Pittsburgh Penguins History: Revisiting the 1998 Draft Class

A look back at the players the Pittsburgh Penguins took in the 1998 Draft.

This is the next installment in our series “Pens Draft Class Rehash” where we profile the Pittsburgh Penguins draft choices by draft year that made the NHL.

We will be looking at the player’s time with Pittsburgh and try to dig up interesting facts and stats on the picks and recount interesting events that they may have been a part of.

Here is our rehash of the Pittsburgh Penguins 1998 Draft Class.

First the specifics of the picks.

The Penguins took 10 players in the draft, seven forwards, one defenseman and two goalies, with four of 10 players selected (40 percent) playing for the Penguins.

Matt Hussey

Hussey was selected by the Penguins in the 9th round of the draft with the 254th pick and made his debut with the Wilkes/Barre Scranton (WBS) Penguins during the 2002-03 season and put up 23 points in 69 games played (GP)

Hussey made his NHL debut and scored his first career goal on Mar. 16, 2004, vs. Washington, and registered three points in his three-game stint with Pittsburgh.

In 2005-06, Hussey appeared in 13 games with Pittsburgh and collected a single point, but led the WBS Penguins in scoring after he scored 21 goals and 51 points in 65 GP.

Hussey finished with two goals and four points in 16 GP with the NHL Penguins and 51 goals and 108 points in 269 GP with the WBS Penguins.

Toby Petersen

Tobias Emanuel Petersen was taken with the 244th pick in the draft and made his NHL debut on Dec. 5. 2001. Petersen then collected the first two goals of his career in back-to-back games on Dec. 10 and Dec. 13th.

Petersen finished his rookie campaign with four goals and eight points in 12 GP and would compile 10 goals and 26 points in 91 GP with the Penguins.

During his time in WBS, Petersen scored 72 goals in 177 points in 215 GP spread over three seasons (2000-04).

A couple of additional facts about Petersen is that he is a Type 1 diabetic and needs to use an insulin pump during games, and he won the Calder Cup in 2014, with the Texas Stars.

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Rob Scuderi

The Penguins selected “the piece” with the 134th pick in the 5th round of the draft, and he made his NHL debut on Mar. 7, 2003, following 213 games played (GP) with WBS in which he scored six goals and 60 points.

Scuderi made his NHL debut on Feb. 12, 2004, and earned the first points of his career (one goal and one assist) on Mar. 7, 2003.

Following the Penguins Stanley Cup win in 2009, which Scuderi played a huge part of, he signed a monster deal with the Los Angeles Kings and secured a second Stanley Cup in 2012.

Pittsburgh brought Scuderi back to their lineup in 2013 and he would stay a member of the team until he was traded for Trevor Daley on Dec. 14, 2015.

All-in-all Scuderi appeared 460 games with the Penguins and scored four goals and 53 points.

Milan Kraft

Kraft was Pittsburgh’s top pick in the draft (23rd) and made his NHL debut on Oct. 7, 2000. Kraft registered goals in three straight games and points in five straight games from Nov. 3 to Nov. 11, 2000.

Kraft finished his rookie campaign with seven goals and 14 points in 42 regular-season games and failed to collect any points in eight postseason games that season.

Following two seasons in which he scored16 points (2001-02) and 12 points (2002-03), Kraft put together his finest season with the Penguins in 2003-04.

Kraft scored 19 goals and 40 points in 66 GP in his final season with the Penguins (2003-04) and finished his time in Pittsburgh with 41 goals and 82 points in 207 GP.