5 Most Under-Appreciated Penguins of the Crosby Era

There are superstars, stars, and role players. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been blessed with more superstars in a couple of generations than most teams have in their history, including some Original Sixers.

As the best in the business have taken the spotlight and hoisted Stanley Cups, there have been those players toiling in the shadows, getting those loose pucks, blocking shots, building bruises upon scars, and doing the dirty jobs that might make Mike Rowe wince.

Finding those players who contribute to the gritty part of the game but also contribute to the overall success can be difficult. One need look no further than recent Penguins bottom-six forwards who have washed out of regular NHL duty, such as Jansen Harkins or Brock McGinn, who had speed or some grit, but didn’t provide much else.

In the Sidney Crosby era of the Penguins franchise, there have been three Stanley Cup victories, four Prince of Wales Trophies, and countless players who have helped, if even for a short time.

Underappreciated is a subjective term. For example, should we include Evgeni Malkin, who is a generational talent but still seems to get the short end of the stick on all national rankings and conversations regarding his value. For this list, we’ll assume most Penguins fans don’t overlook Malkin, who turned 39 this week.

We also considered putting Jack Johnson on the list, but we could feel thousands of Penguins fans shudder at the thought.

5 Underappreciated Penguins
5. Rob Scuderi

In addition to Marc-Andre Fleury’s save in the final seconds to win the 2009 Stanley Cup, Scuderi made a desperate kick save in Game 6 to preserve a win that forced Game 7.

Scuderi had a pair of stints with the Penguins, the first far more successful. He was the defensive backbone on the 2009 Stanley Cup championship–always in the right place, always responsible.

Scuderi earned his way to the NHL by playing most of four seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins from 2001 through 2005. Once he finally got to the NHL, he stayed. He won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins, then was the backbone of a couple of the LA Kings’ Stanley Cup wins.

Scuderi’s second stint with the Penguins wasn’t as successful, and it ended with fans turning on him as his already slow skating became glacial. Still, former GM Jim Rutherford was able to trade him for Trevor Daley in 2015-16, which launched another Penguins championship run.

Steady, poised, physical. There weren’t many defensemen as simple and effective.

4. Carl Hagelin

Besides Phil Kessel, who earned headlines, and Nick Bonino, who drew praise for his defensive prowess, Hagelin was the lightning-fast winger who excelled in big moments.

Hagelin signed a big free-agent deal with the Anaheim Ducks in 2015, which very quickly didn’t work out, and he became part of a change-of-scenery trade in exchange for David Perron at midseason. Hagelin’s speed was a necessary part of the Penguins’ quick lurch to a speed game that forced the rest of the NHL to play catch-up.

Hagelin was a light-scoring winger in the regular season, but a beast in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 16 points (6-10-16) in 24 games. Hagelin got every puck, cleaned up the defensive zone, and scored some big goals in his four-year Penguins career that ended in 2018-19 when he was the sacrificial lamb in a shake-up trade to jolt a stale Penguins team.

3. Brian Dumoulin

Another defensive defenseman, Brian Dumoulin, was the safety net of the Penguins’ blue line while Kris Letang was the high-wire act. Much like Scuderi, Dumoulin didn’t get headlines or a lot of appreciation, but his reliable defensive game allowed Letang to take more risks and be one of the best defensemen in the game. When Letang lost his bets, Dumoulin was more often there to cover the debt.

Originally acquired in the 2012 Jordan Staal trade, Dumoulin played 10 years with the Penguins, won two Stanley Cups, and blocked 816 shots.

2. Olli Maatta

Smooth and quiet. While bigger names like Letang and Sergei Gonchar grabbed headlines on the Penguins’ blue line, Maatta was just there–always making the right play, moving the puck forward, and never getting beat.

The Penguins selected him 22nd overall in the 2012 draft, and once he arrived from the London Knights of the OHL in the 2013-14 season, he never left. Maatta played 362 games with the Penguins, registering only 107 points, but 565 blocks and 440 hits.

If Dumoulin was one pillar of the defensive conscience, Maatta was the other.

1. Bryan Rust

Starting as a part-time fourth-line grinder in 2014-15, and continuing into the Stanley Cup victory in 2016. Rust was the Penguins’ third-round pick in 2010 and didn’t hit full-time NHL duty until 2016-17, when he played 57 games, scoring 13 goals en route to another Stanley Cup.

He was a speedy, penalty-killing grinder prone to bouts of offensive hot streaks, until 2019-20, when his hot streak lasted a lot longer than usual, leading to 27 goals. He has scored at least 20 goals in every season since, eventually developing his offensive game enough to play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Rust has exceeded expectations at every station in his career to become a 31-goal scorer last season, and a locker room leader. It would seem the national types overlook Rust, and Penguins fans underestimate his value.