An annual summer history of the players that have made the Penguins pay the most. If you dare, here’s the past looks:
- Penguin killers 2019
- Penguin killers 2022
- Penguin killers 2023
- Penguin killers 2024
- Penguin killers 2025
This season’s look is a star-studded affair. Many of these players ripped up the whole league, and the Pens were no exception. 30 players produced at least four points against Pittsburgh this season, here they are.
William Nylander stands alone for most points this season, touching the Pens up for eight points in three games – all of it at even strength to boot. Pittsburgh, for their
part, only matched Nylander’s total with eight total goals in the three meetings against Toronto this season. Needless to say, that made for a 3-0 series sweep for the Maple Leafs against Pittsburgh. The Leafs only managed to win 29 of their other 79 games on the season (29-36-14) when they weren’t playing the Pens. Nylander had a tumultuous season individually (making off-ice headlines for a wrong reason) but did well when playing, to the tune of 79 points in 65 games this season. That total was boosted by his performance against the Pens, unfortunately for him and Toronto that was one of the only areas that went right for them last season (up until the lottery draft, anyways).
All in all, the Pens did fairly well to limit the damage against division opponents, most of whom got four cracks at them. It took 5+ points to get in the top-10 this year, and the Metropolitan Division’s input is close to minimal. The Carolina trio of Nikolaj Ehlers, Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake were up there, as was the Norris-winning season from Zach Werenski and the talents of Mat Barzal to show they couldn’t escape completely but seeing none of New Jersey, Washington, Philadelphia or New York Rangers near the top of the list shows what kind of season most of those teams had.
Connor McDavid recorded his four points in two games against the Pens, and somehow that tidy 2.0 points/game rate managed to lower his recent average against Pittsburgh. At one point over a three-year stretch McDavid had 17 points in just six games against the Pens (2.83 per game). I guess you could call current developments progress, in the most minimal way possible.
In the “some of these names aren’t like the others” category, it was a surprise to see a pair of Oliver’s on this list beside many of the NHL’s very top offensive players. Montreal’s Oliver Kapanen did have a fine rookie season scoring 22 goals and 37 points but his name and high levels of production against the Pens certainly makes one take note. The other side of the equation is an Oliver who feels like he’s been around forever in Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who made his NHL debut in the 2010-11 season. The defenseman produced 39 points in 2025-26, his highest year of output since 2018-19, and he turned in some impressive numbers against the Pens to help get there. (Fortunately, there was no entry by Columbus’s Mathieu Olivier to complete the trifecta).
Over the past five seasons, here are the most productive players against the Penguins.
It was great to see Chris Kreider clear the Eastern Conference this season, heading out West is a good place for him as far as the Pens are concerned. McDavid being in the West doesn’t shield the Pens from getting romped, but Kucherov is using the edge on more matchups to start to close in for most points against the Pens.
At this point though, let’s talk about Drake Batherson and Pavel Zacha. Very good players, to be sure, but something really seems to click for them against the Pens.
Zacha has 264 points in 390 games overall in this timeframe, which means against the non-Penguin teams he scores .65 points per game, compared to 1.25 against Pittsburgh. Batherson manages a very nice .81 points/game against every other team and then amps it all the way up to 1.43 against Pittsburgh. The latter number being so high is truly amazing. Batherson is a player who has increased his point total every single season (he’s up to four straight 60+ point seasons, and cracked 70 for the first time in 2025-26), he’s probably an under-rated star player as it is, but this sample and the results against one opponent are startling.
Both Batherson and Zacha appear highly on the initial 2025-26 chart and might be the best representatives of Penguin killers these days. To a degree, you have to expect the absolute elite in McDavid and Kucherov are going to get their pound of flesh out of any and every team in the NHL, they’re just that good at piling up points. It’s down a level to the ‘very good but not great’ level of player like Batherson/Zacha who for whatever reason end up raising their game into star-level performers against a single team that embodies what this exercise is trying to shed light on as some of the biggest Penguin killers in the NHL today.
