The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we’ve decided to go through the best Penguins’ players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best #81 in Penguins’ history.
Only two players in franchise history have worn #81, including Miroslav Satan, who was a good NHL player in his own right and who registered 17 goals and 36 points in 65 games with the Penguins.
But there was another #81 who became a cult hero during the back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017.
That cult hero? Forward Phil Kessel.
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Kessel was drafted fifth overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He spent his first three NHL seasons there before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sept. 18, 2009 for two first-round picks and a second-round pick.
He spent the next five seasons in Toronto, becoming one of the league’s bona fide goal-scorers. That pedigree is what 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 signature moments came during the Cup runs.
One of them came during his two-goal performance against the Washington Capitals in 2016, when the Penguins won Game 6 and clinched the second-round series:
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Kessel was also part of the iconic HBK Line – along with Carl Hagelin and Nick Bonino – that stayed together throughout that playoff run and provided many memorable moments for the Penguins. During the 2016 playoffs, Kessel put up 10 goals and 22 points in 24 games and earned his first Stanley Cup.
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He was also a key part of their 2017 run, recording eight goals and 23 points in 25 games, mostly alongside Evgeni Malkin on the second line:
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Kessel spent four seasons with the Penguins, registering 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 last NHL season (up to this point) with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23, when he won his third Stanley Cup.
Over the course of his NHL career, Kessel recorded 413 goals and 992 points in 1,286 games.
