There are a lot of people responsible for this franchise's many, many successes over the past four decades.

There's one person, exactly one, who's been there at the very beginning of that success

and who's still there now.

Good morning to you.

Good Wednesday morning.

I'm Dan Klautrovich of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

This is Daily Shot of Penguins.

It comes your way bright and early every weekday.

If you're into football and or baseball, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and

pirates in the same place that you found this. Eddie Johnston doesn't need any introduction for me.

He doesn't need any validation from me. And in fact, any of that that I offer to you,

and I'm just going to blurt this right out, comes with a big bunch of bias

because I know this man, I treasure this man, and maybe never more so than yesterday when we were

doing our live double shot of Steelers show, the video show, at our downtown headquarters, and this had been

orchestrated without my knowledge, but a longtime subscriber who's a good friend of E.J.'s, he goes

by Willie Peppers. He and E.J. and my wife had co-co-conspired to pull a surprise on me in the middle of the show.

And these two guys walk in with goalie masks on.

And I don't even know what I'm seeing.

I can look in my camera.

I'm looking back there and I see two people in goalie masks.

I'm thinking, what am I doing here? And I just kept

talking football because my brain wouldn't even process it. And eventually, you know, sure enough,

...