Twenty plus years ago I was a huge Penguins and Mario Lemieux fan and set out to get (or make) as many of his jersey versions as I could. I'll be putting up for sale a couple that I had customized and this is one of the more unique ones I did. I made a lot of mods to make it as close to a regular season 1991-92 Lemieux jersey as possible (without going "authentic with fight strap" which would've been a lot more than I was willing to pay at the time).
Of course I had the Badger and penguins 25th Anniversary patches sewn onto the shoulders and make it a Lemieux.
But two things make this one really stand out:
First, take a close look at the eye of the Penguin on the crest from any game action pictures, hockey cards or game used jerseys from the 1991-92 season. The head is flat, the eye is squinted, and the eyebrow is arched-- at the time I read that it was called the "Angry Penguin" logo.
I don't know why, but the CCM replica jerseys produced for fans didn't capture this little detail. The Penguin replicas sold back then and the Vintage Replicas look different- the head is high and round, the eye is wide open, the brow is neutral. It's very different; I'm sure I'm OCD and not everyone cares but I can see it plain as day.
At the time I wanted to get that detail correct so I found a Penguins crest with the "Angry Penguin" and had the jersey shop remove the boring Penguin and replace it with the Angry Penguin crest I sourced. Look around on ebay or other jersey sites-- you won't find one like this (aside from the game used or authentic jerseys for thousands). Compare this Penguins crest to the one on the white jersey I have up for sale and you'll see the difference.
The other unique thing about this jersey is that it has the NHL 75th Anniversary patch which was worn during the regular season. Since the Penguins won the Cup that year it seems that most people elected to customize theirs with the Stanley Cup Finals patch on the right upper chest. Nothing wrong with that-- I just thought I'd be a little different and put the NHL 75th patch on instead. Too bad there wasn't enough room for both :)
Also, I customized a white Lemieux jersey from the 91-92 season and put the Stanley Cup Finals patch on that one-- check my other listings if you're interested in that one.
The jersey is in excellent condition, suitable for framing-- I never wore it after I had it customized. It is the replica style so no fight strap. The neck tag showing the sizing is only a little worn (the printing typically fades/wears off and the edges fray with repeated washings on CCM jerseys from the early 90s. I've found how worn the tag is to be a good indicator of how used a jersey is along with the screen printed CCM logo on the right side of the hem in back).