Penguins Jesus with an off-season thought, is there anyone in Penguins history (besides the obvious) who had/have a case to get their number in the rafters? Secondly, should the Pens start a “ring-of-honor” for players who maybe don’t have the accolades for number retirement?
I’m going to preface this with the fact that this is a totally silly off-season thought.
But, for a team that has the history and success of the Penguins, is it odd that we’ve only retired two jerseys?
— Penguins Jesus (@PenguinsJesus) July 18, 2023
by HortonTheHierophant
32 Comments
Well the three (or potentially 4, depending on how you feel about Letang) next most likely candidates are all still playing, so no I don’t think it’s that odd.
(In reference to the original Penguins Jesus tweet)
66, 68, 87, 71, and 58 are slam dunk retired numbers. I am not as high on MAF as most, I think he’s closer to Chris Osgood than one of the all time greats, but he probably gets retired eventually but shouldn’t be alongside the core 3. After that you can maybe do a ring of honor like it suggests. Like Kunitz, Guentzel, and Gonchar would all be fits in that tier.
10 Ron Francis
Number retirement should only be for the best of the best of the best. Only the franchise cornerstones.
A ring of honor would be nice to honor those other important contributors.
No, what’s odd are these franchises retiring the numbers of good but not great players because they need something for positive publicity. There’s no reason for Kipper to be getting retired by the Flames but their optics are at an all-time low so they are going to retire his number.
The Penguins do it exactly right. When it’s all said and done, in the next decade we will see 68, 87, 71, and 58 for sure joining the rafters, and possibly 29. That’s more than enough.
I’m down for a ring of honor though.
Barrasso is strange one now, he’s going into the HoF but hasn’t had his jersey retired by the Pens
Ron Francis immediately came to mind
Most of the 91-93 or 92-93 teams
We absolutely should have a ring of honor. Kessel, Rust, Guentzel, Gonchar, Hagelin, and those types. Winning back to back cups is a huge deal and the major players from 09 and the back to back should be honored further
87 71 58 68
Hot take: I’m throwing Talbot in the ring of honor. Does the 09 Cup happen without him?
The Penguins do have a Ring of Honor/Hall of Fame, it’s just not displayed in the seating area like it was at the Igloo.
The ring-of-honor is a job within the Penguins broadcast team.
here is our Rafters: Lemieux, Jagr, Francis, Recchi, then eventually Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Fluerry
I’d agrue Pascal Dupuis not for jersey retirement but for the ring of honor, might be a bit of a reach for some but he had a hell of a career in Pittsburgh
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I always chuckle when I see all the numbers the Blues have retired (having come into the league at the same time as the Pens). They have also had far less success (Cups). If the Pens operated like the Blues did, they’d have about 20 numbers retired at this point.
I thought that anyway had a ring of honor?
I would have a hard time putting up Jagr’s jersey without putting up Fleury’s. Jagr finished #2 in the NHL all time scoring with the majority of the points coming as a Penguins player. With 7 more wins Fleury passes up Patrick Roy and will finish #2 in most wins ever by a goalie. Most of those wins coming as a Penguins player.
IMO both 68 and 29 should be up in the rafters, seriously two of the best players ever in the NHL.
My rafters: 66 68 87 71 29 and 21 Damn impressive group of players!
Ron Francis
Kunitz and Francis ezpz.
Its wierd to say but Jake Guentzal may already qualify too
Not for number retirement but Ring of Honor
Straka,
Stevens ,
Recchi
Ulf
Errey
Ray Bourque…no wait I mean Phil
Coffey
Alex Stojanov
Francis
Barrasso
Talbot
Retired numbers
66, 68, 71, 87, 58, 29
Edit… most are already in roh
87, 71, 68.
Letang may be a nice guy and has good hair and skates well but he’s never won any major awards. He’s never led the team in points. He just passes the puck to Sid or Geno who set up a goal. He’s not HOF worthy so he shouldn’t get his jersey retired. Put him in the ring of honor and leave it be
Martin Straka
EK65
Sid, Geno, Francis, Jagr, Letang, maybe Fleury.
66, 68, 87 and 21. That’s it, that’s all. You don’t want to turn into the Canadiens whose retired every number and now the current players wear high numbers or the Coyotes who retired Shane Friggin’ Doan
A Ring of Honor would be great to see for guys like Talbot, Hornqvist, Kessel, Barrasso, Stevens, etc…
https://pittsburghhockey.net/penguins/pittsburgh-penguins-hall-of-fame
68 should go up when he retires, and when Sid retires, 87, 71, 29, and 58 should go up together. 71 and 58 drive me crazy but you have to hand it to them for what they accomplished with the team. I really can’t imagine anyone else wearing those numbers. You could make the argument for 10 but he played twice as many games for HAR/CAR, so I feel like he’s an almost. I also wouldn’t mind if 29 and 58 didn’t get it.
To your second point, no “ring of honor”. That turns into honoring too many players over the course of time, which makes the honor meaningless.
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