As the season ticks down to its final seven games for Pittsburgh, a handful of Penguins are making their way towards personal milestones, which would make for minor rooting interests the rest of the way.
Bryan Rust
Rusty is quietly having a career year. His +/- has never been worse (but, frankly, that's true of everyone on the team), but he's just three goals away from exceeding his career high in a season from last year (28).
Additionally, the first two goals will combine for Rust's 200th career goal in the NHL.
Rust is also five assists away from tying his career high 34, which he achieved in the 2021-22 season. Put those together and Rust needs just four points total to make a new career high (58), which he also got in 2021-22.
For blocked shots, Rust has 52, the second most in his career behind the 59 he logged in 2018-19.
Erik Karlsson
Karlsson is having a comparable season offensively to last year with the Penguins, but he's nowhere near career numbers from his prime in Ottawa and San Jose.
That being said, Karlsson's next goal will be the 200th in his NHL career. Will he get it before Rust?
Rickard Rakell
Tricky Ricky is just two goals away from matching his career high 34 that he had in 2017-28 with the Anaheim Ducks. That same year he had 35 assists, and he's just three off of that mark with seven games to go.
Overall, a combination of six more points for Rakell will get him to the 70 point plateau for the first time in his career in his age 31 season.
Already this season Rakell has logged 74 blocks, which is a career high by far. He's also into the 100's in hits, which is a number he's achieved just four other times in his 13-year NHL career.
Rakell is likely to reach 800 games played in the NHL as long as he doesn't miss a game. He's set to achieve the milestone against New Jersey.
Matt Grzelcyk
A surprising keep at the deadline for Kyle Dubas, but Matt Grzelcyk's production in his age 31 season is one of the best he's had, if not the best of his nine year career.
Grzelcyk already destroyed his career high in assists with 34, whereas his previous high was 22 in 2022-23. His 93 blocked shots this season is also a career high. His power play numbers have been an encouraging portion of his game.
Him being mentioned in this list is a little misleading, as he doesn't really have anything more to achieve this season than what he's already done. All-around impressive offensive season from Gryz.
Kris Letang
Tanger is having a down year in just about every way possible, but in the career numbers, he's only four assists away from 600 in his NHL career.
Letang is currently 16th in the NHL amongst all players in assists. It's a long shot, but if Letang can exceed 608 assists (meaning he'd need 12 in the final seven games), he would crack the top-100 all-time in NHL assists, passing Eric Staal.
Philip Tomasino
One of the bright acquisitions of this season, Tomasino is just one goal away from tying his career high 11 goals he achieved in his rookie season with Nashville back in 2021-22.
His point output this season is already the best since that rookie year, although his 21 assists will be a little hard to catch, as he has just 10 so far as a Penguin.
If he can manage nine total points in the final seven games, Tomasino would reach 100 career points.
Blake Lizotte
The energizer bunny needs just one more goal to match his career high 11 he set with the Los Angeles Kings in 2022-23. It's worth noting, also, that Lizotte's workload will only be around 60 games by the end of the season due to injuries.
In full seasons with the Kings just a few years ago, Lizotte produced 11 goals, 23 assists (34 points). Extrapolating out his points-per-game, he's falling just a tad short of his most productive season.
Noel Acciari
Acciari is just five blocked shots away from matching his career high and overcoming the century mark for the second time in his career. He blocked 103 shots with the Florida Panthers in 2019-2020, which was by far his best career season overall.
If he goes on a "heater" and logs four more assists, Acciari will also set a new career high in apples, getting him into double digits for the first time in his 10-year career.
Danton Heinen
Reacquired before the trade deadline, Danton Heinen has been hit-per-game this season including his time with the Vancouver Canucks. If he keeps that pace and adds an extra one somewhere (to notch eight), he'll tie his career high in hits, which he set last year with Boston.
HC Mike Sullivan
The man behind the benches, one of the more decorated American NHL coaches of all time, needs just four regulation losses to break a new career high. His 37 losses with the 2005-06 Boston Bruins is within reach with the Penguins currently 30-34-11.
C'mon Sully, we need those losses badly!
Are there any milestones we missed? Let us known on Twitter/X @PensLabyrinthFS or on our Facebook page!
(All stats taken from Hockey Reference.)