Original Penguins goalie Les Binkley enjoys Matt Murray-Tristan Jarry platoon

TAMPA, Fla. — At 85, Les Binkley has watched quite a bit of hockey.

And he’s had a pretty direct view of 53 years of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, minus the occasional lockout.

As an original member of the franchise which took the ice in 1967, Binkley was essentially the team’s first goaltender, going 20-24-10 during the franchise’s inaugural season of 1967-68.

(Hank Bassen was the team’s goaltender in its first game on Oct. 11, 1967, but Binkley was the team’s first “starting goaltender” for the course of that season.)

What’s the biggest difference in his position since the swinging ’60s?

“Money!” Binkley blurted with a sharp deadpan prior to watching the Penguins — with a handful of millionaires on the roster — practice Wednesday in Amalie Arena.

Transitioning to a wink and a wry smile, Binkley, who spends the winters in nearby St. Petersburg, Fla., offered an in-depth observation of how his position has changed over half a century.

“Our equipment was very bad,” said Binkley, who played five seasons for the Penguins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “Our upper pads were just pieces of felt. We went home in the spring with bruises on our legs and arms all summer long.”

Plus, the primitive techniques of that era were largely self-taught.

“They all have goalie coaches now, which we didn’t,” Binkley said. “What you had to do is sort of watch the other goalie play, and you could maybe pick up some pointers from him. You could try them in practice. If they worked for you, you’d use them. If not, you’d move on to the next one.”

Binkley, who roomed with current general manager Jim Rutherford, himself a former goaltender, when they were teammates in 1971-72, finds the modern platooning of goaltenders to be a particularly profound difference in the position.

For the bulk of this season, the Penguins have split duties between two-time Stanley Cup champion Matt Murray and All-Star Tristan Jarry. Many other teams, such as last season’s Stanley Cup Final participants, the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins, platoon in some fashion.

“It’s great,” said Binkley, who spends the more temperate portions of the year in Hanover, Ontario. “With the way the schedule is, you play four games in five nights. You can split it up, and it makes it pretty equal. And I think with the two good goalies, it makes each other play better (with competition).”

A member of the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup championship team as a scout, Binkley’s name can be found on the Stanley Cup.

It also maintains a fairly prominent place in the franchise’s record books. Despite playing on Penguins teams that routinely were thumped by “Original Six” stalwarts, Binkley is tied with Murray for third in career shutouts with 11. Only franchise pillars Marc-Andre Fleury (44) and Tom Barrasso (22), each of whom played more than a decade in Pittsburgh, have more.

Binkley, a self-described “rink rat,” marvels at the tempo with which modern hockey is played.

“The players are so much faster, stronger and bigger,” Binkley said. “I don’t know what else you could say. The game is so fast, oh man.”

Binkley saw the Penguins enter the NHL and debut in the Civic Arena with only a few thousand fans on hand most nights. So he finds the team’s ongoing sellout streak, which has lasted well over a decade through two buildings, as well as the franchise’s footprint in Pittsburgh, as remarkable achievements.

“I enjoyed being a Penguin,” Binkley said. “I scouted for them later, too. It’s good to see the way the city has endorsed them. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

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