Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is about to start his 20th season with the only club he’s ever played for.
Initially drafted first overall at the 2005 Entry Draft, he’s played 1,272 games over the past two decades and has been teammates with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang the whole time.
In 2017, Crosby lost goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, whom he had teamed up with for 13 seasons when the Penguins let him go in the Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Draft.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang have now been teammates longer than any trio in North American pro sports history. https://t.co/RnDSHGkKxi
— OutKick (@Outkick) October 11, 2023
Those four were Sid the Kid’s longest teammates, but a handful of other players, like Bryan Rust (11), Tristan Jarry (10), Pascal Dupuis (11), and Brian Dumoulin (10), have all spent a decade as his teammates.
According to Elite Prospects, Crosby has been a teammate of 306 players in Penguins history, which accounts for 38.4% of the organization’s all-time roster, which is 795 players.
If you had to guess, which other Pittsburgh hockey icon was also a teammate with 306 players?
Of course, the answer is Mario Lemieux.
As the Penguins’ first-ever overall pick in 1984, Lemieux came to Steel City and saved the franchise by guiding them to two Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992, then bought the team out of bankruptcy in 1999.
Le Magnifique retired in 1997 but returned in 2001 and grew the list of teammates, skating 26 games with Crosby in 2005-06.
Unlike the current Penguins captain, Lemieux battled injuries throughout his career and only skated in 915 games. His longest-tenured teammates were Kevin Stevens, Troy Loney, and Bob Errey, who spent nine seasons together.
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Sidney Crosby – 1,273 games (306 connections)
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Evgeni Malkin – 1,145 games (285 connections)
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Kris Letang – 1,087 games (285 connections)
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Mario Lemieux – 915 games (181 connections)
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Jean Pronovost – 753 games (132 connections)
As Crosby approaches Lemieux’s franchise records for goals, assists, and points, it’s unsurprising that whoever joins the Penguins next will be his 307th teammate, breaking a tie with his former boss as the team’s most connected player.
