THE Pittsburgh Penguins“The history of the organization has a plethora of great players, and we decided to go through top Penguins players will wear every jersey number. Today we continue the list by naming the best #81 in Penguins history.
Only two players in franchise history have worn the number 81, including Miroslav Satan, who was a good NHL player himself and had 17 goals and 36 points in 65 games with the Penguins.
But there was another number 81 who became a cult hero during back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017.
This cult hero? Forward Phil Kessel.
Kessel was drafted fifth overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2006 NHL Draft. He spent his first three seasons in the NHL there before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 18, 2009 for two first-round picks and one second-round pick.
He spent the next five seasons in Toronto, becoming one of the league’s true scorers. It was that pedigree that led then-Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford to trade for him in the summer of 2015.
Kessel had some of his best seasons in Pittsburgh — including his career-best season of 34 goals and 92 points in 2017-18 — but many of his most notable moments came during Cup runs.
One of which came during his two-goal performance against the capitals of Washington in 2016, when the Penguins won Game 6 and clinched the second-round series:
Kessel was also part of the iconic HBK line – along with Carl Hagelin and Nick Bonino – who stayed together throughout the playoffs and provided many memorable moments for the Penguins. In the 2016 playoffs, Kessel scored 10 goals and 22 points in 24 games and won his first Stanley Cup.
He also played a key role in their run in 2017, recording eight goals and 23 points in 25 games, primarily alongside Evgeni Malkin on the second line:
Kessel spent four seasons with the Penguins, scoring 110 goals and 303 points in 328 regular season games. He was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in the summer of 2019, and he spent three seasons there before spending his final NHL season (so far) with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23, when he won his third Stanley Cup.
During his NHL career, Kessel scored 413 goals and 992 points in 1,286 games.
