And now for one of the most important topics of the offseason: critiquing the numbers the new players have chosen to wear for the Pens next season
Yep, it’s the time to rank the jersey numbers of the new players on the Penguins. Many have said it’s one of the most thrilling and important events of the year.
Pittsburgh Penguins jersey number updates:
— NHL Rosters (@NHL_Rosters) July 17, 2024
13 - Kevin Hayes
24 - Matt Grzelcyk
25 - Sebastian Aho
46 - Blake Lizotte
72 - Anthony Beauvillier
Oh no, what are you doing? No. 72 is synonymous in Pittsburgh with this guy:
To his credit, it’s not a random pick that’s without personal precedent. Beauvillier wore the 72 with the Islanders when he first broke into the league (before switching to #18 for a few years) and returned to the high number with Vancouver. It’s just...read the room a little pal?
Jesse Puljujarvi has No. 18 now, but just about anything else would have been a better choice for Beauvillier. It’s going to make every single person recoil a little the first time they see a No. 72 on the ice and it’s not playing as doggedly as Hornqvist used to play. That’s going to take some time to get used to, even with Hornqvist being gone from the Pens for going on five years.
Another jersey number that’s instantly recognizable to a Stanley Cup hero — though depending on your age it could be either Kevin Stevens or Maxime Talbot that comes to mind at first blush. #25 is a weird-fitting number to be on a defenseman, but we’ll see how it goes. The most recent Penguin defensemen to wear No. 25 are Dan Kesa, Jeff Norton, Marc Bergevin, so that doesn’t tend to bode well either. We still think Aho will have a bigger part of the 2024-25 season than most might realize coming into it, but he’ll do it with the odd number.
Lizzote will become only the seventh player in Penguin history to rock the #46, following in the line of: Victor Ignatjev, Pavel Skrbek, Jeff Toms, Joe Vitale, Dominik Uher, Zach Aston-Reese per PittsburghHockey.net.
This is grinder number, it’s hard to imagine anyone wearing 46 is going anywhere special or doing anything that will be notable for very long. Otherwise, I’m agnostic on this one. Hopefully that’s not a sign of things to come for Lizotte that like the jersey number 46 his play on the ice will just kinda be there in an unimpressive way, until enough time goes by that he ends up being mostly forgotten.
Grzelyck wore No. 48 all eight years he was in Boston with the Bruins, but despite the number being available in Pittsburgh, he’s halving it and going with #24 instead for a complete fresh start on a new team.
Liking this pick, get a time machine and Grzelyck isn’t that different in size or stature from another #24 back in Penguin lore, Ian Moran. Here’s to hoping Grzelyck is able to move the puck and take care of business in the same way.
Let’s face it, 13 is a cool number and good hockey number. It also can be considered a risky one by some — no Penguin donned it from 1988 - 2008. That was because Craig Patrick (general manager from 1989-2006) wouldn’t let allow players to wear 13 due to a superstition against the number. As a side note, how awesome, fitting and perfect did it turn out to be that Sidney Crosby got won in a 30-team draft lottery by the superstitious GM? In retrospect that just makes too much sense, and maybe those guys are onto something..
Anyways, back on task and even though Crosby would flinch and not have this as his top number, it wins the day for this off-season’s top new numbers. It helps that from Bill Guerin to Nick Bonino and Brandon Tanev, some seriously cool customers have worn the No 13 for Pittsburgh in recent years since the unofficial ban has been lifted and normalcy has returned to the number picking station. While many are skeptical of Hayes’ on ice abilities at this point of his career, he also is the jovial sort of player that will be a teammate’s favorite and great candidate to carry on the spooky number.
