The Pittsburgh Penguins’ organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we’ve decided to go through the best Penguins’ players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best #46 in Penguins’ history.
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Only six players have worn #46 for the Penguins, and it’s not an overly impressive list. In fact, the best #46 in Penguins’ history only wore it for about half his tenure in Pittsburgh, but he was definitely the best to wear it.
That player was defensive guru Zach Aston-Reese.
© Jeff Curry – Imagn Images
Aston-Reese, hailing from Staten Island, New York, was an undrafted signee by the Penguins who played with the NHL club from 2017-2022. For the first half of his tenure, he wore #46. And one often saw the back of his jersey because he did a lot of his best work in the defensive zone with his back to the opposing goaltender.
And many did not discover his defensive genius until almost midway through his Penguins’ tenure, when he became widely regarded as one of the best defensive players in hockey.
Zach Aston-Reese has become a defensive behemoth out of nowhere. Was not on the ice for a single scoring chance against tonight. Controlled 90% of expected goals in the game.
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) December 13, 2019
Aston-Reese was also known as a hit machine with the Penguins (611 total in his five-season tenure), and he blocked a fair amount of shots as well.
He also wasn’t afraid to engage in fisticuffs when the situation called for it:
And, although he wasn’t an offensive player by any means – especially during his later years with the Penguins – he wasn’t completely devoid of offensive ability and scored a playoff goal against the Islanders in 2021 to break up and Ilya Sorokin shutout bid:
Aston-Reese was sent to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the trade that brought forward Rickard Rakell to Pittsburgh at the 2022 trade deadline, and he went to the Toronto Maple Leafs the season after and played just three games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2023-24. He was signed as a free agent by the Vegas Golden Knights on July 1, 2024.
Up to this point in his career, Aston-Reese has 42 goals and 80 points in 310 games.
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