Pittsburgh Penguins Draft Preview

First Round Position: 30th overall

Best Picks Of Last 3 Years:

Jordan Staal (C)-1st Round 2006
Angelo Esposito (C)-1st Round 2007 (Now with Atlanta)
Kevin Veilleux (C)-2nd Round 2007
Casey Pierro-Zabotel (LW)-3rd Round 2007
Luca Caputi (LW)-4th Round 2007

Coming Down The Pipe - Pittsburgh didn't have a pick in the first 3 rounds last year, and their first round pick Angelo Esposito is gone as he was in the Marian Hossa 2007 trade. Pierro-Zabotel was a 100 plus point guy for Vancouver in the WHL this year while Veilleux played in the Memorial Cup with the host Rimouski Oceanic.

Draft Trends: The Pens don't 'go west young man' very often. They haven't drafted from the WHL since taking now Oilers property Ryan Stone in 2003 (CPZ was drafted out of the BCHL ).

Millard: Jordan Caron - Pittsburgh didn’t have a pick in the first 3 rounds last year and are hoping Caron who plays for Rimouski is half as good as another Oceanic player they took…Sidney Crosby.

Flaming: Calvin de Haan – 63 points on a poor Oshawa team and played for Canada at the U18s in Fargo. There are some questions about size but he’s in the Tyson Barrie/Ryan Ellis group of undersized blueliners that produce.