Maxime Talbot is still a star with Penguins

The Penguins have had a long, storied history of French Canadian stars.

• Michel Briere capped off a promising rookie season in 1969-70 by scoring the first playoff overtime goal in franchise history to claim a series-clinching 3-2 victory against the Oakland Seals in Game 4 of the semifinal round. That was also the franchise’s first playoff victory. Tragically, Briere’s brilliance was never fully realized as a car accident in the 1970 offseason led to his death at age 21.

• During the 1975-76 season, Jean Pronovost was the first player in franchise history to score 50 goals and 100 points. With Lowell MacDonald at left wing and Syl Apps at center, Pronovost manned the right wing on the prolific Century Line (which was temporarily dubbed the Bicentennial Line in 1976). That trio routinely put up 100 goals for several seasons in the 1970s.

• Pierre Larouche might have been the first “cool” player the Penguins ever had. A first-round pick in 1974, “Lucky Pierre’s” celebrity went beyond the rink. In 1975-76, at the age of 20, he became the youngest player in NHL history to reach the 50-goal and 100-point mark.

• Mario Lemieux? You would be hard-pressed to find an individual who has meant more to a professional sports team than Le Magnifique.

• Marc-Andre Fleury arrived in 2003 and ushered in a new era for the franchise, helping win three Stanley Cup titles while becoming the greatest goaltender in franchise history.

• And Kris Letang is a six-time All-Star whose name can be found on the Stanley Cup three times as well. He also happens to own virtually every record of note for defensemen in Penguins history.

But there has only ever been one Superstar from Quebec for the Penguins.

“The Penguins have had a great French heritage starting from Mario to Pierre Larouche to Jean Pronovost,” former forward Maxime Talbot said. “There’s a lot. A lot that have had a big impact on the Penguins history.”

Few had as entertaining of an impact as Talbot, who served as a French public address announcer during the Penguins’ “French Language Night” at PPG Paints Arena on Friday during their game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Armed with an impish demeanor, Talbot endeared himself to Pittsburgh fans for his exploits on the ice as well as his puckish disposition.

Even before he scored both of the Penguins’ goals in a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, Talbot was known as “Superstar” for a series of television ads for a local luxury car dealership in the late 2000s.

Even as a 20-something Quebecois in the somewhat unfamiliar environment of Pittsburgh, Talbot played a role in helping a teenager from Russia get used to life in North America in 2006.

“(Evgeni Malkin), he didn’t speak much English,” said Talbot. “He was way worse than me. (Malkin) couldn’t communicate at all. He was my roommate (on the road). It took time for (Malkin) to learn the English language. I realized he was good one day when one day, he was like, ‘Max, order room service for me.’

“I’m like, ‘What do you want?’

“He was like, ‘Oh, I want steak, medium rare.’

“I’m like, ‘You can call yourself. You’re able!’ ”

Talbot retired as a player after spending the previous three seasons playing in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

“We talk about (Malkin) coming here, I had to live the same experience going to Russia for three seasons,” Talbot said. “I was thinking I was going there for maybe one year, one season. So (I’m) like, ‘I’ll just wing it.’ But looking back, if I knew I was going to be there for three years, I would have really put my mind into learning a language probably faster and more efficiently.

“But you’re out of your comfort zone when you go somewhere else where you can’t even read the signs because the letters are different. For me, I was going to the rink. It was easy because it’s all hockey guys. But for my wife, when she would go to the grocery store and she tried to look for vegetables and stuff, that was more challenging for the day-to-day life.”

Life appears to be good these days for the 36-year-old Talbot. He’s a family man in Quebec and does some work as a broadcaster for RDS, a French Canadian sports outlet.

But he always feels at home when he comes to Pittsburgh.

“I was young, single, had a lot of time on my hands,” Talbot said of his career with the Penguins. “And I cared about the city. I feel like I come from a blue-collar family. Both my parents worked really hard. I feel like Pittsburgh is a blue-collar city. I wanted to be involved in the city. (The Stanley Cup in 2009), it was obviously a great part of my career. But even before that with the car commercials and the crazy stuff … I felt like this market was great.

“I think we all grew up together as the Penguins team as well. We were all the same age. The Penguins’ fans were really behind us.”

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