The Penguins biggest turkeys of the last ten years

Happy Thanksgiving, Pensburgh! It’s likely going to go down as one of the more forgettable turkey days of our lives, so let’s take a look at some of the more forgettable Penguins players over the last ten years.

Nothing personal of course as I don’t have ill feelings towards most (but not all) of them. This is all in good fun. If you click the link at each position, it will take you to the NHL’s stat website so you can see for yourself and search to see if there’s any omissions from the list.

Left Wing

Tanner Glass
115 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 PTS
11:04 ATOI, 152 PIM, -19, 5.3 sh%

Glass played in 115 games in 2012-14. In those 115 games he scored a whopping five goals. His first season in particular wasn’t very impressive during the lockout shortened season in 2013 with only one goal and one assist in 48 games played.

Glass sits seventh on the list of LW in games played, but falls to 16th overall in points.

Honorable Mentions

• Sergei Plotnikov
• Matt Cooke

Center

Joe Vitale
163 GP, 8 G, 27 A, 35 PTS
10:45 ATOI, 115 PIM, -14, 5.3 sh%

Vitale played in four seasons with Pittsburgh from 2010-14 and played in 163 games, but still ended his career with single digit goal totals. His final season in Pittsburgh saw him record only one goal in 53 games.

Vitale played the seventh most games for the Penguins at C with 163 games, but his eight goals are 19th most for the Pens in that time. His -14 is also the lowest among all centers for the Penguins the past ten years.

Honorable Mention

• Zach Sill
• Brandon Sutter
• Marcel Goc
• Maxim Lapierre
• Mike Comrie

Right Wing

Craig Adams
362 GP, 18 G, 42 A, 60 PTS
11:26 ATOI, 228 PIM, -29, 5.4 sh%

Craig Adams seemed to be the player who just never went away with Pittsburgh. The Penguins claimed him off waivers from Chicago in March of 2009 and he played seven seasons and 362 games with the Penguins before retiring from the NHL.

His 362 games are the second most among Penguins RWs, and that position was not a very strong position for the Penguins the past decade as Adams’ 60 points rank fifth most in that time frame for the Penguins.

Honorable Mention

• Tom Kuhnhackl
• Chuck Kobasew
• Bobby Farnham

Defense

Jack Johnson
149 GP, 4 G, 20 A, 24 PTS
19:22 ATOI, 67 PIM, -5, 2.7 sh%

Where to start with Simple Jack? His arrival was marred from the beginning as his signing did not go over well with the fan base as his play on the ice confirmed those low expectations. The Penguins ended the marriage this offseason when the team used its first ever buy out to rid themselves of Johnson’s contract.

Rob Scuderi
160 GP, 1 G, 17 A, 18 PTS
18:45 ATOI, 27 PIM, +5, 1.1 sh%

Scuderi came back for a second stint with the Penguins after winning a Cup in 2009 and then again with Los Angeles. His second stint was extremely forgettable towards the end, but fortunately Scuderi was traded for Trevor Daley who played a large role with the Penguins back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. Scuderi’s one goal in 160 games is probably one more than most Penguins fan would have guessed.

Honorable Mention

• Derrick Pouliot
• Christian Ehrhoff
• Matt Hunwick
• Erik Gudbranson

Goalie

Antti Niemi
3 GP, 0-3, 16 GA, .797 sv%, 7.49 GAA

Goaltending has actually been a strong category with the Penguins as most of the men between the pipe had respectable numbers. Besides one glaring omission. Antti Niemi will likely go down as one of the worst goalies for the Penguins as he lost all three games he played in and the Penguins cut ties with him after his third abysmal start and he was claimed by Montreal to rid the Penguins of the biggest turkey for the Penguins in the past ten years.

Despite all the Penguins’ success in the last decade, it wasn’t without some duds along the way. Some were great players in the locker room and just didn’t have what it took to be a useful player anymore. Fortunately, all these turkeys are a thing of the past now.