Best Penguins by jersey number: #45

The Pittsburgh Penguins organizational history has a plethora of great players, and we decided to go through the Penguins’ best players to wear each jersey number. Today we continue the list by naming the best No. 45 in Penguins history.

View the original article to see the embedded media.

Nine players have worn #45 for the Penguins, and this list wasn’t that deep. Defenseman Rob Scuderi – who we already covered for #4 – wore it briefly in 2004. Josh Archibald also wore it for a few years between 2016 and 2018 during his handful of NHL stints during that time.

For this one we’re going with a guy who didn’t score a ton but made up for it with his physicality and his role at the other end of the ice. That player was Arron Asham.

Asham played for Pittsburgh from 2010 to 2012 and was used in the Penguins’ bottom six. He recorded 10 goals and 27 points in 108 games for the Penguins – so it’s not like he’s a completely offensive void, but he has certainly made a name for himself in other areas.

He was a player who definitely bordered on the edge in terms of physicality, and he regularly found himself in the role of enforcer. He once injured Washington’s Jay Beagle in a fight and followed it up with what he would later apologize for and call a “classless” gesture. And then Beagle’s teammate John Erksine challenged Asham in the next Pens-Caps match.

Asham was also infamously suspended for four games for face-checking Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn. Once again he certainly played on the edge.

But in the end, Asham wasn’t afraid to stand up for his teammates:

After his stint with the Penguins, Ahsam spent the last two seasons of his career with the New York Rangers. He retired with 94 goals, 208 points and 1,004 penalty minutes in 789 career games.