The first thing Ray Shero did when he became the Penguins’ general manager back in 2006 was to make the black and gold harder to play against. To that end he signed abrasive land shark Jarkko Ruutu, a supersized forward version of Mark Friedman, and claimed husky Chris Thorburn on waivers from Buffalo.
At the 2007 trade deadline he acquired “Scary” Gary Roberts and Big Georges Laraque, arguably the toughest players in the league.
Thus reinforced, the Pens became a most difficult foe.
Before you start pushing back, I know it’s a different game nowadays.