Best Penguins by Jersey Number: #45

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 #45 in Penguins’ history.

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Nine players have worn #45 for the Penguins, and this list wasn’t all that deep. Defensmen Rob Scuderi – who we’ve already covered for #4 – wore it briefly in 2004. Josh Archibald also wore it for a few years from 2016-18 in 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 on the other end of the ice. That player was Arron Asham.

Asham played for Pittsburgh from 2010-12, and he was deployed in the Penguins’ bottom-six. He recorded 10 goals and 27 points in 108 games for the Penguins – so it’s not like he was a complete offensive void, but he 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 frequently found himself in the role of enforcer. He once injured Washington’s Jay Beagle in a fight and followed that up with what he would later apologize for and call a “classless” gesture. And then, Beagle’s teammate John Erksine challenged Asham in the following Pens-Caps matchup.

Asham was also, infamously, suspended for four games for cross-checking Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn in the face. Again, he certainly played on the edge.

But, at the end of the day, Asham wasn’t afraid to stick up for his teammates:

After his stint with the Penguins, Ahsam spent the final 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.