kdhnews
On October 18, 2006, a capacity crowd at Mellon Arena buzzed with anticipation for one of the most hyped debuts in Pittsburgh Penguins history. Evgeni Malkin, the highly touted Russian prospect, was set to make his NHL debut against the New Jersey Devils after missing the first four games of his rookie season with an injury.
The fans in attendance witnessed more than they could have imagined. Malkin, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 NHL draft, emerged from the tunnel behind Sidney Crosby, the Penguins' 19-year-old superstar center who was coming off a spectacular rookie campaign with 102 points. Also in the lineup was Kris Letang, a feisty young defenseman playing just his fifth NHL game, logging only eight shifts.
At that moment, no one could have predicted that 20 years later, Crosby, Malkin, and Letang would still be together with the Penguins, forming the longest-tenured trio in North American professional sports history. Their partnership, spanning 1,023 games (regular season and playoffs), has produced three Stanley Cups and more regular-season victories than any trio in NHL annals.
"It's pretty surreal," Letang said. "That's not something you script before we started. It just shows what kind of humans we became, being close together, being part of the same organization and having the same goal in mind."
This could be the final year of their remarkable run, as the Penguins signed Malkin to a one-year deal that may be his last. If it is indeed the end of an era, it has been an extraordinary ride.
"It's incredible," said Chuck Fletcher, who was the Penguins' assistant general manager at the time. "It just goes back to their passion for the game. They're all competitive people. They all love to play hockey."
Malkin's Daring Escape
Malkin's arrival in Pittsburgh was straight out of a Cold War spy novel. He was entangled in a contract dispute with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, which demanded he play one more year in his hometown before leaving for the NHL. Determined to join the Penguins, Malkin, with the help of his agent J.P. Barry, orchestrated a covert plan to slip away from his team in Helsinki, Finland. The top-secret operation succeeded, and Malkin flew to Los Angeles that August before heading to Pittsburgh.
"You wouldn't really think that would still be the case in the summer of 2006. But there were a lot of hurdles to get him out," said Fletcher, now part of the Seattle Kraken's front office. He credited Malkin's persistence for clearing those hurdles. "Geno really wanted to come obviously. But it was literally cloak and dagger."
Malkin's path to his rookie year faced another obstacle when he collided with teammate John LeClair in his first exhibition game, suffering a shoulder injury that the Penguins feared would sideline him for months. Fortunately, he missed only four games. Once he debuted, it was immediately clear the Penguins had another superstar. Malkin scored in each of his first six games, setting a modern-day NHL record, en route to 85 points and the Calder Trophy.
"We knew right away we would have two of the best center-ice men in the league for as long as they could play," Fletcher said.
Ironically, had Malkin needed a few more days to recover, the Big Three's first game together would have been delayed another year.
Letang Beats the Odds
Unlike Malkin and Crosby, Letang was not considered an elite prospect or future franchise cornerstone. On that October night in 2006, casual fans might have consulted their game programs when he took his occasional shifts. The Penguins drafted Letang in the third round in 2005, 61 picks after Crosby, and more than 20 defensemen were selected before him.
"To a fault, as an industry, we value—or maybe overvalue—size, and Kris is not the tallest defenseman," Fletcher said. "He's so strong and competitive, I don't think anybody says he's undersized anymore."
Letang, however, was not lacking in confidence. He was unfazed by being around Pittsburgh's celebrated prospects, including Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal. "It's easy for me to say that drafts don't matter, but it actually is the case," Letang said. "If you come in an environment and you let people walk on you, you're already a step behind. So I just stepped on the ice, in our locker room, [and] I valued myself at the same level as everybody else."
When Letang arrived at his second NHL training camp in 2006, Fletcher saw a stallion. "Tanger was a wild card," Fletcher said. "He was all over the ice [that] training camp, and the skating, the competitiveness, the skill stood out. But a 19-year-old kid trying to acclimate to the NHL was a big challenge."
Letang made the team out of camp and played the first seven games, but he quietly exited the stage during Malkin's sizzling start. In late October, the Penguins sent Letang back to his junior team to continue his development. While he had much to work on defensively and could be impulsive on the ice, Fletcher said the front office already viewed him as part of their future core alongside Crosby and Malkin.
"He was very talented and competitive," Fletcher said. "And he had the it factor."
Crosby Keeps Ascending
Crosby, one of the most hyped prospects in NHL history, had already surpassed lofty expectations in his rookie year. After Fletcher was hired by Pittsburgh before the 2006-07 season, he got to know the young phenom and came away even more impressed. "He was just so mature," Fletcher said. "People gravitated toward him."
Letang quickly saw why. The two knew each other from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and once they became teammates, they bonded over their shared love of hockey, staying on the ice after practice to refine their skills. Letang discovered that Crosby was not just a single-minded prodigy. "When he's outside of hockey and he can have a good time with the guys, he's there and he's making sure that everybody has a good time around him," Letang said. "And he'll invite a lot of guys to his house to feel comfortable, be part of the team. That's the thing that surprises you most when you get to know him more."
While Letang fought to stay on the roster, Crosby was in the early stages of possibly the best season of his career. One of the few areas he struggled with as a rookie was faceoffs, so he worked tirelessly to improve, and his percentage jumped in 2006-07. "His work ethic on and off the ice was just incredible," Fletcher said. "He was not entitled at all. He wanted to put the time in. He wanted to battle. He wanted to be better. And he was."
Crosby finished his second season with a career-high 120 points, capturing the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, and Lester B. Pearson Award. "He became literally the best player in the league at 19," Fletcher said.
The Big Three Begins
Twenty years later, Crosby didn't remember that Devils game as their first together. "We wouldn't have been probably thinking that we'd still all be here now," Crosby said. "Just hard to believe it's been that long."
It didn't help that, aside from Malkin's debut, it was a forgettable game. New Jersey netminder Martin Brodeur stymied the Penguins with 37 saves on 38 shots, including three stops on Crosby, who was held pointless. But late in the second period, Malkin soared into the Devils zone with the puck and dropped it to Mark Recchi, who fired it on net. Ryan Whitney tried to jam in the rebound, and it appeared Brodeur had it covered. But Malkin spotted the loose puck and poked it through Brodeur's legs for his first NHL goal.
Malkin's record-setting start fueled a five-game winning streak for the Penguins. Even the front office was unprepared for how quickly their young stars dragged them into contention. They had not built the 2006-07 roster with the postseason in mind. "I'll never forget that trade deadline. [GM] Ray [Shero] turned to me and said, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to make the playoffs. We don't have an eighth defenseman. We don't have a No. 3 goalie. We don't have any depth,'" Fletcher recalled.
The Penguins lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first round, but the league was officially on notice. A year later, Pittsburgh reached the Stanley Cup Final. A year after that, the Big Three won their first championship. And they're still here.
Their three games together in October 2006 helped forge a bond that has lasted two decades. "The three of us were young guys coming in all at the same time, trying to figure things out together," Crosby said. And at each turn since, Crosby, Malkin, and Letang have chosen to stay together. Through Crosby's concussions, Letang's strokes, Malkin's knee injuries, and more, they have each endured a lot to continue playing. They might not have kept going, much less with the same organization, if not for that bond.
"We were able to help each other through that and have fun together, grow through some stuff together," Crosby said. "You look at our careers separately, we've all had to be there for each other at different points."
Originally reported by kdhnews.