Pittsburgh's Poor Drafting History

[Ziggy Stardust]

Can anyone name the last forward the Penguins drafted who had a successful NHL career? You'd have to go back to 2006 when the Penguins selected Jordan Staal with their 2nd overall pick.

Can anyone name the last forward the Penguins drafted outside of the first round who has appeared in over 100 games? Go back over a decade to the 2004 draft, when they selected Tyler Kennedy 99th overall in the 4th round.

The Penguins' have been a disaster when it comes to drafting and developing talent, and that is one reason why their organization is depleted of any depth beyond Crosby and Malkin.

Only three forwards on their roster are from their own draft selections: Crosby, Malkin, and Beau Bennett. Bennett was the last forward the team selected who has appeared in any meaningful amount of games, and he was the 20th overall selection in 2010.

It really surprises me that this team has put zero emphasis on player development. They've wasted away picks on rentals who never worked out or just did a completely poor job in scouting talent. It's no secret why the team relies so heavily on two superstars, and it's no secret why Daniel Winnik of all people was playing left wing alongside Sidney Crosby to start the playoffs.

The team has zero depth not because of how much money they are allocating towards Crosby and Malkin, but they have no depth because they have been one of the worst, if not, the worst teams when it comes to drafting and developing talent.

Rather than blaming players for their lack of success, I'm going to pin the blame on the inept management group that has permitted the team to go by for so long without placing any emphasis on developing any meaningful players.

Maybe they'll find someone good again when they land another #1 or #2 overall selection...

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[LT]

Beau Bennett's at 96, 116 with playoff games.

Outside of that... Dustin Jeffrey in 2007.

 

[Inno]

They draft dmen just fine, matta, pouliot, despres, letang

 

[CanadienShark]

They draft dmen just fine, matta, pouliot, despres, letang

Lately, I'd agree. I wouldn't group Letang into that group though, as he's older than the rest by a bit.

 

[wej20]

Partly due to trading picks and not using many of the few high picks they had on forwards.

 

[BB88]

Give me their D prospects anytime, forwards they haven't drafted that well, can't say anything for Kapanen yet.

 

[Crede777]

I like Kapanen, let's see how he turns out.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Just a warning because we had threads on Brian Murray's drafting history in ottawa

Ottawa had the same problem and then bam this year Foligno, Hoffman, Stone and Zibanejad all score 20 goals in the same year to be the first drafted forwards since spezza to score 20 goals.

Sundqvist looks pretty good for a forward prospect too

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Ray Shero is a ****ing idiot that inherited a team with the best core in the league and left it in ****ing shambles.

 

[WayneSid9987]

I was looking at how Anaheim rebuilt after thier Cup since 07 and the same with Pens since 09 and the thing that really sticks out is the sheer amount of 1st and 2nd round picks.

Anaheim: 22 - 1st and 2nd round picks since thier Cup win in '07. 31 - 1st to 3rd round picks.

Pens: 12 - 1st and 2nd's in that same span. 19 - 1st to 3rd round picks.

At a certain point, you just have to be sellers and retool/restock. The Ducks did. The Pens haven't/didn't.

Pens should've been trading away the likes of Orpik, Niskanen, Martin regardless of where they were in the standings. They need all the 1st's and 2nd's they can get right now.

As some have said before me, the future isn't entirely bleak. They have Kap and Sundqvist who could pan out but they need to jump on guys like Panarin or Hayes/Sekac before him or even a Moses/undrafted CHL'ers that are mega point producers(ie. Tyler Johnson). Only way to really catch up on all those missed draft picks.

 

[shelf]

Since 2006 Pittsburgh has only picked 3 forwards in the top 50 of the draft.

The pens have one of the top Goalie prospects in Matt Murray. They also have some great D-prospect in Maatta, Pouliout, Harrington.

 

[NeilYoung]

They have had a major need for top 6 wingers for longer than 5 years and yet still haven't come close to developing one...

 

[billybudd]

Just a warning because we had threads on Brian Murray's drafting history in ottawa

Ottawa had the same problem and then bam this year Foligno, Hoffman, Stone and Zibanejad all score 20 goals in the same year to be the first drafted forwards since spezza to score 20 goals.

Sundqvist looks pretty good for a forward prospect too

That's a fair point. From 2012 on, there are, indeed, some players that look not too bad (wasted pick on Guentzel notwithstanding). Sundqvist is a little under the radar, but I was shocked to find out we pulled a player that looks like he did in his first camp out of the late third round. We normally don't even draft Europeans. Or big players. Or forwards that can play. All three things in the same package was completely out of left field.

But between Patrick's firing and 2012, Shero's work was b-r-u-t-a-l.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Can anyone name the last forward the Penguins drafted who had a successful NHL career? You'd have to go back to 2006 when the Penguins selected Jordan Staal with their 2nd overall pick.

Can anyone name the last forward the Penguins drafted outside of the first round who has appeared in over 100 games? Go back over a decade to the 2004 draft, when they selected Tyler Kennedy 99th overall in the 4th round.

The Penguins' have been a disaster when it comes to drafting and developing talent, and that is one reason why their organization is depleted of any depth beyond Crosby and Malkin.

Only three forwards on their roster are from their own draft selections: Crosby, Malkin, and Beau Bennett. Bennett was the last forward the team selected who has appeared in any meaningful amount of games, and he was the 20th overall selection in 2010.

It really surprises me that this team has put zero emphasis on player development. They've wasted away picks on rentals who never worked out or just did a completely poor job in scouting talent. It's no secret why the team relies so heavily on two superstars, and it's no secret why Daniel Winnik of all people was playing left wing alongside Sidney Crosby to start the playoffs.

The team has zero depth not because of how much money they are allocating towards Crosby and Malkin, but they have no depth because they have been one of the worst, if not, the worst teams when it comes to drafting and developing talent.

Rather than blaming players for their lack of success, I'm going to pin the blame on the inept management group that has permitted the team to go by for so long without placing any emphasis on developing any meaningful players.

Maybe they'll find someone good again when they land another #1 or #2 overall selection...

Quoted for truth.

It amazes me in hindsight that they picked Jordan Staal when they could've had Jonathan Toews, Nick Backstrom, Claude Giroux or Phil Kessel. Kessel would be the perfect winger for Sid or Geno.

Look at the Cup winning roster of 2009 and compare it to today's roster. Shero just destroyed that team.

 

[NeilYoung]

Quoted for truth.

It amazes me in hindsight that they picked Jordan Staal when they could've had Jonathan Toews, Nick Backstrom, Claude Giroux or Phil Kessel. Kessel would be the perfect winger for Sid or Geno.

Look at the Cup winning roster of 2009 and compare it to today's roster. Shero just destroyed that team.

Not that I want to defend the Penguins but at the time Backstrom and Giroux would have huge reaches over Staal. To be fair as well hindsight can make any team look terrible when it comes to the draft.

There's plenty of Pens picks that are questionable but to me it's not really fair to include that one with the others

 

[Voight]

Their first rounders from Jagr - Fleury were very meh.

Naslund, Straka, Morozov and Orpik were solid picks.

Armstrong and Whitney were both decent for a few years before falling off. The rest were horrid.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Not that I want to defend the Penguins but at the time Backstrom and Giroux would have huge reaches over Staal. To be fair as well hindsight can make any team look terrible when it comes to the draft.

There's plenty of Pens picks that are questionable but to me it's not really fair to include that one with the others

Jordan Staal is an odd pick at #2 OA. Talent wise, he was always worse than Toews, even at the time of the draft. His size is overrated.

 

[Voight]

Jordan Staal is an odd pick at #2 OA. Talent wise, he was always worse than Toews, even at the time of the draft. His size is overrated.

I think size, leadership and two-way play was why they picked him. They already rafted two high-end offensive players. But a winger would make the most sense.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I think size, leadership and two-way play was why they picked him. They already rafted two high-end offensive players. But a winger would make the most sense.

Toews has always been better at everything except being tall.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Was Staal a hard pick? I thought it was pretty obvious hed go around there. I mean someone was going to take Staal around that high

Looking at age on hockey db... Was Jordan 16 when drafted?

 

[penguins2946*]

The title isn't accurate. This is just saying what everyone knows already, the Pens can't draft a F for ****. However, they have a very good track record at D, with Muzzin, Pouliot, Maatta, Harrington, Despres, Morrow, Bortuzzo and Strait all playing at least 10 games in the NHL.

The Pens aren't terrible at drafting and developing, they're just terrible at drafting. They traded a ton of picks, and they almost only picked D or college bound forwards exclusively in every early round from 2008-2013 (6 D, 5 college bound forwards, 2 goalies and 1 Swedish forward). The Pens drafted 5 CHL forwards in that same timeframe (use that because CHL forwards tend to turn pro the fastest), and none of them were taken above the 4th round. It's not a development problem, Shero only drafted forwards that wouldn't get into the Pens system for 3 or 4 years.

 

[SouthWest]

Toews has always been better at everything except being tall.

Nah not true

Jordan Staal was projected to be what toews actually became, and elite 2way C.

He also played in the OHL as opposed to NCAA, and had a young enough birthday that he still qualified for U18 prior to his draft.

He did get a calder nomination, was excellent on the PK, and did score 29 goals his rookie year. It really did look like they made the right pick, he just never progressed from there.

Staal was a better prospect than any other forward in the 2006 draft, hindsight is 20/20 though after seeing how everyone actually developed.

 

[shelf]

Quoted for truth.

It amazes me in hindsight that they picked Jordan Staal when they could've had Jonathan Toews, Nick Backstrom, Claude Giroux or Phil Kessel. Kessel would be the perfect winger for Sid or Geno.

Look at the Cup winning roster of 2009 and compare it to today's roster. Shero just destroyed that team.

Theres a reason why 18 year old Staal jumped right into the NHL and lead all players in Shorthanded goals and scored 29 goals while getting limited time on ice/ PP time on ice. Staal was/is very talented and at the time he wasnt a bad pick at #2 at all.

 

[SouthWest]

Looking at age on hockey db... Was Jordan 16 when drafted?

he was 17, just made the cut off for the 2006 draft, part of the reason he was so highly touted, he was basically a whole year behind everyone else in development and was already as good as he was.

 

[Preisst*]

Quoted for truth.

It amazes me in hindsight that they picked Jordan Staal when they could've had Jonathan Toews, Nick Backstrom, Claude Giroux or Phil Kessel. Kessel would be the perfect winger for Sid or Geno.

Look at the Cup winning roster of 2009 and compare it to today's roster. Shero just destroyed that team.

Leafs fan here. Please please please please please please get someone from the Pens to believe this and trade for $95Mill Phil. Man that would be so awesome.