With the team projected to turn north and begin selling futures in order to compete moving forward the Pens felt this draft was a great oppurtunity to add some high end talent to the pipeline. With a young strong core already in place looking to take that next step the pens stocked their next wave of upcoming talent in order to hopefully stay competative moving forward. The theme for the draft was size and skill. With there smallest pick at 5' 11'' 180 lbs Pens managment banked on prospects with NHL frames and offensive promise. Each pick either showed a huge improvment from last season or just flat out dominated there league.

#7: Mikko Rantanen RW 6' 3'' 212 lbs. Spent last year tearing up the AHL getting 60 pts in 52 Games. Had a brief 9 game stint with the big club but in a limited role. Confident he will take next step into NHL next year. is sound defensively and Pens managment feel he can take on a Kopitar type mold for them. Pens originally had Rantanen ranked as the 3rd best forward and after losing out at the lotto immediately moved back to secure #36 and still get there guy.

#17 Lawson Crouse LW 6' 4'' 214 lbs. Pens were extatic when Crouse fell to them at 17. He is another big bodied gamer who looks like he is ready to take step into NHL. Pens hope he will be another high offensive talent that will contribute offensively in the next few seasons. 

#36 Nicolas Roy C 6' 4'' 196 lbs. This pick came with the trade back from #4 with Washington. Roy tore up the QMJHL with 48 G and 42 A in 63 GP. Yet another huge framed forward who shows alot of offensive promise. He is expected to return to the QMJHL next year and Captain his team.

#38 Andrew Nielsen D 6' 3'' 207 lbs. There were some great Defencemen who went in the 1st especially towards the top but the Pens were confident to select the high end forwards they did because we were targeting this guy. Put up 70 pts including 18 G in 71 Games in the WHL ( Only 2 less than highly touted prospect Ivan Provorov ). His 122 PIMS show he plays an edgy physically game to go with his offensive explosion this year where he tripled his points. He also showed alot of promise with his short stint with the AHL club getting 2 pts in 5 GP. Pens think they got great value in this 38 pick and hope Nielsen continues to progress and develope into another solid young defender for them at the pro level.

#92 Parker Wotherspoon D 6' 1'' 176 lbs. We were thrilled when Wotherspoon was still on the board day 2. He plays a solid all around game that can translate to the NHL and is projected to play in the AHL next year because of his age. With 56 pts in 71 GP in the WHL the Pens hope he can continue to develope his all around game.

#109 Connor Hobbs D 6' 1'' 185 lbs. Pens made a trade with (Detroit) before day 2 began in order to move up and put themselves in the position to get him. AND DID. He had a Huge Improvment from the year before more than doubling his points with 19 G and 22 A in only 58 GP in the WHL. Hobbs also found a real hard nosed side to his game increasing his PIMS from 21 to 106 from last season. He is yet another big bodied WHL Dman who showed major improvment. And we love him being in Trotz's system in Washington for development.

#138 Lukas Jasek RW 5' 11'' 180 lbs. Getting later into the draft the Pens decided to make a swing for the fences and hopefully catch some offensive talent from there first pick from overseas. Jasek played in the Czech U20 League. He was noted for his great skating ability and his dominate stats at his age level. Posting 15 G 13 A in just 14 GP regular season and then a whopping 25 pts in 10 playoff games the Pens really hope he can translate his offensive upside to the higher levels

#171 Luke Stevens LW 6' 3'' 191 lbs. Generally the Pens dont like to draft guys from the USHS but this late in the draft they figured why not take another wild swing at somme offensive upside. Stevens was also dominate at his age level putting up 24 G and 31 A in just 28 GP. He is expected to attend Yale and take the next step in his development in the NCAA where the Pens hope he can build on his offensive tools and become a great late round pick up for them.