PITTSBURGH — A little more than two decades ago, a pair of draft picks made 15 months apart changed the trajectory of Pittsburgh sports.

Ben Roethlisberger and Sidney Crosby.

A franchise quarterback for the Steelers, the proper hockey heir to Mario Lemieux. Legacies, Pittsburghers, three-letter names, Hall of Famers.

Could we see a repeat?

I know it's nuts, and I'm not saying it'll happen. But the cosmos have aligned in a way where it's at least somewhat possible that the Steelers select Penn State's Drew Allar next April (in Pittsburgh) and the Penguins add another Penn Stater, Gavin McKenna, by winning the draft lottery a few months later.

It feels a little freaky, honestly.

The Penguins drafted Lemieux first overall in 1984 and Crosby 21 years later — another number with significance around here. Next summer's draft will mark another 21 since the Penguins won the lottery and earned the right to select Crosby.

There's also the Ohio-Browns storyline.

As a kid growing up in Medina, Pa., Allar regularly attended Browns games at a stadium only 40 minutes or so away. It's actually closer than Roethlisberger's hometown of Findlay, Pa.

When it comes Cleveland drafting the Penn State quarterback, absolutely he's thought about it.

"That would definitely be special," Allar said on Ross Tucker's podcast earlier this month. "My dad had season tickets growing up. They've been passed down since my great grandfather.

"That would definitely be surreal just because I grew up going to every home game from the time I was 7 or 8 years old to by the time I was a freshman in college."

You know about the Browns passing on Roethlisberger in the NFL draft and how he never forgave them for it.

What if the Browns did the same to Allar and the Steelers again took the big kid with the strong arm who could move?

After all, the Browns just drafted Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel while also adding Kenny Pickett this past offseason. They do have several more important holes to fill.

The weird part is that I think the biggest impediment might be Allar's draft stock; in his first 2026 mock draft, ESPN's Field Yates had Allar going 11th overall to the Colts, five spots before the Steelers took Garrett Nussmeier out of LSU.

The Steelers might actually win enough to push them out of the Allar sweepstakes, while the Penguins would have to stink out loud to have a legit shot at winning the McKenna lottery.

It's tough to see.

Even if the Penguins are incomplete — which they are — Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have pride and at least something left. I don't think they're worst-in-the-NHL bad, though it does only take one ping-pong ball to bounce your way.

But considering what the Steelers did this season, I don't see them sinking to the bottom. They'll probably finish with 10 or 11 victories. They may win a playoff game, putting them somewhere in the 16-to-22 range, and I really doubt Allar will last that long.

Seriously, Penn State might be the best college football team in the country. They return four of five starters up front. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen give the Nittany Lions a better backfield combo than anyone else. And I love what James Franklin did in the transfer portal, specifically at wide receiver.

Trebor Pena was an All-ACC pick at Syracuse, amassing 941 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 84 catches. Devonte Ross had 1,000-plus yards and nine touchdowns at Troy. Kyron Hudson (USC) is overqualified as a No. 3.

Don't forget, the Nittany Lions also had one of the top defenses in the country last year, they're the fastest they've been in a long time, and they're coordinated by one of the best to ever do it in Jim Knowles, who helped Ohio State win a national title last year.

Clobbering opponents and making a deep playoff run helps your draft stock.

Especially when you're 6-foot-5, 236 pounds and can make every throw. In his first two seasons as a starter, Allar has passed for 49 touchdowns against 10 picks. Last year he competed 66.5% of his passes and averaged 8.5 yards per attempt.

His defect has been playing small in big games, which you'd think would improve with maturity and a better group of receivers catching passes.

"[Allar] needs to take another step this year, which we think he's done every year he's been here," Franklin said back in March. "He needs to take another step when it comes to his mobility. He needs to take another step when it comes to his leadership. He needs to take another step in it terms of his completion percentage. Needs to take another step in terms of his touchdown-interception ratio. It's really all of it."

McKenna has taken step after step quickly — and the Penguins' timing here might be impeccable.

While Crosby is from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, McKenna hails from the other Canadian coast —Whitehorse, Yukon. But the 17-year-old left-handed forward (another similarity) has torn up junior hockey the same as Sid.

McKenna, viewed as Crosby- or Connor McDavid-level good, had 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League this past season, including a Canadian Hockey League-record 54-game point streak.

He's the best pure scorer available since McDavid, and the Penguins could field their worst team of the Crosby era, with an ugly combination of bad contracts (Erik Karlsson, Tristan Jarry and Ryan Graves) and players who probably won't help the NHL club improve much (Matt Dumba, Justin Brazeau, Anthony Mantha, etc.)

The Penguins have a talented young core and aging veterans who once were really good. They need a youngster to continue the franchise tradition of explosive offense and welcome being mentored by Crosby.

Unlikely? Yes. But hey, not like it would be the first time something like this happened around here.

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