Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 5 Draft Misses of the Last 10 Years

Feb 1, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen

(41) and forward

(36) collide with Phoenix Coyotes defensemen

(3) in the first period at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

2005 Second Round

The 2005 NHL draft saw the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Sidney Crosby lottery. If the Ping Pong Balls came up another way the Penguins may currently be in Portland, Ontario, or Kansas City. Alas, a savior was found. The Penguins also nabbed future star Kris Letang with pick 62 in this draft.

One pick before selecting Letang the Penguins chose Michael Gergen at number 61, the last pick in the second round . Gergen, an undersized defenseman, was committed to the University of Minnesota Duluth and would never be tendered a contract by the Pens. He is currently a washout who was last seen languishing in the ECHL with the Bakersfield Condors.

In selecting Gergen, the Penguins passed on future All-Star’s Jonathon Quick and Keith Yandle, who were selected 72nd and 105th respectively. Of course, the Pens were pretty much set on Marc-Andre Fleury as their future goaltender, but Yandle was clearly a big miss. Also, the Penguins sure could have used 6 foot 5 inch Cody Franson who went at pick 79 to the Nashville Predators.

The Penguins did later correct this error, to an extent. The Pittsburgh Penguins shipped out James Neal in the summer of 2014 in exchange for Patric Hornqvist. The same Patric Hornqvist who was selected with the last overall pick of the 2005 NHL draft by the Predators, and is slated to skate in the Penguins top six for the second consecutive year.