Crosby's 1,108 games played are the most in Penguins history, ahead of Malkin (981). They are second and third in points (Crosby, 1,409; Malkin, 1,146), goals (Crosby, 517; Malkin, 444) and assists (Crosby, 892; Malkin, 702), behind Mario Lemieux in all three categories (1,723 points; 690 goals, 1,033 assists).
Letang has the most points (650), goals (144), assists (506) and games played (941) by a Penguins defenseman.
"We're so happy," Penguins forward Jake Guentzel said of Malkin and Letang. "Two superstar players (who) mean so much to the city of Pittsburgh and the organization, and it couldn't be a better situation to have both of them back to help this team."
But Pittsburgh has lost five straight playoff series since 2018, when it defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round before losing to the Washington Capitals. Crosby, the youngest of the three, will be 35 years old Aug. 7. Malkin will be 36 on July 31 and Letang turned 35 on April 24.
Pittsburgh was eliminated by the New York Islanders in six games of best-of-7 first round in 2021. And it let a 3-1 first-round series lead slip away before losing Game 7 4-3 in overtime against the New York Rangers last season.
Those two series losses provided reason to stick with the core, Hextall said.
"If you look at the last two years, it gives us faith that this group still has hockey left in them and still has a chance to do impressive things," Hextall said. "You look at the Islanders series two years ago, you look at the Rangers series this year, we very well could have won either of those series. Personally, I think we should have won them."
After returning from offseason wrist surgery, Crosby had 84 points (31 goals, 53 assists) in 69 games last season. Malkin had offseason knee surgery before finishing with 42 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 41 games. Letang had an NHL career-high 68 points (10 goals, 58 assists) in 78 games.
"That gives us the belief that we can be very competitive in this league and do special things," Hextall said.
It was close to being the end, though, with Malkin considering testing free agency, which opened at noon ET on Wednesday. Hextall said he wasn't sure what steered Malkin back to Pittsburgh but is thankful for whatever it was.
"To get 'Geno' under contract, we couldn't be happier," Hextall said. "It's one of those deals that worked both ways. We couldn't be more thrilled to have him back under contract and have him finish his career as a Penguin."
NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report
