Pittsburgh Penguins: Picking the All-Time Greatest Penguins Team

The history of the Pittsburgh Penguins is marked by superstars and legends who helped shape the game for decades.

From the arrival of Mario "Le Magnifique" Lemieux, Sidney "The Kid" Crosby and Jaromir "Double J" Jagr, to name a few, Pittsburgh has had the fortune of having multiple generational talents don the Penguins logo.

Choosing an all-time roster is both an easy and difficult task. It's easy to pick from the abundance of superstars who have skated on Pittsburgh ice, but when you have multiple Hall of Famers or soon-to-be Hall of Famers at the same position, things can get daunting. 

Nevertheless, here's one take on the greatest Penguins at each position to ever lace up a pair of skates.

Now, these choices were picked on the basis of greatness. There won't be much room for filler or needless picks (sorry to all the Brad Werenka and Dick Tarnstrom fans). This is coming from a person who grew up in Pittsburgh, so there's firsthand experience here and maybe a bit of "yinzer" bias.

Goalie: Tom Barrasso

We'll start from the net and work our way out.

There's no doubting Tom Barrasso is the best goalie to ever put on a Penguins uniform. Though his numbers might leave the modern stat-based fan dry-heaving in a corner, they were actually beautiful for the era. In his 1983-84 rookie year in Buffalo, Barrasso won the Calder (rookie of the year) and Vezina (league's top goalie) Trophies with an .893 save percentage. Oh, the '80s. It's how hockey should still be played.

Reminiscing aside, this is about what Barrasso did with the Penguins. He helped bring two Stanley Cups to the fine city of Pittsburgh. That's one more than Marc-Andre Fleury has and probably will ever get (sorry, MAF supporters; the dude's got issues).

Barrasso was known as bit of a jerk. I mean, seven-year-old me was shunned for an autograph attempt at an autograph session. Maybe this is more reminiscing here, but hey, Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review can back me up on this. His attitude is important. He's someone whose greatness was secondary to his demeanor off the ice. In fact, he reminds me of another player on this list.

Especially with an influx of new fans that joined the team for the Crosby era—now, I'm not saying anything is wrong with jumping on the bandwagon, though I was trying to impress with the Brad Werenka reference—Barrasso often gets overlooked for Fleury. 

I'm not ragging on Fleury (probably); in fact, I'm bringing him up because he's a clear No. 2 in this discussion. Though Marc-Andre mostly has passed Barrasso in all Penguins records by now, there are a few things Fleury likely will never achieve. 

With the aforementioned two Stanley Cup wins and Vezina and Calder Trophies, Barrasso also was nominated for the Vezina four times during his time in Pittsburgh. Fleury has been nominated only twice to date. It also should be mentioned that Barrasso won the William M. Jennings award as the goalie with the fewest goals scored against in 1984-85, though that was with the Buffalo Sabres.

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 460 games,  226 wins, .896 GAA, 3.22 SV%

Honorable Mention: Marc-Andre Fleury

Older dude who I never got to see play who was probably just as awesome: Syl Apps

Defenseman: Paul Coffey

What side of the defensive ice the player skated on won't be taken into account here. 

The first choice is an obvious one. On a team that was over capacity in point-producing offensive juggernauts, Paul Coffey was one of the best point-producing offensive juggernauts on the blue line.

Coffey was part of a blockbuster seven-player trade with the Edmonton in 1987 that sent forward Craig Sampson to the Oilers.

In five seasons with Pittsburgh, Coffey tallied 440 points, including 30 goals and 113 points in 1988-89.

That's as a defenseman.

Remarkably, that's not even a career year for Coffey, who had 138 with Edmonton in 1985-86.

With the Penguins, Coffey blended impeccable skating, remarkable passing ability and an added scoring touch that made him lethal, especially when combined with Pittsburgh's offensive power.

He was a member of the 1991-92 Stanley Cup team and was inducted into both the Penguins Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The video above showcases what made Coffey so great. Also, we could all use some more "Survivor."

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 331 games, 108 goals, 332 assists

Defenseman: Larry Murphy

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Murphy at the 2011 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game

Here's another player from the golden age of Penguins hockey.

Larry Murphy was an excellent transition defenseman who knew the exact moment to get involved in the offense.

The Hall of Famer totaled 301 points in 336 games with the team and was involved in the first two Stanley Cup victories. Over his long and illustrious career, Murphy notched an incredible 1,216 points.

Murphy was a beast in during Pittsburgh's two Stanley Cup seasons. In 1991-92, he had 23 points in 23 games and was an outstanding plus-17. Murphy followed that up with 16 points in 21 playoff games the following season.

Also, he was amazing in NHL '94.

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 460 games,  226 wins, .896 GAA, 3.22 SV%

Honorable Mention: Ulf Samuelsson, Sergei Gonchar, Darius Kasparaitis (because why not?)

Older dude who I never got to see play who was probably just as awesome: Ron Stackhouse

Left Wing: Kevin Stevens

I remember a book report I had to do in the fourth grade. I was going to do it on Jose Canseco, but I remember the librarian saying his name to me and becoming upset that I had been pronouncing it wrong my whole life.

My sportswriting career got off to a great start.

Perturbed, I eventually settled on Kevin Stevens. I loved Pittsburgh sports. I loved the Penguins. It was a natural fit.

What I learned was that there wasn't a tougher guy than Stevens. He was big and strong and a pretty great hockey player to boot.

Sure, he was on the same line as the greatest player of all time, but no Rob Brown was he. Stevens was a man who wore many hats. He was an enforcer, a sniper, a bruiser, a master of mind games, a net-front presence and everything in between.

He scored back-to-back 50-plus goal seasons in Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup years. In two stints with the team, he accumulated 555 points in 522 games.

He had a lot of drug problems off the ice and a gruesome injury in the 1993 playoffs that ultimately derailed his career. But for a time, Stevens was the best power forward in the NHL.

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 522 games, 260 goals, 295 assists

Book Report Grade: A+

Right Wing: Jaromir Jagr

Good ol' Double J.

Jaromir Jagr was the player of my childhood. I caught a nice chunk of Mario Lemieux before his first retirement, but Jagr is the one I remember most. He was the best player in the NHL after Mario left and is one of the greatest players of all time.

He had everything that was awesome about my early years: a mullet and an awesome salute after every goal.

I remember my sister went to France on a band trip for her high school. She brought back neat little trinkets for all of my family members. She brought me back a Jaromir Jagr poster. Looking back, that was an unreal choice for a gift at the time, but that's how big of a fan I was of Jagr.

What's absolutely incredible is at 42 years old Jagr is still playing hockey at a high level today. I have never seen a player so absolutely strong with the puck on his stick and along the boards. Jagr is the ultimate combination of power and pure finesse.

As of the completion of Monday's games, Jagr has 1,770 points, one away from Marcel Dionne for fifth all time.

With the Penguins, Jagr won the Art Ross Trophy (most points in a season) five times. That's with players like Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Wayne Gretzky going against him.

There is a bit of dark side for Jagr as it relates to gambling and Pittsburgh. I mentioned bad public perception with Barrasso earlier, but Jagr takes the cake. As it relates to Pittsburgh fans, Jagr represented Barry Bonds on ice.

Jagr's relationship with the Penguins turned south with the team before the 2002-03 season. He claimed in an infamous quote that he was "dying alive" in the city (h/t Alan Robinson of CBC Sports), demanding a trade and ultimately a payday Pittsburgh couldn't give him.

Of course that trade to the Washington Capitals was awful, and it crippled the franchise for years after.

No surprise, boos followed Jagr every time he returned to the city, but fans eventually forgave him, even after he turned his back on the team during a possible comeback attempt during the hilarity that was #JagrWatch in 2011.

The man with a mullet will always hold a special place in the heart of Pittsburgh fans. They'll also be holding a place for him in the Hall of Fame when he finally decides to call it quits.

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 806 games, 439 goals, 640 assists

Honorable Mention: Rick Kehoe, Joe Mullen, Alexei Kovalev, Mark Recchi

Older dude who I never got to see play who was probably just as awesome: Jean Pronovost

Center: Mario Lemieux

I say this next statement without hesitation: If he would have been healthy his whole career, Mario Lemieux would have crushed Wayne Gretzky's scoring records.

This was a man who battled Hodgkin's lymphoma during a season and still won a scoring title after missing two months. This is the same guy who finished his last radiation treatment and scored a goal and added an assist against the Philadelphia Flyers hours later. There's a great story on this by Corey Masisak at NHL.com.

This was a player who famously had such severe back issues he couldn't bend over to tie his own skates.

This was the same player who came back from a three-year retirement to score a goal and two assists. He led the league in points per game that season to boot.

I remember my family had planned a Christmas trip to my grandparents' house in Virginia the day of Mario's return. I woke my parents up at 6 a.m., making sure we'd have enough travel time to be at their house before the game started on ESPN2. That's dedication.

He was the savior of the Pittsburgh franchise twice (once as a player and another time as an owner). He was the greatest Penguins player without a doubt. He was the best player to ever live.

That's only brushing the surface.

There hasn't been a professional athlete in the city of Pittsburgh who has done more for his fans and the community around him.

There may have been better skaters, better stick-handlers, better shooters or even better passers, but there wasn't a player before or after who had the hockey sense Lemieux did. There's no better example than his fake-shot pass to Paul Kariya in the 2002 Olympics.

In the above video are 10 more examples of Lemieux's magic.

Career Statistics with the Penguins: 915 games, 690 goals, 1,033 assists

Honorable Mention: Sidney Crosby, Ron Francis, Evgeni Malkin. It's insane these three are honorable mentions.

All statistics and Hall of Fame information courtesy of NHL.com.