To Antti Niemi’s left was Carter Rowney, whose rise to reliability rivals that of anyone inside the Penguins dressing room. Across the way was Jake Guentzel, the playoff scoring leader. You probably remember Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
There are stories of success gleaned via back-to-back Stanley Cups all over the Penguins dressing room, but Niemi falls into a different category.
Niemi was horrible last season. His team, the Dallas Stars, didn’t make the playoffs, then bought him out. Niemi signed with the Penguins on July 1, a prove-it deal worth just $700,000.
With 227 career wins, including a Stanley Cup, the 34-year-old Niemi easily could’ve walked away and called it a career.