From superstars to cult legends, the Penguins have many fan favorites from over the years.
One type of prompt that typically gets a lot of traction on social media is coming up with Mount Rushmore listings for various topics. This is very popular in the sports world, but it’s something that can work across many different areas of entertainment or just everyday life.
These prompts usually revolve around picking the best four of something, for example, naming the Mount Rushmore of greats for a specific sport or a specific team. This is why this type of exercise has been very popular in the sporting world.
As it relates to the Pittsburgh Penguins, many times it has been asked for fans to select their Mount Rushmore of Penguins players who are considered the four best to play in a Penguins jersey. This typically results in the consensus being Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jaromir Jagr. There may be some disagreements on a fan-to-fan basis, but those four players are usually the consensus.
For this Mount Rushmore exercise, I want to see your picks for your four favorite Penguins players of all time. It doesn’t have to be a superstars like Crosby or Malkin, it can be any Penguins player from history that you have enjoyed watching the most.
To get the ball rolling, I’ll start by naming my four selections, and you can add yours in the comments for all to discuss.
Mario Lemieux
My formative years as a Penguins fan came in the 1990’s when Mario Lemieux was dominating the league and elevating the franchise to be one the premier franchises in the NHL. I have so many memories from my early childhood of heading down to the Civic Arena to watch Mario and the Penguins take on whoever was in town that night.
Like many Penguins fans, I will die on the hill that Mario is the greatest hockey player to ever lace up the skates, career statistics be damned. Many of my earliest memories of being a hockey fan came directly from Le Magnifique himself.
Sidney Crosby
If Mario was the headliner of my early childhood, then Sidney Crosby takes that banner for my teenage years and into adulthood. I was in high school when No. 87 came to Pittsburgh and he’ still here now in my mid-30’s. I don’t have clear memories of the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992, but Crosby made sure I remembered the Cups from his era.
I’m not listing these players in any specific order, but if I were, Crosby probably takes home the top spot as favorite Penguins player of all time. His career spans more of my lifetime than any other Penguins player and his three Stanley Cups makes his era unprecedented in my eyes.
Kevin Stevens
If there was one Penguins player I wanted to be growing up it was Kevin Stevens. His style of play endeared him to me at a young age and it has stuck with me ever since. When playing hockey in the house growing up I always took on the role of Stevens when running throughout the house.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Stevens at a dinner event in my hometown. He spoke about his battles with addiction both during and after his career and his battle to get clean from drugs. After his speech, I got to shake his hand and have my photo taken with one of the players I grew up idolizing.
Bryan Rust
There’s a chance I am the biggest Bryan Rust homer in the Penguins fan base. The trade talk surrounding Rust this offseason has been eating at me though I understand moving him is the best move for the Penguins in the long term. Rust has been as tried and true of a Penguins player than just about anyone else in franchise history and they don’t have two Stanley Cups without his contributions.
There was a time where Rust could have taken a big pay day and walked away from the Pittsburgh Penguins. He chose to stay. That will always mean something to me on top of what he’s meant across his entire tenure with the Penguins. Will be hard to ever knock him off this list.
Those are my four picks for my personal Mount Rushmore of favorite Penguins players. I’m sure every one has favorites of their own so please head down to the comments and drop yours and discuss with one another why you picked those players.