For the last 35 years or so, the Penguins have boasted some of the game's premier offensive talents. Their accomplishments as league scoring champions and MVPs hang from the rafters at PPG Paints Arena right alongside those honoring the club's five Stanley Cup championships.
Pittsburgh has certainly had great defensemen come through town, some of them Hall of Famers, but not many spent the prime of their careers with or are synonymous with the organization.
Kris Letang, who was drafted by the Penguins and has played parts of a dozen seasons with them, checks off all the boxes on this list. Thus, in my opinion -- feel free to share your own, I know you will -- he leads the 10 best defensemen in franchise history:
10. JUSTIN SCHULTZ
A highly-sought free agent coming out of Wisconsin, Schultz blossomed in Pittsburgh after playing parts of his first four seasons with the Oilers. The offensive defenseman was in integral part of the 2016 and '17 championships, the latter in particular, after Letang was lost for the season with a neck injury. Schultz has averaged .54 points per game in 159 games with the Penguins.
10. RON STACKHOUSE
Stackhouse came to Pittsburgh in a 1974 trade that shipped Jack Lynch and Jim Rutherford to Detroit. Stackhouse went on to play 621 games for the Penguins, the 10th-most in franchise history, and appeared in four All-Star Games. He was 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, but not overly physical. In 1975-76, he had a 70-point season.
9. KEVIN HATCHER
The big-bodied blueliner (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) played just three seasons for the Penguins but was selected to the NHL All-Star game in each. He averaged .64 points per game, scoring 140 points (45 goals) in 220 games during the defensive-minded Kevin Constantine era.
7. DAVE BURROWS
Burrows was one of the better defensive defenseman on mid-'70s Penguins teams that qualified for the playoffs in four of his six seasons. Burrows played in two All-Star games, including 1976 when he posted career highs in goals (7) and points (29). He was 10th that season in Hart Trophy voting.
7. ULF SAMUELSSON
He played just five seasons in Pittsburgh but became a cult hero during the glory years of the early '90s with his physical -- and sometimes dirty -- play. Ulf came to the Penguins from Hartford, along with Ron Francis, in one of the best trades in team history. He scored 94 points in 277 games to go along with 804 penalty minutes, the eighth-most in franchise history.
6. BROOKS ORPIK
The 18th overall pick in 2000 helped usher in a prosperous era in team history and was the heart and soul of the Penguins' defense corps during the 2008-09 Cup runs. A defensive defenseman, Orpik was a fearless hitter and shot-blocker while playing in 703 games for the Penguins, seventh-most in franchise history.
5. RANDY CARLYLE
Carlyle played parts of six seasons in Pittsburgh and was a three-time All-Star, when that still mattered. He's also the only player in franchise history to win the Norris Trophy, remarkable given the team's success over the decades. In 1980-81, Carlyle recorded 83 points in 76 games, while registering a minus-16 on a team that went 30-37-13, to beat out Denis Potvin and Larry Robinson for the Norris.
4. SERGEI GONCHAR
Instrumental in the development of Letang and the assimilation of Evgeni Malkin to North America, Gonchar was crucial to the 2008 and '09 Cup runs. He walked the blue line to open shooting lanes better than almost any defenseman of his era and was underrated defensively. He accumulated 259 points in 322 games with the Penguins, and should one day be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
3. LARRY MURPHY
You know you're good when you're famous for a dump. And Murphy was better than good. He was Hall of Fame great, registering 301 points in 336 career games with the Penguins. Always underrated, he was dealt to his hometown Maple Leafs for Dimitri Mironov in 1995, then went on to cement his legacy in Detroit, helping the Red Wings to consecutive championships in 1997-98.
2. PAUL COFFEY
Coffey's No. 7 hangs from the rafters in Edmonton and rightfully so. No. 77 in Pittsburgh was spectacular, too. He is the most prolific scoring blueliner in team history, with 440 points in just 331 games. That will never be matched, and neither will his two 100-point seasons, the only Penguins defenseman to accomplish that. Moreover, his December 1987 trade marked the beginning of a new era that would result in the 1991 championship.
1. KRIS LETANG
A three-time Stanley Cup champion, Letang scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 at San Jose to seal the 2016 title. The franchise's all-time leader in assists for a defenseman is four away from surpassing Coffey for the most points. He plays much bigger than his size. Good hair. Need I say more?