In 38 Days...

38 Days (from yesterday, Labor Day), the Penguins will open up against the team formerly known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at Consol Energy Center. No, these Ducks aren't coached by Gordon Bombay and Charlie Conway is not their captain.

In the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins, there have been ten players that have worn the number 38. Those players are Scott Gruhl (not shitty Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl), Jiri Hrdina, Peter Allen, Andreas Johansson, Jeff Taffe, Mark Letestu, Nick Johnson, Colin McDonald, Zach Sill. Now if you noticed, we skipped one very important member of Penguins history. That player would be.

Jan Hrdina

Jan Hrdina was drafted in the 5th Round (128th overall) in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hrdina played 366 games over 5 season with the Penguins tallying 79 goals and 148 points. He must have been a good players considering he was a plus 24 in his Penguins career. Considering some of the teams that Hrdina played on towards the end of his Penguins career, those are pretty good numbers. Hrdina was then traded to the Coyotes along with Francois Leroux for the great Ramzi Abid, Dan Focht, and Guillaume Lefebvre. Hrdina did make the Czech Olympic team in 2002 while a member of the Penguins although Hrdina barely played in those Olympics.

Hrdina played in 40 career playoff games with the Penguins as well tallying 10 goals and 14 assists in those games. 

Hrdina left the NHL after the 2006 season with Columbus and split time between leagues in Finland and Sweden. 

We leave you with some Hrdina highlights.

Tune back in to the blog in about 10 minutes to see who number 37 is.

Go Pens.