TOMORROW....

Well we suck. We forgot to post 9 and we've been kind of busy so heres 9-1.

9

The players to wear the number 9 sweater include Andy Bathgate, Charlie Burns, Bill Hicke, Al McDonough, Chuck Amason, Simon Nolet, Blair Chapman, Mark Johnson, Stan Jonathan, Rich Sutter, Ron Flockhart, John Chabot, Wilf Paiement, Andrew McBain, Tony Tanti, Ron Francis, Len Barrie, Dan Quinn, Greg Johnson, German Titov, Rene Corbet, Jeff Toms, Rico Fata (LOLOLOLO), Andy Hilbert, and current Penguin Pascal Dupuis. We are going to profile two of these superstars, one of which was a superstar and the other was an X-Generation hero. ANNNNNNDDDDD here you go, Stanley Cup Champion Ron Francis and #BestInTheWorld Rico Fata.

Ron Francis was selected in the first round, fourth overall by the Hartford Whalers (they don't exist anymore) during the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. Francis was one of the most consistent players to ever play the game as he recorded roughly one point per game in over 23 NHL seasons. Francis was also a model of durability, as other than the 1994-1995 lockout-shortened season he averaged 77 games played per year. Basically Ron Francis played for the Whalers for ten seasons and was captain of the team for the better part of six years. In addition, he holds nearly all franchise records for the Whalers / Hurricanes. But let's get to the good part. Francis was traded to the Penguins on March 4, 1991 along with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings in exchange for Jeff Parker, Zarley Zalapski, and John Cullen. Francis was a spark for the playoffs, playing in 24 games recording 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points. Francis centered the second line behind Mario Lemieux for 1990-1991 playoffs. The Pens would beat the Minnesota North Stars in 7 games and it would be the first of two Stanley Cups in a row.

During Francis's first full season with the Penguins, he played in 70 games and recorded 21 goals, 33 assists for 54 points. However, he was a -7 that season, so according to Pittsburgh fans he sucks. Francis carried the team during Lemieux's absence. During the 1991-1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, Francis recorded 8 goals and 19 assists for 27 points. What a hero. If that wasn't enough, he scored the cup-clinching goal against the Chicago Blackhawks.

What's more funny is the players Hartford acquired for Francis, Parker, Zalapski, and Cullen never panned out to be half as good as what Pittsburgh received. Basically Craig Patrick was a hero. Although every picture has Francis wearing 10, when he first arrived in Pittsburgh he was indeed number 9. Plus, there's only so much one can write about Rico Fata. Ron Francis spent seven seasons with the Penguins in which he captained the team twice, and won the Selke (best forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game). Francis returned to the team where he began his career with although they were no longer the Hartford Whalers, the previous year the team had completed the move to Carolina. Either way, Francis holds the all-time record for points, goals, assists and games played. Honestly what a hero. Francis then was traded to Toronto for one last run at a cup, basically  he just said YOLO and tried to compete again. He played in 12 games all season before calling it quits. About to blowwwww your mind with some #STATS. Francis played in a total of 1,731 games and recorded 549 goals, 1,249 assists for a total of 1,798 points!!!! Butttttt he was a career -10 sooooooo he sucks, we're sorry guys. Either way, he was a vital part of the Penguins' success in winning two Stanley Cups.

8

Players to wear 8 for the Pittsburgh Penguins include, Val Fonteyne, Jim Wiley, Rick Kehoe, Dave Schultz, Hartland Monahan, Bob Stewart, Dave Burrows, Randy Boyd, Tom O'Regan, Petteri Lehto, Greg Fox, Terry Ruskowski, Perry Ganchar, Mark Recchi, Kevin Miller, Garry Valk (Vom), Bobby Dollas, Hans Jonsson, Matt Bradley, Andrew Hutchinson, Brian Dumoulin.

Who else would we pick besides the Wreckin Ball, Mark Recchi.

Mark Recchi was drafted in the 4th Round in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Penguins. Recchi won 3 cups during his NHL career (Penguins, Hurricanes, Bruins).  In Pittsburgh, Recchi spent 7 years playing in 389 games scoring 154 goals, 231 assists (385 points) and was a -41 (so he sucked probably). Recchi scored 10 goals and added 24 assists during the Penguins Stanley Cup run in 1991 as a 22 year old. He retired as a 42 year old after winning the Cup in 2011 with the Bruins.

He also has one of the coolest NHL tattoos you'll ever see.

Recchi joined the Penguins front office staff this summer as the player development coach (formerly held by Bill Guerin). 

7

Players who have worn the number 7 for the Penguins have been Art Stratton, Lou Angotti, Bryan Hextall, Steve Durbano, Russ Anderson, Rick MacLeish, Ian Turnbull, Rod Buskas, Joe Mullen, Andrew Ference, Kelly Buchberger, Michel Ouellet, Matt Hussey, Mark Eaton, and Paul Martin.

We could be easy about this and write about Joey Mullen but we're gonna write about Andrew Ference.

Andrew Ference was drafted in the 8th round of the 1997 NHL draft by the Penguins. Ference made his NHL debut during the 1999-00 season with the Penguins and ended up staying in Pittsburgh for parts of 4 years playing in 163 games scoring 11 goals, 25 assists (36 points) and was a -19. Ference has played in Calgary, Boston, and currently is the Captain of the Edmonton Oilers.

Ference most notably flipped of the Montreal crowd a few years ago during the Playoffs.

And he was hero of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge this summer.

6

The number 6 has been worn many times by players for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those players include Dunc McCallum, Tracy Pratt, Sheldon Kannegiesser, Ron Jones, Colin Campbell, Tom Price, Kim Clackson, Bennett Wolf, Errol Thompson, Greg Hotham, Jim Johnson, Jeff Chychrun, Mike Ramsey, Peter Ahola, Neil Wilkinson, Bob Boughner, Rick Berry (not the NBA guy who shot granny style foul shots), Mike Wilson, Richard Lintner, Martin Strbak, Nolan Baumgarner, Ryan Whitney, Joel Kwiatkowski, and Ben Lovejoy.

We're not even gonna talk about 6 cuz these guys all blow and we can do whatever we feel like.

5

The number 5 has been worn by Dick Mattiusi, Ted Lanyon, Bryan Watson, Ab Demarco, Barry Wilkins, Steve Lyon, Mario Faubert, Lex Hudson, Ron Meighan, Bryan Maxwell, Mike Rowe, Gord Dineen, Ulf Samuelsson, Brad Werenka, Janne Laukkanen, Patrick Boileau, Rob Scuderi, Darryl Sydor, and $2.9 million man Deryk Engellend.

How can you have the #5 for the Penguins and not talk about Ulf Samuelsson.

Ulf was drafted in the 4th round of the 1982 NHL Draft by the Harford Whalers (Carolina Hurricanes for those of you 2006ers). Ulf was a part of one of the biggest trades in Pittsburgh Penguins history. On March 4, 1991, the Penguins acquired Ulf, Ron Francis, and Grant Jennings from Hartford in exchange for John Cullen, Jeff Parker, and Zarley Zalapski. Ulf played in 14 regular season games for the Pens scoring 1 goal and 4 assists. He was a +4 and took 37 Penalties in Minutes. During the playoff run,  Ulf played in 20 games scoring 3 goals and 2 assists, but the Penguins didn't acquire him for his goal scoring. Just take a look.

Cam Neely sucks.

That hit eventually jammed Mike Milbury up (obviously).

Ulf ended up playing in 277 regular season games as a Pittsburgh Penguins scoring 11 goals, 83 assists (94 points), was a +76 and registered 804 Penalties In Minutes!!!! He also played in 66 playoff games as a Penguin (including 2 Stanley Cups) scoring 4 playoff goals, 12 assists but he was a +18 and registered 123 penalty minutes.

Ulf was a legend and one of the best tough guys the Penguins have ever had.

4

Noel Price, Bob Blackburn, Dave Burrows, Dale Tallon, Paul Baxter, Marty McSorely, Greg Fox, Phil Bourque, Dwight Schofield, Chris Dahlquist, Gord Dineen, Greg Hawgood, Greg Andrusak, Corey Foster, Kevin Hatcher, Jeff Norton, Bobby Dollas, Mike Wilson, Jamie Pushor, Dan Focht, Noah Welch, Cory Cross, Rob Scuderi, Jordan Leopold, Zbynek Michalek, Mark Eaton have all worn the number 4 for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We're just gonna give you Rob Scuderi 2009 highlights.

Hopefully he can get back to this level.

3

Al McNeil, John Arbour, Bob Woytowich, Tim Horton (yes that one), Jack Lynch, Ron Stackhouse, Bennett Wolf, Norm Schmidt, Doug Bodger, Jim Kyte, Grant Jennings, Stefan Bergkvist, Dan Trebil, Marc Bergevin, Jamie Pushor, Steve Poapst, Mark Eaton, Alex Goligoski, Douglas Murray, and Olli Maatta have all worn the number 3 for the Penguins.

We're gonna give you some Maatta videos since he only has one year of stats.

2

A decent amount of players have worn number 2 for the Penguins.  Most of them being absolute degenerates.  A few of the notable ones are Phil Borque, Jim Paek, Chris Tamer, Hal Gill, and Money bags Matt Niskanen.  We would talk anbout Jimmy Paek because he's awesome, but we want to just take this time to remind you that Matt Niskanen sucks and is a horrible hockey player.  He also single handedly cost the Penguins game 7 last season.  Have fun getting smoked in Washington, joke.

1

And we are finally at number 1.  When you think of number 1's in Pens history you probably think Brent Johnson ending Rick DiPietro.  What most people think of, that have been watching the team before 2005, you think one person and one word...

Mooooooooooooooooooooooose.

Johan Hedberg took Pittsburgh by storm in the mid 90's.  Coming to the Pens from the Manitoba Moose, he carried the Pens into and through the playoffs.  What a legend.

Alright.  That's it.  Tomorrow is the day we've all been waiting for.  Pens/Ducks faceoff in like 24 seconds.  Let's Gooooooooooooo.

Go Pens