GoldenJet

The Penguins won an unprecedented draft lottery - where owing to their poor performance over the last few seasons they were given highest possible weighting out of all thirty teams - on July 22, 2005, for the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. The Penguins chose highly touted junior league player Sidney Crosby from the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

With a new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed by the owners and players to end the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the Penguins began rebuilding the team under a salary cap. They signed big-name free agents Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, and Zigmund Palffy, and traded for goaltender Jocelyn Thibault. However, Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins' 2004 NHL Entry Draft selection with their 2nd overall pick, could not come to Pittsburgh immediately due to a dispute with his Russian league.

The team began the season with a long winless skid that resulted in a coaching change from Olczyk to Michel Therrien. Palffy announced his retirement due to a lingering shoulder injury while the team's second-leading scorer. Then on January 24, 2006, Lemieux announced his second retirement, this time for good, after developing an irregular heart beat. He finished as the NHL's seventh all-time scorer (1,723), eighth in goals (690) and tenth in assists (1,033), but also with the second highest career points per game average (1.88), which is second to Wayne Gretzky's 1.92.

As the poor season continued, Crosby had a highly productive rookie season. On the Penguins' final game of the season, Crosby scored a goal and an assist to become the top scoring rookie in Penguins history with 102 points (eclipsing Lemieux who previously held the record), despite losing the rookie scoring race to Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin, who had, unlike Malkin who was also set to debut this season, been able to make his way to the NHL. The Penguins posted the worst record of the Eastern Conference and the highest goals-against in the league. They received the second overall draft pick after losing the lottery in the 2006 NHL Draft and picked Jordan Staal, the third of four Staal brothers in hockey. The team announced on April 20 that the contract for General Manager Craig Patrick would not be renewed. Patrick had been GM since December 1989. On May 25, Ray Shero signed a five-year contract as General Manager.

The real change for the Penguins came next season when on October 18, 2006, young Russian superstar Evgeni Malkin played his first NHL game : scoring a goal. He went on to set the modern NHL record with a goal in each of his first six games. On February 27, 2007, the Penguins acquired Gary Roberts from Florida and Georges Laraque from Phoenix. Malkin continued scoring points as the Penguins earned points in sixteen straight games with 14 wins and 2 overtime losses in early 2007. The streak ended on February 19 with a last-minute loss to the New York Islanders.[10] It was the second longest point streak in club history.

On March 13, 2007, in a joint announcement by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, and Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins ownership group, it was made public that an agreement had been reached between the parties. A new state-of-the-art multi-purpose arena, the Consol Energy Center, will be built, guaranteeing that the Penguins will remain in Pittsburgh. Following the announcement of this plan, the Lemieux ownership group announced that they no longer have plans to sell the team.

On June 8, 2007, a $325 million bond was issued and the Penguins signed a 30-year lease, binding the Penguins to the city of Pittsburgh for the next 30 years, and the lease agreement was signed on September 19. On May 6, 2008, the Pittsburgh planning commission unanimously approved the final design. The arena will include a glass atrium overlooking downtown Pittsburgh and rooftop lights shining into the sky. The new $290 million dollar arena is expected to open in time for the 2010–11 NHL season.[13] On August 14, 2008, the ground breaking ceremony for the new arena was held, thus officially beginning construction on the new facility. On December 15, 2008, it was announced by the Penguins they had entered into an agreement with Consol Energy on a 21 year deal for naming rights to the new arena.

The Penguins finished the 2006–07 season in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 47-24-11, totaling 105 points, only two points behind the division winner, New Jersey Devils. It was the franchise's first 100-point season in 11 years, and represented a healthy 47-point leap from the previous season. In the first round of the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Penguins were defeated 4-1, by Stanley Cup runners-up, the Ottawa Senators. At the season's end, rookies Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal were finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the Rookie of the Year, which Malkin won.

After a mediocre start to the 2007–08 season, Crosby and starting goaltender Fleury were both injured long-term due to high right ankle sprains. In their absence, the Penguins flourished due to the play and leadership of center Evgeni Malkin and backup goaltender Ty Conklin. The Penguins markedly improved in January, and fell no lower than the third seed in the East from that point onward. On February 26, the Penguins would acquire Atlanta star right winger Marian Hossa and forward Pascal Dupuis at the NHL trade deadline, relinquishing Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and a first round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The Penguins also acquired defensemen Hal Gill from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a second round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and a fifth round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

On April 2, 2008, the Penguins clinched the Atlantic Division title—their first division title in 10 years—with a 4-2 win against rivals the Philadelphia Flyers. However, they closed the season with a loss to the Flyers on the next night, relegating them to the second seed in the East behind the Montreal Canadiens. The Pens had spent most of the second half going back and forth with the Habs for first place in the East. Evgeni Malkin finished the season with 106 points for second place in the league just behind Washington's Alexander Ovechkin and become a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy. The team launched into their first extended playoff run in many years, beating Ottawa 4-0, defeating the New York Rangers 4-1 and then defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 to clinch the Prince of Wales Trophy. Pittsburgh went on to lose the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals to the Detroit Red Wings in six games, finishing the playoffs with a 14-6 record. Sidney Crosby finished the playoffs with 27 points (6g, 21a in 20 games), tying Conn Smythe-winner Henrik Zetterberg (13g, 14a in 22 games) for the playoff scoring lead.

In the 2008-09 season, Malkin had won the Art Ross by narrowly defeating rival Ovechkin in the points race and a candidate for the Hart Memorial Trophy for MVP. Crosby finished third in league scoring with 33 goals and 70 assists for 103 points despite missing 5 games. The Penguins' record dipped mid-season but lifted after head coach Michel Therrien was replaced by Dan Bylsma. The effect was almost instantaneous and the Penguins recovered enough to secure home ice advantage in their first round matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers, who the Penguins defeated in six games. The next round was highly publicized due to the presence of Crosby, Ovechkin, and Malkin. The series took all seven games for the Penguins to win, sending them to the Eastern Conference Finals where they beat the Carolina Hurricanes in four games. After defeating the Hurricanes, the Penguins earned their second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings, to whom they had lost the previous year. After losing Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, the Penguins won Games 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh. Each team won on home ice in Games 5 and 6. In Game 7 in Detroit, Max Talbot scored two goals and the Penguins won 2–1 to earn their third Stanley Cup.