The off season revamp of the Cup Champion Penguins officially entered a new era. After trading away superstar Steven Stamkos the Pens used the 1st overall pick to bring in the new face of the franchise Connor McDavid. McDavid has superstar potential and will arrive with a ton of fanfare and pressure to be the next big thing. Expect McDavid to be in a Penguins uniform in the 2016-17 season.
The Pens also had two other 1st round picks. At 28 they select russian goaltender Ilya Samsonov. Samsonov is widely regarded as the top goaltender in the draft. The Pens made a pre draft trade and sent out defenseman Jared Cowen to the Coyotes for the 29th pick. With this pick they selected Jack Rosolvic. Roslovic was a late but fast riser on the Pens board. His hockey sense and all around game was appealing to the Pens and as much as the team was close on gambling on a few other players the Pens couldn't resist Roslovic.
Round 2:
Pick 32:
The Pens selected another personal favorite in character 2 way player Filip Chlapik. We like Chlapik's all around game and see him becoming a good pro.
43 - The Pens went the boring route and took shut down defender Gabriel Carlsson. Carlsson projects as a reliable player that will anchor a defensive pairing.
44 - Denis Yan was the next guy on our draft board and we like his potential. We hope his offense can develop into a viable NHL skill set.
51 - Time to swing for a homerun in big physical Alexander Dergachyov . His size and speed were appealing factors that made us think he had the potential to be a complimentary top 6 guy or a fan favorite in the bottom 6.
All in all the Pens added 5 forwards, 1 defenseman and 1 goalie with thier 7 selections. Should be interesting to see where these picks fall in the NHL.
McDavid Era officially begins in Pittsburgh
CPHL.
