Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins TOP 25 of the 2000s: The BEST of the best!

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Today, we finish our Locked On Penguins Top 25 of the 2000s with the five best players of the last 25 years! Hunter and Patrick take the first two segments to finish the Locked On Penguins Top 25 of the 2000s to discuss the best players of the last 25 years. They discuss how coming out of retirement, Mario Lemieux didn’t miss a beat, Marc-Andre Fleury was the first piece of this golden age of Penguins hockey, how Kris Letang has made his mark as the best defenseman in franchise history, and of course, how Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have made their marks as not just two of the best Penguins, but two of the best in history. Finally, Fan Take Friday is back, and they talk about injuries, expectations, and some of the more underappreciated lines in Penguins’ history.Listener SurveyWe’ve put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcasts even better. Go tohttps://lockedonpodcasts.com/survey/ to get started. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered for a chance to win one of ten $100 Amazon gift cards. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's the last Friday in August, and that means it's time to wrap up our top 25 of the last 25 years. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host. Patrick Dave can follow him. on all social media platforms at Sin and Forwent. You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can follow the show's Instagram at Lockdown, underscore Penguins, of course.

Thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Football season is around the corner. Visit the Fandle app today and start planning your futures bets right now. And by the way, Pat, hockey season is right around the corner. Do you smell the air outside right now in Pittsburgh? Only about 70, 75 degrees all week.

Gorgeous weather, unlike all that heat and humidity we got in June and July, all those storms. It is perfect September weather this week. Heck, it might be perfect early October weather coming up here pretty soon. Really stoked. Also, college football is back, my friend. I got my Virginia Tech football shirt on today. We're playing South Carolina on Sunday time to get a hopefully a big upset. I cannot wait to sit on my couch all weekend and watch all these great college football games.

But outside of the weather and college football, we are wrapping up our top 25 of the last 25 years, Pittsburgh Penguins Edition. And today, Pat, we have just the top five players of the last 25 years. These are very straightforward. Everyone knows who is going to be in the top five here. And Pat, let's start with the absolute goat, the greatest player in Penguins history. in my opinion, the greatest player to ever play hockey. And that is number 66, Mario Lemieux, plays a few seasons in the 2000s, 2001, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2004, and then plays 26 games in 2005, 2006, aka Sydney Crosby's rookie season.

Pat, he comes out of retirement during the 2000, 2001 season, and in only 43 games, he has, has 35 goals, 76 points, takes the Penguins to the Eastern Conference final before they lose to the New Jersey Devils, excuse me, in five games. What a story that was. And even during the last season he played, Crosby's rookie year, he was still right around a point per game, seven goals, 22 points in 26 games at the time of retirement. It was only a few years prior during the 2002-2003 season, age 37, where, he had 28 goals in 91 points in 67 games.

And by the way, during the 2000-2001 season, he got second in Hart Trophy voting that year. Kent Penguins had quite the playoff run, didn't result in the Stanley Cup, but they still went fairly far. And he was doing all of that in his mid to late 30s, and then obviously he plays his final season at 40 years old. But we have to include Mario Lemieux here, very, very obvious.

You do for so many reasons. The comeback in 2000, anybody who was there will tell you, the only thing that comes close to the volume of both him coming on to the ice for the pregame skate and him scoring that night is the 1992 Stanley Cup final when the penguins take the lead in game one against the Chicago Blackhawks. And you said it. I know that this is an argument people love to have about the greatest of all time and blah, blah, blah.

Listen, it's Mary O'amue. I know that Gretzky's up there. I know we're going to talk. We've talked about Sid. We'll talk about Ovechkin. We'll talk about McDavid, Bobby Orr, Gordy Howe, you name it. But you just look at what Lemieux could do as a player. And the fact that he continued to do that until age 40 at some kind of a level.

level, he just dominated the game, whether it was through sheer force of will because he was a massive human being or because he had some of the softest hands any player has ever had. And oh yeah, for good measure, he had some of the best vision of any hockey player in the history of the game. He was just naturally the greatest hockey player of all time. it just sucks that so much of his career got derailed by back injuries, by cancer, by heart issues.

And he is the, not only is he one of, if not the greatest player of all time, he is without a doubt, the greatest what if player of all time. Because if you take away all of those health issues and even if you don't take all of them away, just typical bumps and bruises of being a professional hockey player,

you got to wonder where he ends up in the all-time lists. I mean, he shatters Wayne Gretzky's records, in my opinion, and I don't know if any of those records would be touched also if he had a clean bill of health and all that stuff. Again, when he was in his prime and even after his prime, just a completely different player on the ice, the way that he could score goals was magical. The plays that he would make with the puck,

even outside of scoring goals, was also magical. I still wish, man, I got to see him in his prime if I were alive, you know, back in the early 90s. Like that's what's really unfortunate, at least for me on the show, since I'm only going to be 28 this year. But Pat, we had to include him very, very, very obvious. The goat for us.

And I think the goat for everyone that's listening to slash watching this episode. Up next, Pat, arguably the best goaltender in Penguins history. Mark Andre Fleury just announced his retirement after the. this past season, hasn't been with the organization for quite a while now, but he still won three Stanley Cups with them. He was great in 2009. Honestly, I think he was better in 2008, if I'm being even more honest, but he was still obviously great in 09, makes that save on Nick Ledstrom. Had some ups and downs after that. I think he was the biggest reason why they faltered the next year against Montreal. He was awful, especially in game six and game seven,

2012 against the Flyers, not very good. 2013 against the Islanders, not very good either. But he very much answered the call in 2017, when they were going up against Washington and Columbus, as I've said, he started that run and then Matt Murray finished it. When his game was on, there weren't too many more consistent goalies in the league than Mark Andre Fleury. So obviously, very much a fan face.

favorite. You saw when he played his final game in Pittsburgh last season, the ovation that he got, not just during the game, but after when he got the win over his former teammates, there's going to be a time when he gets into the Penguins Hall of Fame. It's not going to be these next three years, Pat, but it's probably going to be right after. And there might be even a time after that where penguins retire his jersey. We will have to see. We all know that 87, 71, and 58 are going to go up there. 29, time will tell. But he was everything this organization needed in the early 2000s before Sid came around. He was the first piece. Yep. To where we are in this era of Penguins hockey, even as we're coming out of it, Mark Andre Fleury was the first, the first piece,

2003, first overall pick. They have a franchise goaltender. He spends 13 years with the franchise, leads and wins. He's got 44 shutouts, three Stanley Cups, and it's funny. I don't want to harp on the negatives, but I will say this. You brought up that stretch of years where he wasn't very good in the playoffs after the 2009 Stanley Cup. It's just funny how much it flipped for those next couple of years, because in 2014, in 2015, those teams weren't very good. they obviously were competitive and in the mix because of who they had in their prime with Crosby, Malkin, and Latang.

But the rest of the team was not very good. And in 14 and 15, he was kind of one of the only reasons they were in the hunt. He really figured his game out again and was able to be a steady presence in net. It's just the rest of the team around him kind of failed. So tough luck for number 29. but he's the embodiment of what a pro athlete should be. Yes, he's highly competitive. Yes, he wants to win.

Yes, he's dedicated to his craft. But did anybody anywhere ever have more fun being a pro athlete than Mark Andre Fleury? The guy was always smiling. He always had something to say. And you could tell that he just appreciated that he was getting paid all this money to play a kid's game. And on top of that, one of the best goaltenders of the modern era, He, I would say if you put it in tiers, he's in tier two. Was he one of the absolute most elite goalies of the modern era?

No, but he's right there at the top of the next tier, just because, like you said, when he was on, he was so, so good. And he was this unique mix of a very athletic goaltender that used that to his advantage. And as he got older, he stopped relying so much on his athleticism, became more of a positionally sound and technical goaltender. But when the play broke down, when things got a little iffy, that athleticism cropped up. And he would make some unbelievable saves, absolutely part of the top five players of the last 25 years to wear a penguin's uniform. And looking at our, looking at our list, he's only one of a couple goalies. So kind of tells you how much he had this spot locked down in the last 25 years.

Oh, yeah. And obviously he was such a good jokester. He would always pull pranks on his teammates. I still, whenever they would go to a shootout and Flurry was in net, I would usually say to myself, okay, 90% of the time, it felt like the penguins had this just because he was so good in shootouts. Like that was for so many years, like his bread and butter in Pittsburgh. Now obviously the penguins are so bad.

in shootouts when it comes to moves, goalies making saves. But as long as they had Flory during those years in shootouts, I was like, okay, I'm feeling comfortable because usually I would be like, Penguins really just need one goal, maybe two, they don't really need all three shooters to score, which a lot of times now it feels like they kind of do just because the goalies lately just have not been making a lot of saves in shootouts. But I also don't like shootouts to begin with.

And again, man, I know he lost his way a little bit, but the comeback story that he was able to have in 2017, you saw how much fun he was having during that run. You saw that photo after they beat Washington in D.C. Sid comes up to him and they're both just literally smiling at each other. Like Sid looks like a schoolboy is like, look at you, my man. Like you did this.

You were the one that shut out the capitals. And, you know, him and the big three, they're going to be best friends forever. And again, very, very obvious to put Mark Andre Fleury on here. but that will do it for this first segment. Speaking of the big three, by process of elimination, you guys know who's going to be coming up here in the second segment. It is the big three, and we're going to discuss them a little bit more right after this.

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Let's just get it out of the way, the big three to end our top 25, the last 25 years. And let's start with Chris LaTang, number 58, the best franchise defenseman in the history of the franchise. someone who has done everything and then some, also someone who has been through hell and back throughout his career. And he has been such a treat, such a blast to watch. When he gets going in the offensive zone, especially when he was in his prime, it was breathtaking.

Like, I'm not sitting here saying, you know, it's like Cal McCar of the last few years or even it was like Eric Carlson when he was in his prime or, you know, late stage Nick Lidstrom when he was still doing amazing things. in the offensive zone. But for so many years, a lot of people underrated Chris LaTang throughout the NHL. He was always one of the best offensive defensemen in the league. He was always really good in his own zone. The way that he was developing into the Penguins number one defenseman early on during the Crosby years with Malkin was awesome. And then once he was ready to fully take on that role, it was smooth sailing. Again, I will still to this day,

say the 2015-16 season, and he's had some really good. seasons. I think that is the best season of his career. The 2016 playoffs is the best hockey, excuse me, I have ever seen him play. He easily could have won the cons smite that year. If anyone was robbed from the consmite, it was Latang. And again, like the play that he went all the way around the world against the sharks in Game 6 will forever live rent free in my head. He loves the game so much. His offseason regimen is second to nine. You still see the videos even this offseason of him. Training is out. off despite being in his late 30s.

His number is going to be retired whenever he decides to retire. And I do think he is going to be in the hockey hall of fame at some point one day. I don't think it's going to be first ballot. But I do think the Stanley Cups are especially going to get him into the hockey Hall of Fame. Some people will disagree. That's how I see it. But he was everything they needed in a number one defenseman during his prime.

And I know he's not what he used to be. It's still a pleasure getting to watch him play on. nightly basis and getting to go out on his terms with the penguins. I know you've done your research, Hunter, but I really want to make sure you've done your research for today's episode. Do you know in the franchise's history where Chris LaTang ranks in scoring for the franchise? Oh, scoring for the full franchise. The history of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I believe he is top 10. I don't know what exact number, but I know he is in the top 10. He is fifth.

Chris LaTang is fifth all time in scoring for the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise behind the obvious. You, Crosby, Malkin, and Yager. And then it's Chris LaTang. I understand the man has his warts. I understand the man has had some moments where you want to throw your remote through your television for some of his decisions. But he is the best defenseman to ever wear a penguin's jersey. And you brought up the 2016 playoffs. If you are a coach, if you're an aspiring young defenseman, watch every game, just about every game of the 2016 Stanley Cup run in focus on Chris LaTang.

It was some of the finest hockey. I have seen not just a defenseman play, but a hockey player play. He was incredible throughout that run. And I think because the numbers aren't as is off the page as, say, a Crosby or a Kessel, he was the anchor of that team. And our buddy Josh Yohey says this all the time, and he is absolutely right, especially when they were in their primes. As Chris Latang went, so did the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He was and is one of the best defensemen of this era. Yeah, I think it's very similar to what I said about Flurry. Is he going to be brought up among the best of the best of the best of the postlock? out era, probably not, but he is right there on that next level, just missing it. And if you have that guy on your team for as long as the penguins have had him, you're going to have some success. And they sure did have success, didn't they? Multiple Stanley Cups.

It sucks that he never got to win a Norris during his prime. He came close a few times, came really close. But it sucks bad that he didn't get that individual award that I wanted in. him too. But got two more players to get to. Very obvious one coming up here. Number 71 of the Gennie Malkin, one of the most underrated players in NHL history. There was some weird conjecture on social media a couple weeks ago when you saw a couple accounts saying like, oh, you know, I don't know if Hageni Malkin deserved that heart trophy during the 2011, 2012 season. And I'm like, the dude had 50 goals in 109 points in 75 games that season.

What are we doing here, man? It was, he was the best. best player in the world that year. In the 2009 playoffs, he went also to a completely another level. Yeah, I know. Sidney Crosby was also unbelievable in those playoffs. But that series against Carolina, especially, no one could touch Afghani Malkin. He literally beat the Hurricanes bat by himself in that sweep.

And the way that he has been so consistent throughout his career, despite getting second line minutes, is unbelievable. We all know. Crosby usually gets the first choices for the linemates. That's just how it goes. But Balkan, he's had some good line mates, but at times he's also been shafted a little bit, but that hasn't really stopped him, has it? He has still went out there and had some truly unbelievable seasons. Right now, 514 goals, 1,346 points in 1,213 games. he's one of the best Russian players to ever play in the NHL. I still have him at number two right now.

There's a chance that Nikita Kutrov kind of takes that spot by the time his career is over. But still, even if that happens, Malkin gets bumped down to maybe number three. But right now I have a number two behind Alex Ovechkin. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer. His number is going to be retired by the organization whenever he retires, whether it's after this season, whether it's after the next season, whenever he decides to call it a career. But I have had an absolute blast.

It's been a pleasure watching a Genie Malkin, excuse me, do his thing ever since he came into the league. And Penguins Hockey is not going to be the same once he stops playing. So this is one very, very obvious as well as Cindy Crosby, but we'll get to him in just a second. I compare Vgeny Malkin to Mario Lemieux. I really do. And obviously, Mario Lemieux is maybe the greatest player of all time. but if Gennie Malkin very similarly to Mario Lemieux does things that a man his size should not be able to do. He has got incredible vision. He has incredible hands. And he could do things just by saying,

I am bigger than you. I'm going to do this. When if Gennie Malkin was in his prime, James Neal described him in the best way. When Vgeny Malkin wants to to be a bully. He is the best player on the planet. Angry Gino, baby. That's the best. Whenever someone would get him very angry, it was the last thing you wanted to do because he would take over a game and then laugh at you right after. Sydney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, a bunch of those players. Derek Jeter's another one. They're the kind of players who if you're an opposing player, you know who else is a player like this? Michael Jordan,

Kobe Bryant, the kind of players where LeBron. If you are on an opposing team and someone's poking at them, you need to have a teammate that goes, no, you stop that right now because that's only going to make him better. That if you piss him off, he is going to shove it down our throats. And if Gennie Malkin could do that like none other. We talk about the goal all the time in 2008 against Marty Barron and the Flyers.

Mike Richards pissed him off. What did Evgeny Malkin do? He tried to kill Marty Biron with a slap shot and one of the coolest goals I've ever seen. Evgeny Malkin, man, Mr. 101, whatever you want to call him, first ballot Hall of Famer, and one of the best penguins to ever come through Pittsburgh. And a top 25 to 30 player of all time when it's said and done. Finally, though, the captain number 87, Sydney Crosby, another. Very obvious choice.

Top five player of all time. I feel like we could wax poetic about Cindy Crosby for an hour, if not two, on this podcast. The kid had so much hype coming into the league. He's tabbed as the next one, right? And not only does he hit those expectations, he exceeds them by 10thold. He's closing in on some major records this year, including Pat, becoming the Pittsburgh Penguins, all-time franchise leader in points. a record that we may not see broken for a very long time, if not ever.

Crosby is only 36 points away from tying Lemieux, 37 away from breaking it. He would also become the eighth highest scoring player in NHL history. He has a chance to climb into the top five, by the way, when it's all said and done. He has won everything imaginable out there in the sport of hockey, both international and with the Pittsburgh Penguins. he wants to be a penguin for life. He is going to be a penguin for life. And he continues to blow all this away with the level that he plays at year after year. Despite being now in his late 30s, three straight seasons of 90 plus points.

Looks like he's 25, 26 out there at times. Sure, he could slow down at any minute. He's going to be 38 this year. I'm not betting on that. I think he's going to have another point per game plus season. maybe even hit 90 plus points again this season. So considering what he has accomplished, considering how much hype he had,

very obvious choice number one in the last 25 years. We said so much during his birthday earlier this month going over some of his top moments. I don't want to rehash those because I feel like we can keep going for so long. But Pat, I'm going to hand this over to you. I'm not going to go statistical.

I'm not going to go anything like that for Sid. I'm just going to go full narrative. I love Sidney Crosby with all of my heart because not only has he played for my favorite team in won three Stanley Cups, no disrespect to Mario Lemieux, but Sidney Crosby saved this franchise. Sidney Crosby absolutely kept my favorite team in my city and helped and eventually Butterfly Effect leads to me doing this show because let's be completely real here. year. The Penguins' problems were so massive because of their old ownership that it would have been very, very easy for them to move. It would have been very easy to put them out of Pittsburgh just because they had a terrible arena deal. They had a terrible television deal. They were hemorrhaging money. And if you're a potential investor, if you're a legislator,

and the penguins come to you asking for a new arena and all these bells and whistles, and they don't have a Sydney Crosby on their team that spells out future revenue, future money, future championships and all that. They're probably just going to go, no, we're good. Head on to Kansas City, go off to Hamilton, go off to Houston, wherever you're going. You don't need to be here anymore because you go to that new city. city you can start with a blank slate. You don't have to work through all this crap here, but they see Sidney Crosby, they see

the hype is real. And they go, you know what? The juice is worth the squeeze. We're going to keep this team in Pittsburgh. And it's been a great bet ever since. They're one of the best, one of the most valuable franchises and hockey. And a whole hell of a lot of that can be credited to Sydney, Patrick Crosby. 100%.

And this team is going to, again, stay in Pittsburgh for a very long time. I actually think Sid is going to work with his organization after he retires in some capacity, whether he's part of the development staff. He's a assistant coach. Maybe he works in management. I think he's going to hang around here for quite a while after he retires. At least that's how I see it. But that will do it for our top 25 of the last 25 years. Let us know what you think about our top five today.

And let us know what you think about our top five in the other categories that we did throughout the month of August. All those episodes for today. and then all the last few Fridays in the month of August. So let us know what you think about our top 25. Coming up to end the show, it's Friday. Yins know what that means. Fan take Friday, we're going to get to your takes and your questions right after this. All right.

We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Damp, and Pat. We only have a couple submissions for Fan Take Friday today, but hey, there's still a couple of really fun ones. This first one comes from G-Tots, who goes, random hot take. I think the Penguins for the first time in a long time are the least injured team in the NHL this season in terms of per player contract value.

Hey, I would love that, man. Considering how curse this team has been injuries-wise throughout the Crosby, Malkin-Littang era, I would love it if they were the least injured team this season. I mean, I can see it. I think G-Tot's little rejoinder there is smart about person. contract value because there's not a lot of big names on the penguins right now. So Sid and Gino, LaTang, Carlson go down. Yeah, that's kind of a big problem.

But you look at the rest of it and it's like, okay, well, if that guy goes down, it's not that big of a deal. And yeah, I mean, we talked about this in the first segment with Lemieux about the what ifs. I mean, good Lord, you look at the penguins in the Crosby Malkin era, Crosby Concussion Saga, the amount of times that Evgeny Malkin got banged up, Chris LaTang misses the entire 2017 playoffs.

There have been so many injury bugs in so many weird injuries throughout this history that even if you put aside some of the lackluster performances, you look at some of those years and go, God, they were healthy. That would have been a good friggin team that could have gone on a run. and then you stretch all the way back to the Lemieux years. How many times was Lemieux hurt? How many times was somebody else on the Penguins hurt?

And you look at those years and go, God, if this team was healthy, they would be really good. And it's kind of the life of a Penguins fan. As successful as we have been, we probably could have been more successful if these teams would have stayed moderately healthy. Yep. I mean, heck, I used to always tweet when the injuries got really bad,

the penguin's injury curse knows no bounds because that's how it would be for a lot of these years in the Crosby, Malkin-Littang era. But Pat, one more to get to before we close out today's episode. And this is a really fun one, by the way. This one comes from Christian. What are your thoughts about the Lang-Cobiliv-Straka line from years past or any other lines that you think don't get enough credit that should? That line, my friend, was, I mean, it still is one of the best lines in Penguin's history. 2001 season where they were just lighting up the league.

You look at Straca and Cove left pat, 95 points each that season. Robert Lang, 80 points in 82 games. Whenever they were on the ice, they were just going through people, scoring at will. It was a disgusting line. In terms of lines that maybe don't get enough credit,

because that one is really good. Yes, I was only a little kid at the time. I don't really remember, obviously watching these like live but I've gone back and I've watched so many you know highlights and games of them just kicking so much ass in terms of other underrated lines though cook stall Kennedy I don't think gets enough credit that one was really good I still liked the kunitz-Krosby-dupley line as well at least from this era those are two of my favorites though if you want to go malone with malcon and succora

I think that one is also good. Obviously, So, Sikora calls his shot against the Red Wing. So those are a few lines that, to me, at least, don't get talked about enough. Pat, what about you? Any lines maybe even before this era that you don't think it talked about enough? So I'll do one from this era and then one from a previous generation.

It got hype at the time around the time of the Stanley Cup runs. But I don't think it got the love it deserved. Sid and the kids. Sid and the kids was really good. I like that. Rosby, Sheary, Rust. It was a precursor to what we see now with Brian Rust having such great chemistry with Sid on the top line. But Connor Sheary was Diet Jake Gensel when he first came on the scene.

He was this little talked about unknown prospect that the penguins had comes up, gets put with Sid and immediately clicks with them, has a ton of success. unlike Gensel, he kind of flamed out after leaving the penguins. Gensel has just continued to be Jake Gensel with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But it was a really fun line and it just really seemed to work. So that was a fun one. This is one, I know it's before your time, Hunter, but I was hoping you wouldn't say it and you sure didn't. The Skyline.

Mario Lemieux, Yarmier Yager, and Kevin friggin. Stevens. Yep. This line tormented teams because do you even need to explain it? The best power forward arguably of the 90s in Kevin Stevens and two of the best players of all time in Yarmier Yager in Mario Lemieux. And they combine for 365 points in 92, 93, in that. And that includes Lemieux missing games for cancer. That's how good they were together. And in the end, Lemieux comes up and does what he does when he comes back from cancer. Yager puts up a career high, 94 points at the time. He obviously goes on to do better. And then Stevens, 111 points. That line was a nuclear weapon for Scotty Bowman in the 92, 93.

Three penguins. Just sucks. They couldn't go all the way that year. I will, you know what? David Volick, screw you forever. It might be August 29th.

I don't like you. Sorry. Oh, and one other thing about the skyline. Can you take a wild guess how many combined game winning goals that line had? During that season? During that season. I almost want to say it like half,

but I'm not, I'll give you a random number 20, 25. Oh, you are one off. They had 24 combined game winning goals on that season. It's just, again, I said it earlier this week when we were talking about the Hall of Fame. Crosby, Lemieux and Yager, excuse me, got me into hockey, but buddy Kevin Stevens made me love hockey. And I will also say about the Penguins Hall of Fame.

I think this is coming at some point after these next three years, after these next 10 people get inducted over the next three years. Kovalev and Strachka, I think, are going to have to be in the Penguins Hall of Fame. Oh, God, yes. Like, come on.

That line with Robert Lang, as I touched on earlier, Pat, you could not touch them during the 2000, 2001 season. I love that a lot of people bring up that line still just because I feel like it gets kind of forgotten about when you look at the production they had during the regular season and the postseason, just unbelievable. So I'm glad that, Christian, thank you for bringing that up to us and asking us that question.

That's probably, you know, in terms of August, it's one of the better ones we've gotten. I will say that. So thank you so much for bringing that up. And also, that will do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. PSA to everyone out there next week is our final week of three shows a week. We will be back to Daly's the following week. which I believe is going to be the week before training camp. So we'll catch everyone up during that week about what happened this off season.

And then the week after that, which I believe is the week of September 18th, 19th. That's when training camp I think is going to start. And then we will also be daily for that week. And then daily all the way into first week of next July, I believe, something like that. But just wanted to give that public service announcement to everyone out there to end today's show. So for Patrick Damp, I am Huntsor Hodes. thank you guys so much for tuning in we appreciate it we will be back on monday