Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #34

The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we’ve decided to go through the best Penguins’ players to wear each jersey number. Today, we continue the list by naming the best #34 in Penguins’ history.

Nineteen players have worn #34, and honestly, it’s not a super deep list in terms of talent. Andre St. Laurent was a decent center in the early-80s, but most everyone else was either a one-year thing or, simply, not really worthy of this list.

But there was one player during the back-to-back Cup runs in 2016 and 2017 who played an important defensive role in their championships. That is German-born forward Tom Kuhnhackl.

Kuhnhackl played for the Penguins from 2015-18. He certainly wasn’t known for his production – he produced only 18 goals and 54 points in 232 career games, including 11 goals and 39 points with Pittsburgh – but he turned in some outstanding work on the penalty kill and in the defensive zone.

In fact, his first NHL goal was of the shorthanded variety against the Tampa Bay Lightning:

But even though Kuhnhackl was known for his defensive acumen, he still had his moments on offense. He roofed the above shorthanded goal on the backhand, and he also scored on a penalty shot against the Buffalo Sabres:

And he also scored a fluky goal in the 2016 playoffs against the Washington Capitals in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Kuhnhackl went on to play in two more NHL seasons for the New York Islanders from 2018-20. He has since returned to Europe and currently plays for Adler Mannheim of the DEL in Germany.

Here is one last Kuhnhackl clip for your enjoyment, where he lip syncs the Penguins’ lineup to perfection:

Honorable mention: Andre St. Laurent

Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #33

Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #32

Related: Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #31