The Pittsburgh Penguins organizational history has produced a wealth of great players, and we decided to go through the best Penguins players with each jersey number. Today we continue the list and name the best number 10 in Penguins history.
While this was pretty easy, there have been some great number 10s in Penguins history – Pierre Larouche, Dan Quinn and Bob Errey, to name a few.
But one stands out above all the others. And that is Penguins legend, Hall of Famer and all-time NHL legend, Ron Francis.
Francis, who ranks fifth on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, was essentially the Penguins’ “glue” when Mario Lemieux was out for extended periods. He was already a superstar when he was traded to the Penguins in 1991 as part of one of the biggest trades in NHL history – and arguably the best trade in franchise history – when forwards John Cullen and Jeff Parker were sent to the Hartford Whalers along with defenseman Zarley Zalapski in exchange for Francis and defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings.
He helped Pittsburgh win two Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. He had a knack for going unnoticed while still scoring important goals in big games, including a hat trick capped by this beautiful deflection goal in overtime to beat the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the 1992 Patrick Division Finals, tying the series, giving Pittsburgh the momentum to close out the series in six games and leading them to their second consecutive Cup victory:
He filled the vacant captaincy with the Penguins twice, once when Lemieux missed the entire 1994-95 season and the other time when he was named captain in 1997-98 after Lemieux’s first resignation. Although that was his final season as a Penguin, Francis, or “Captain Class,” was highly revered in the locker room during the eight seasons he spent in Pittsburgh — and he had the productivity, skill and playoff performances to back it up, scoring 32 goals and 100 points in 97 playoff games with Pittsburgh:
Francis played six more NHL seasons after leaving Pittsburgh in 1998. He played five full seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes and was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in his final season in 2003-04. Francis – one of the 100 greatest NHL players of all time – was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. He finished his 23-year career with 549 goals and 1,798 points in 1,731 games.
He is known for his strong forward and backward play and also won the Selke Trophy in 1994/95.
Honorable Mentions: Pierre Larouche, Dan Quinn, Bob Errey, John LeClair
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