The Penguins welcomed five new prospects to the organization on Thursday and Friday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, starting with defenseman Owen Pickering in the first round.
On Day 2, they added goaltender Sergey Murashov in the fourth round; forward Zam Plante in the fifth round; and defenseman Nolan Collins and forward Luke Devlin in the sixth round. The Penguins traded their seventh-round pick to Florida for the Panthers' seventh-round pick next year.
"We were just really happy with the player we got in each round, and we stuck to that
best player available approach
," Penguins director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor said. "Each guy that we got, there's some different player types and they're in different positions. But we're really excited about all the guys that were able to select."
During last year's draft, the first under general manager Ron Hextall, the team was looking to add attributes like size and toughness into the team's prospect pool through the draft without sacrificing skill. This year, their mindset was broader, with Pryor saying that there wasn't a specific area they honed in on.
They just wanted to make the most of the picks that remained, particularly that first-rounder, as the Penguins have had to pay the price of being a perennial Stanley Cup contender by sacrificing some assets over the years.
"Just having picks and keeping our first round pick this year, getting Owen - we were really excited about him - I think we'll continue to chip away at adding to our prospect pool," Pryor said. "Every guy that we got this year, we were really excited to get them in the round that we got them."
Below is a look at each one, with some added insight from Pryor.
