The Pittsburgh Penguins are a perfect example of building your team through the draft. Drafting well is essential when trying to build a franchise. It is the best way to acquire core players. The Penguins did a great job of doing that in the mid 2000s starting with Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003 followed by Evgeni Malkin in 2004 and having an amazing draft in 2005 by drafting Sidney Crosby in Kris Letang. The core of Fleury-Malkin-Crosby-Letang reached 4 finals (2008,2009,2016 and 2017) winning 3 out of 4 championships. Winning comes at a great cost; trading picks to win.
Draft Problems
Unfortunately the Penguins have not been able to draft as well ever since the early 2010s. It is still to early to judge any drafts after 2021 as it takes time to develop players especially when you’re not picking high in the draft.
The Penguins have only drafted 4 times in the first round since 2013 and 3 out of the 4 times happened in the last 6 years (2023, 2022, 2019). The highest pick the Penguins had was 14 overall in 2023
In 2022 the Penguins drafted Owen Pickering, 20, defenseman who’s playing in the NHL in his first pro season. He is showing potential of being a top 4 D at the NHL level.
In 2019 the Penguins drafted Samuel Poulin who has not been able to crack the Penguins roster. He has 2 assists in 12 NHL games. It’s fair to say he’s a bust. The only way I could see Poulin becoming a full time NHLer is if he’s able to transform his game into a checking, PK specialist with speed. At 6″3 227lbs Poulin has the frame to be a 3rd or 4th line player. Unfortunately it is hard to know if Poulin is able to make such a drastic adjustment.
Bad Decisions, Bad Results
It is understandable to trade 1st round picks when the team is trying to compete and win championships. It just that the Penguins mismanaged a lot of their draft assets.
Former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford made some amazing trades and some very bad ones.
One of his worst moves as a Penguins GM was trading for David Perron in exchange for Rob Klinkahmmer and a 2015 1st round pick. That pick became Mathew Barzal. Not only did Barzal become a superstar in the NHL but he also had one of the best rookie seasons in NHL modern history. Barzal put up 80 points in 80 games last year for the New York Islanders. The 2015 draft class was considered one of the best draft classes of all time and a very deep draft. I hated the trade at the time knowing a good player could be drafted in that 15-20 range. A consolation price for Pens fans is that Perron was vital in getting Carl Hagelin, a key member of the HBK line that helped the pens win 2 cups.
Trading 1st round picks
The Penguins traded their 2015 1st round pick for Perron who eventually helped the Pens build their cup winning teams.
They traded their 2016 1st round pick for Kessel which helped the pens win back to back cups.
The Pens traded their 2017 1st round pick for Ryan Reaves who only played 58 games with the Pens and only 6:45 minutes of TOI.
The Penguins traded their 2018 1st round pick for Derrick Brassard who flopped in Pittsburgh. He never became that solid 3rd line center that the Penguins needed and thought they acquired when trading for him. He was already declining at the time of the trade.
The Pens traded their 2020 1st round pick to reacquire Kasperi Kapanen who was traded in the Kessel trade. He has 1 good season in Pitt putting up 30 points in 40 games. His production declined to 30 points in 79 games the following year. He was good when he wanted too which wasn’t very often.
The Penguins traded their 2021 1st round pick for Jason Zucker who became a fan favorite and was part of one of the best Pens teams since the back to back cup runs.
Most trades where the Penguins traded their 1st round pick did not help them win much as the trades didn’t amount to much. To be fair the 2017 draft class was weak and drafting 31st overall isn’t where you’ll typically find high end prospects.
Check out which players were drafted with Pens picks that got traded away: View More
Penguins Blog 
Leave a comment