The nickname was chosen as “Penguins”, because the team was going to play its home games in the “Igloo”, which was the nickname given to the Pittsburgh Civic Center. The first General Manager of the team was Jack Riley. The Penguins were not able to make the playoffs for five seasons in their first seven seasons.

In 1970, tragedy struck the team when Michel Briere was injured in a car accident and died after a year in hospital. The team’s performance improved and they almost made the Stanley Cup semi finals in 1975, but were beaten by the New York Islanders. The Penguins added some offensive players to their roster like, Pierre Larouche, Rick Kehoe and Ron Schock. The team almost had to fold due to financial difficulties but was saved by the timely intervention of a group led by Wren Blair.

In 1980, the team changed their colors from the previous blue and white to their present colors of black and gold. This was to honor and match the other major sports league franchises in the city, the Pirates and Steelers. They drafted Mario Lemieux in 1984, who proved to be a superstar for many years to come. In 1990, they drafted Jaromir Jagr and both these players proved to be strong forces in the team. In 1991, the Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup, by defeating the Minnesota North Stars. In 1992, they repeated the feat by beating the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Penguins had their share of tragedy as well. They had previously lost Briere in a car crash and in 1991, Coach Bob Johnson died of cancer. In 1993, Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, but he returned to play just two months after his diagnosis. Throughout the 1990’s, the Penguins were a formidable team. They had star players like Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Alexei Kovalev and Sergei Zubov. In 1997, Lemieux retired and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the same year instead of waiting for three years as was the norm. In 1998, the Penguins were bankrupt again and this time, Lemieux put together a group and saved the team. He is the current owner of the Penguins.

In 2005, they drafted Sidney Crosby, who became the youngest rookie to score 100 points in NHL History. After the 2007 playoffs, which they lost in the first round, Crosby was named team captain. This year an agreement has been drawn up between the Lemieux Group and the Pittsburgh Officials, wherein a new arena will be built and the Penguins will stay in the city for the next thirty years.