AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Top 25 Team Announced

Published on January 4, 2024 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The fans have spoken, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are happy to announce results from online voting for the Top 25 Penguins of All-Time.

The vote is a part of the team's 25th season celebration and pays tribute to many of the players who have made Wilkes-Barre/Scranton one of the top franchises in the American Hockey League since joining the league in 1999.

Fans were able to vote for up to 25 of their favorite players through the team's website during the month of October. Any player who had played a minimum of 40 games with the team was eligible to be selected.

More than 500 fans cast their ballots, and the following list of players was compiled from those votes.

The players (in alphabetical order) are:

Colby Armstrong: Spent four seasons with WBS. Ranks top 15 in games played (251), assists (83) and points (129). Scored iconic overtime goal to end a marathon, 112-minute game in 2005.

Paul Bissonnette: Popular, feisty forward appeared in 161 games over four seasons, recording 387 penalty minutes.

Teddy Blueger: Spent parts of four seasons with WBS, recording 115 points (49G-66A) in 179 games. Also owns the franchise record for career overtime goals (5) and plus-minus (+58).

Dennis Bonvie: Recent AHL Hall of Famer spent five seasons with WBS. Holds the team record with 1,284 penalty minutes in just 285 games.

Sébastien Caron: Goaltender spent parts of five seasons in NEPA. Ranks fourth among WBS goalies in games played (123) and third in shutouts (10) in team history.

Andy Chiodo: Plucky netminder captured the hearts of fans during the 2003-04 season and subsequent playoff run. Led the team's goalies that season with 44 games played, 18 wins and four shutouts. Also appeared in 18 postseason games en route to the 2004 Calder Cup Final.

Deryk Engelland: Spent parts of three seasons with WBS. Bruising defender ranks 10th in team history with 405 penalty minutes.

Bobby Farnham: Energetic forward played parts of three seasons with WBS. Ranks sixth in team history with 666 penalty minutes. They say you can still hear the crowd chant his name to this day...

Marc-André Fleury: Sure-fire Hockey Hall of Famer cut his chops over parts of four seasons with WBS. Led the team with 26 wins and four shutouts in 2004-05. Olympic gold medalist, Vezina Trophy-winner and three-time Stanley Cup Champion.

Jake Guentzel: Spent parts of two seasons with WBS. Lit it up with 48 points (23G-25A) in 44 games in NEPA, good for an average of .52 goals and 1.1 points per game.

Tristan Jarry: Manned the crease for parts of four seasons with WBS. Third on the team's all-time list with 77 wins and tied for third with 10 shutouts. Scored the first goalie goal in team history on Nov. 14, 2018 at Springfield.

Chris Kelleher: Slick defenseman spent four seasons with WBS. Is 12th all-time with 250 games played with the Penguins. Set the team record with five points (1G-4A) in a playoff game on Apr. 13, 2001 vs. Syracuse.

Tom Kostopoulos: Spent parts of 11 seasons with WBS, including seven seasons as team captain. Holds franchise records for games (658), goals (186), assists (283) and points (469). Two-time AHL All-Star with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. One of only four players in history to appear in 600 games in both the AHL and NHL.

Ben Lovejoy: Spent parts of three seasons with WBS. Led the AHL with a plus-42 rating in 2008-09, which still stands as a single-season franchise record. Won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016.

Matt Murray: Spent parts of three seasons with WBS, but rewrote the league record books during the 2014-15 campaign. Recorded a franchise-best 12 shutouts that season and established a league record for longest shutout streak (304:11). Earned the Aldege 'Baz" Bastien Award (Outstanding Goaltender), Dudley "Red" Garrett Award (Outstanding Rookie) and Harry "Hap" Holmes Award (Lowest GAA). Won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh.

Alain Nasreddine: Played parts of five seasons with WBS. "Heart and soul" blueliner places second in team history with 57 playoff games played and 82 playoff penalty minutes. Served as team captain in 2005-06 and later spent five seasons as an assistant coach.

Brooks Orpik: Spent parts of three seasons with WBS. Went on to play 11 seasons with Pittsburgh and captured the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009.

Toby Petersen: Spent parts of three seasons with the Penguins. Ranks tied for second on the team's all-time points list with 177. Led the team in scoring during the 2000-01 (67 PTS) and 2002-03 (66 PTS) seasons.

Bryan Rust: Speedy winger spent parts of three seasons in WBS. Integral figure in Pittsburgh's back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Rob Scuderi: Spent parts of five seasons with WBS. Ranks second on the team's all-time list with 305 games played. Defense-first defender won Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh (2009) and Los Angeles (2012).

Zach Sill: Played parts of five seasons with WBS. Rugged, blue-collar forward ranks seventh on the team with 277 games played.

John Slaney: AHL Hall of Famer played parts of two seasons with WBS. Recorded 110 points (42G-68A) in 89 games with the team. Defenseman who led the inaugural Penguins team with 60 points in just 49 games. Won the Eddie Shore Award as league's top defenseman in 2000-01, the same season he was named AHL All-Star MVP at then-First Union Arena.

Maxime Talbot: Charismatic forward spent parts of three seasons with WBS. Went on to win Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009, scoring both of the Penguins' goals in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final.

Tim Wallace: Spent parts of five seasons in WBS. Third all-time for the team in games played (304) and goals (75). Ranks 10th on the team's all-time points list with 137.

Ryan Whitney: Spent parts of four seasons with WBS. Paced team blueliners with 41 points (6G-35A) in 2004-05. Skilled puck-mover represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The players will be featured on a set of 25th Season trading cards. Five different strips of cards, each featuring five of the players on this list, will be given away at the following home contests:

Wednesday, Jan. 17 vs. Providence

Wednesday, Jan. 24 vs. Hartford

Wednesday, Jan. 31 vs. Toronto

Wednesday, Feb. 21 vs. Lehigh Valley

Wednesday, Mar. 13 vs. Lehigh Valley

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's next game is tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 5, against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at MassMutual Center. The Penguins' next home game is the following night, Saturday, Jan. 6, as they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Game time is slated for 6:05 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

Season-ticket packages for the Penguins' 25th season of hockey are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

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