The most important Penguins of the 2010s: Nos. 10 through 6

By any measure, the 2010s were a successful decade for the Pittsburgh Penguins, maybe the most successful in franchise history. Forget the two Stanley Cup titles. Having zero bankruptcies qualifies as a triumph in the “good decade” column for this organization.

But who were the 10 most important players on the ice over the past 10 years?

There are certainly are several likely choices for this designation given the individual accolades of the Penguins accumulated over the past decade.

The tabulation of this list was done through a vigorously unscientific approach of sitting on a couch in pajamas and writing names on a yellow legal pad.

The one criteria stressed above all else was longevity. If you played at least half of the decade, you probably are higher on the list than others.

Here are Nos. 10 through 6 for Christmas. You’ll have to wait until Boxing Day for Nos. 5 through 1:

10. Jake Guentzel, LW

Had Guentzel arrived a few years earlier, he’d be higher on this list.

A third-round pick in 2013, Guentzel debuted during the 2016-17 season and found an almost immediate fit as a winger with Sidney Crosby. After more than a decade of failures with the likes of Colby Armstrong, Jonathan Filewich and Beau Bennett, the Penguins had an honest-to-goodness homegrown “winger for Sid.”

In his first two postseasons, Guentzel broke a handful of scoring records that went back to the late 1910s and played a major role in the 2017 Stanley Cup victory.

By the time the 2020s conclude, he may top a list such as this.

9. Patric Hornqvist, RW

A few weeks after taking over as general manager, Jim Rutherford shook up his roster in a major way by dealing away 40-goal left winger James Neal to the Nashville Predators for Hornqvist and center Nick Spaling.

The base numbers for the Penguins with Neal made this deal look bad at first glance, but Rutherford stressed a change to the mix of personalities in his room.

Hornqvist brought a constant team-first straight-ahead approach few others in the NHL possess. Additionally, he’s one of the most consistent net-front presences in the NHL. A steady 20-goal threat, Hornqvist is one of five men who have scored a Stanley Cup-clinching goal for the franchise.

8. Brian Dumoulin, D

When former Penguins general Ray Shero was forced to deal center Jordan Staal during the 2012 draft in order to avoid potentially losing him as an unrestricted free agent, he got back a nice haul from the Carolina Hurricanes with center Brandon Sutter and the No. 8 overall pick in that draft, which was used on defenseman Derrick Pouliot. And, oh yeah, there was some throw-in defensive prospect from Maine.

As it turned out, the throw-in ended up being the best part of the deal by becoming a vital part of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and ’17.

Teamed with Kris Letang on the top pair during the 2016 postseason, Brian Dumoulin’s steadying defensive presence allowed Letang to take full advantage of his offensive skills. And when Letang suffered a season-ending neck injury in February of 2017, Dumoulin, in effect, became the team’s top defenseman.

For a franchise that always seems willing to gamble offensively, Dumoulin might end up being the best defensive player in Penguins history.

7. Chris Kunitz, LW

One of Shero’s first major trades came in 2009 when he added Kunitz, a buzzsaw of a forechecker with some offensive touch, in hopes of finding a complementary winger for Crosby.

Throughout the 2010s, Kunitz was virtually arc-welded to Crosby’s left hip and still is the Penguins’ captain’s most productive winger. That connection was so palpable, it led to Kunitz being selected over more talented candidates for Canada’s roster in the 2014 Olympics.

Kunitz’s production petered out toward the end of his time with the Penguins, but he was still one of the more revered members of the team and was a contributor to three Stanley Cup titles for the franchise, including the 2016 and ’17 editions. His signature moment with the franchise may have been his overtime score against the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference final.

6. Matt Murray G

It feels strange to rank the starting goaltender for the 2016 and ’17 Stanley Cup titles so low, but given Murray’s limited time with the franchise to this point, that was held against him for the purposes of this endeavor.

What can’t be disputed is how locked in Murray was for each of those championship runs.

A middling third-round pick in 2012, Murray’s name came to prominence with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when he set a handful of AHL goaltending records in 2014-15.

When injuries hobbled incumbent goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in 2015-16, Murray was given an opportunity to show what he could do at the NHL level and never looked back. In net for most of the 2016 run, Murray drew comparisons to hall-of-famer Ken Dryden while leading the Penguins to the Stanley Cup championship.

In 2017, Murray was sidelined by injury for the early stages of the postseason and did not replace Fleury until the Eastern Conference final. During the Stanley Cup final, he shut down a potent Predators offense to claim the title once again.

Murray’s success gave the team comfort in allowing it to part company with the man ahead of him on this list.