went through the growing pains. Eventually things got better and the Penguins were a regular playoff team through the seventies. The eighties returned the team to initial struggles just for the team to bounce back up in big style to win back to back titles in 1991 and 1992.
The franchise was back to its easier regular postseason appearances with few years early in the 21st century where the form dipped a bit just to get back in shape by going two two back to back finals in 2008 and 2009 winning the latter thus giving the franchise, its third Stanley Cup.
To four Conference championships the team can add 8 division titles and one Presidents’ Trophy won in 1993.
Since the league’s realignment in 2013 the team are members of Metropolitan Division in Eastern Conference and despite its short existence the Penguins already have one division championship to their name here.
The team’s colours are black, las vegas gold and white and they are represented by very popular and beloved by the NHL fans mascot, Iceburgh.
Mike Sullivan, the former center who played for several NHL teams, is the head coach of the Penguins. He joined the franchise in 2015 and is yet to record a big success to his name.
Marc- Andre Fleury is the team’s first option at goaltending duties as he was the franchise’s first pick in 2003 draft. He spent his NHL career with the Penguins and was part of the team that won the Stanley Cup. In his time with the franchise he was awarded the team’s MVP in 2011 and his play earned him two trips to NHL All-Star games.
Sidney Crosby (center) serves as the team captain. He is another first overall draft pick who has spent all his NHL with the team and he didn’t wait long to prove the franchise choosing him was a great move as in his only second season in NHL he led the league in points scored earning himself Art Ross Trophy thus becoming the youngest player and the only teenager to win a scoring title in any major North American sports league.
The same season he was named to Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL MVP and Lester B. Pearson Trophy awarded by the association of NHL players becoming the only 7th player to win these three awards in one season. Couple of years later he became the youngest team captain in NHL history to win the championship.
But he can’t do it all by himself, and that’s where the second pick of 2004 draft comes into play in person of Evgeni Malkin (center/right wing) who is well known for his remarkable skill set and a great player to execute plays when they’re needed.
He has two Art Ross Trophies to his names, Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year), and Hart Memorial Trophy (NHL MVP), and few others.
It looks like poor form of the Penguins at the beginning of the century resulted in few high draft picks which the team invested very well and now the franchise is enjoying high level of play by their home grown talents. It’s hard not see the team to be competitive with the very talented trio of players.
