The Toughest Penguins Ever: The New Millennium
The first two decades of the new millennium set the gold standard for the Penguins in terms of physicality and toughness. Particularly, the Ray Shero Era that lasted from 2006-14.
His appreciation for toughness and tough guys no doubt was inherited from his father, former Broad Street Bullies coach Fred Shero, whose Flyers teams wrote the book on winning through intimidation.
Acutely aware that the club he inherited from Hall-of-Famer Craig Patrick lacked muscle and fire, the younger Shero immediately set about the task of making the Pens harder to play against.
The result?
The Steel City became a haven of sorts for some of the toughest players of the era. In no special order, Craig Adams, Arron Asham, Matt Cooke, Deryk Engelland, Hal Gill, Tanner Glass, Eric Godard, “Scary” Gary Roberts, Mike Rupp, Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Thorburn took up residence in the ‘Burgh. To say nothing of rugged home-grown skaters such as Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Malone, Brooks Orpik, Zach Sill and Joe Vitale.