Penguins Draft Update: Day Two in the Books

Shortly after the Penguins drafted Brayden Yager 14^th 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).