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

Jan 10, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins forward

(71) and Edmonton Oilers defenseman

(2) battle in front of the Edmonton Oilers net during the second period at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

2006 Second Round

The 2006 NHL draft saw the Pittsburgh Penguins again picking in the top 2. Erik Johnson was the number one ranked North American Skater going into the draft and Blues stayed canon with his selection. The Penguins then selected Jordan Staal with the number 2 overall pick.

The Staal pick is criticized by some nearly ten years later due to the fact that the Penguins passed on Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel (small world eh?), and Claude Giroux who would all also go in the first round, but without Staal would the Penguins have won the 2009 Stanley Cup? Did the Pens whiff by selecting Staal?

No, our miss again in 2006 is a second round defenseman, this time high school product Carl Sneep. Sneep would spend some time in the Penguins organization, even appearing in one game after a four year career at Boston College. But Sneep also spent time in the ECHL and hasn’t been back to the show since, in fact he is listed as retired in the NHL records. Sneep was traded to the Dallas Stars for a conditional 7th round pick in 2013 and since he never appeared in the NHL with the Stars this pick never changed hands.

Instead of selecting Sneep, who would wash out in the minors, the Penguins could have selected defenseman Jeff Petry who many were clamoring for at the trade deadline. Petry was selected thirteen picks after Sneep by the Edmonton Oilers. Also, at pick 50 the Boston Bruins selected a 6 foot 4 inch power forward from Vancouver who would have looked great riding shotgun for Sid and Geno over the last 9 years, Milan Lucic.