THE The Pittsburgh Penguins“The history of the organization is full of great players, and we decided to take a look back at the best Penguins players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best No. 31 in Penguins history.
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There have been 12 players to wear number 31 for the Penguins and, much like number 30, all were goaltenders except one, which was left winger Carl Mokosak in 1987. Nick Ricci, Ron Tugnutt and Sebastien Caron have all worn number 31.
And that’s also what the big winner of this edition did: Ken Wregget.
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Wregget, one of the few long-time Penguins goaltenders in franchise history, wore a Penguins jersey from 1992 to 1998. He was drafted by the Penguins Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. He spent parts of six seasons with the Leafs before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1989 and then, finally, to the Penguins during the 1991-92 season.
Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #30
A large part of his mandate at Pittsburgh He served as a backup to Tom Barrasso, but due to some injuries and poor play from Barrasso, he played in a good portion of the games during those years.
Oddly enough, Wregget got better as he got older and stayed on the team longer. The best seasons were from 1994 to 1998when he posted a combined save percentage of .904 (SV%), a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.11 and a record of 65-45-12.
Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #29
Perhaps his most famous save came on a penalty shot in overtime in Game 4 of the 1996 playoffs against the Capitalsthat prevented the Capitals from taking a 3-1 series lead, gave the Penguins a quadruple overtime victory and catapulted them to three straight wins to clinch the series in six games:
After the Penguins, Wregget went on to play one season in Calgary and a season in Detroithis season in Calgary being the best of his career at age 34 (2.53 GAA, .906 SV%).
He retired after the 1999–2000 season with a 3.63 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.
Honorable mentions: Carl Mokosak, Sébastien Caron
