The Pittsburgh Penguins continued to restock the prospect cupboards after another solid season. The Pens held 7 picks in total in the draft 2 1sts, 3 2nds, 1 3rd and a 5th. Here is how the draft broke down for the Pens:
Round 1 pick #3
Drew Doughty Guelph Storm
It was a bit of a surprise to see Doughty available here as we thought he was going to be the #2 pick. We didn't see much difference in him and Zach Bogosian who we expected to fall to us so we were still very pleased to see Drew available. Doughty is a potential franchise defenseman who is draws comparisons to Ray Bourque. Doughty has been training very hard since the end of the season and has dropped 20lbs, this commitment showed the Pens that he is committed to shining at the next level.
Round 1 Pick #5
Mikkel Boedker Kitchener Rangers
As an organization we didn't feel right drafting two defenseman in the top 5. We felt that the acquisition of Doughty two picks higher allowed us to take a shot at who we felt was a step above any of the remaining forwards Boedker already has NHL speed and has offensive creativity that can't be taught. We are confident that looking back at this draft 5 years from now Boedker is going to be one of the top forwards selected.
Round 2 Pick #10
Thomas McCollum Guelph Storm
Our plan heading into the draft was to hopefully nab one of McCollum, Chet Pikard, or Jacob Markstrom. When we saw that McCollum was available at this pick while the other two targets off the board we jumped on it. We feel that McCollum is one of the best goalies available and that he has the potential to be a starter for us down the road.
Round 2 Pick 12
Nicholas Deschamps Chicoutimi QMJHL
Deschamps was another guy high on our list that we hoped we could get with our 2nd round picks. He is a late bloomer and really played well as a rookie in the Q. He kept getting better all season and we think he has the making of a great all round forward in the NHL.
Round 2 Pick 13
Justin Jokinen USHS
Justin Jokinen was a guy we heard a lot about so we decided to take him earlier then he was expected to go. He is compared to a more skilled better skating version of Jamie Langenbruner. He dominated at the high school level and is heading to college in the fall where he recieved a scholarship from a top division 1 NCAA school. We expect Justin to take a while to develop into his potential but we see him as a potential steal.
Round 3 pick 18
Daniel Despotivic Sweden
With basically all the prospects that we wanted off the board we decided to take a shot at a prospect with huge upside. Despotivic has massive upside and is a boom or bust type player. He totally dominated the swedish junior league last season, but it is unknown what he can do against top competition. We felt in the 3rd round that we had to take a shot on this type of player rather then a guy who may pan out to be an NHl checker.
Round 5 pick 12
Igor Revenko Belarus
Revenko is a prospect that took the u18 hockey scene by storm at last years world championships. He was the leading scorer heading into the last game where Canada's Cody Hodgson scored two points to take the tournament lead. Revenko plans to come to north america next season to learn the NHL style game and that was enough for us to take a shot at him in the 5th round.
The Pens went forward heavy in this draft as we felt that we would draft the BPA at all times from our list. We feel that this draft did a great job at restocking the shelves for the future.
Pens draft report
