Shortly after the Penguins drafted Brayden Yager 14th overall, I read a comment on another site that made me chuckle. The commenter questioned if Ron Hextall’s scouting staff was making the selections for us.
I was somewhat bemused (and amused) to discover the answer is YES. Nick Pryor, son of recently deposed assistant GM Chris Pryor (brainchild of the Mikael Granlund deal), is still our director of amateur scouting!
Makes me wonder if his dad (with input from Hextall) was whispering our selections into the younger Pryor’s ear during the recently completed Entry Draft. It might explain why we selected a defenseman in the third round who was projected to go much later by many.
Hexy’s revenge.
I’m kidding (???) of course.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s a brief summary of our picks on Day 2 of the draft. My apologies ahead of time for my lack of familiarity with the players we selected.
| THIRD ROUND (91st overall) Emil Pieniniemi, 18, LD, 6’2” 176, Finland (U20/SM-Liiga) The Skinny: Raw but possesses all the tools, decent size, strong skater, smooth puck mover, plays with a bit of an edge |
| FIFTH ROUND (142nd overall) Mikhail Ilyin, 18, RW, 6’0” 181, Russia (MHL/KHL) The Skinny: Diligent two-way player, excellent set-up man, pass-first mentality |
| SIXTH ROUND (174th overall) Cooper Foster, 18, C, 5’11” 172, Canada (OHL) The Skinny: Solid two-way player, good hockey sense, average speed, undersized |
| SEVENTH ROUND (217th overall) Emil Järventie, 18, LW, 5’10” 167, Finland (Mestis/SM-Liiga) The Skinny: Agile and speedy, strong offensively, good shot, overall game needs development, undersized |
| SEVENTH ROUND (223rd overall) Kalle Kangas, 18, D, 6’4” 204, Finland (U20) The Skinny: Excellent size, physical, hard to play against, good with the puck, skating needs work |
Among the second-day hopefuls, I think Pieniniemi may actually have a shot at making it to the NHL thanks to a decent all-around toolkit.
In a best-case scenario, perhaps Järventie develops along the lines of Valtteri Puustinen, another small ‘n’ shifty Finn taken by the black and gold in the seventh round.
I find Kangas (pictured) especially intriguing because he’s the type of player we so rarely draft…a big, physical, defenseman. While the chances of a penultimate overall pick making the grade, I’m reminded that Patric Hornqvist was the very last pick in the 2005 draft.
You just never know.
Kostin Us Big Time
I’ve been lamenting forever that our Pens lack muscle and bite. Well, a player who could’ve provided both (and more) became available on the trade market…and was promptly snapped up by another team.
Klim Kostin, a 6’3” 215-pound slab of Russian power forward, was traded by the Oilers to the Red Wings for future considerations.
SHEESH! Where do I sign up?
A junior Tom Wilson in the making, the 23-year-old Kostin enjoyed a breakout season for the Oil in 2022-23, popping 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games while dropping the gloves five times.
Fast for his size, the former first-round pick would’ve looked really good patrolling a spot in our bottom six. Imagine Kostin dishing out checks in place of…say…Josh Archibald.
Actually, it’s not quite as cut-and-dried as it sounds. A pending RFA, Kostin is rumored to be seeking a significant bump from the $750 K he earned on a show-me deal with the Oilers. Something in the neighborhood of $4 million per or he bolts to the KHL.
Too, it’s likely we would’ve had to accept Kailer Yamamoto, who also went to the Wings as part of the cost-cutting deal.
With all the holes Kyle Dubas needs to patch, I can’t image Kostin would’ve fit into our budget at his desired price. But, man, could we use a player like him (Klim).
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Hey Everyone,
Just a quick update, Steven Ellis of the Daily Face off rated all the teams' draft picks; he gave our Penguins a C (26th out of 32. Since since 26 is at the extreme bottom of the middle, I can accept a C rating but if I were to look at it, 26 would be more of a C-, but that could just be splitting hairs.
What I find most interesting is that Ellis glows about Yager and even likes Jarventie
He rates Chi, CBJ, Phi, and SJS as A+. First Chi and CNJ should have A+, they had the no brainer picks.
The interesting thing about some of those teams is that they drafted players I wanted just after Dubas drafted Yager. (Chi drafted Moore, Phi drafted Bonk, and SJS drafted Musty)
Adam Herman of the Bleacher report graded our Pens as a B, saying we got slot value for our picks and that we fans should be satisfied not elated. First getting slot value to me means you get a C not a B as does being satisfied not elated. Second, all I see in Yager is a big-league shot right now, I can understand a first round selection but a late first round selection not a mid round pick.
Bryan Murphy of Sporting News rated our Draft as an A. I had to roll my eyes at that one. He is really enamored of Yager. Sorry, I didn't see much defensive accumen in any video I watched nor a willingness to fight for the puck and his skating was slow over the start. Ellis and Herman seem a little more in touch with reality.
Peters of FloHockey rated us as a C+
Ian Kennedy of Yahoo gave us a C
Kyle Kushman of the Score graded us as a B-
Just a quick look around the rest of the world, not local spin Drs. Looks like most of the hockey world was less than enthusiastic about our draft.
Thanks Rick for going over the rest of the draft.
Watching Pieniniemi, he didn't look spectacular but solid, against the level of his competition. What I liked most about him is he defended his crease. He didn't just wave his stick. He also eliminated opponents along the wall. As for him needing to work on his skating, so does our first pick.
The Hockey Writers suggested that Pieniniemi would be a good, sneaky 5th round pick. We took him in the 3rd round. Hmmm
Last thing, looking at the players we drafted, looks like our Pens are back to wearing blinders, 3 of Dubas's picks were Finns, shades of Puustenin, Airola or like the 90s when it seemed we only looked at Russians or Czechs. The FSG group needs a new and bigger scouting staff