Pittsburgh Penguins Select Four New Players In The 2018 Draft

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a quiet splash at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft this past weekend.

The 2018 NHL Entry Draft has come and gone, with the first round taking place on Friday and the second to seventh rounds taking place on Saturday. The Pittsburgh Penguins did not have a pick in the first round, but with four picks on Saturday, they managed to pull off a quiet but effective draft.

Round 2

The Penguins had two second round picks this year to make up for the absence of a first rounder and they ended up picking a defenceman and a centre.

At #53 overall, the Penguins selected Calen Addison from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Addison is a right-handed defenceman who put up 65 points in 68 games last season with the Hurricanes.

With the 58th pick which we acquired from Nashville, the Penguins selected Filip Hallander from Sweden.

After this pick, the Penguins did not have another selection until the fifth round.

Round 5

The Penguins didn’t have another pick until #129. With this pick, the Penguins selected another centre who played in the WHL. Justin Almeida of the Moose Jaw Warriors put up 98 points in 72 games last season. This, in my opinion, is quite a great pickup for the Penguins considering where he went in the draft.

Round 6

The final pick for the Penguins of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft came in the sixth round. And with this pick, the Penguins picked one more centre for the road–Liam Gorman. Gorman played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL last season.

Next: Offseason Do's and Don'ts

Verdict

Overall, the Penguins certainly addressed their need for centres in their prospect pool. We are a team looking to contend for the Cup right now, so I don’t blame us for trading away most of our picks. Hopefully these guys develop well and who knows, maybe we’ll see them in a Penguins uniform in a few years!