Revisiting a little work I did back at my old blog, the Penguins haven't had a notable contributor that they've selected in the 2nd round since Greg Malone. Greg is, famously, the father of ex-Penguin Ryan Malone and his "curse" is an ironic one, since he was a member of the Penguins front office for many years, including a long stint as the head of the scouting department.
Here's the ugly run down:
Total Busts
1978 - Mike Meeker (25th overall) 4 games, 0 points, 5 PIMs
1985 - Lee Giffin RW (23rd overall), 27 games, 4 points (1g + 3a), 9 PIMs
1988 - Mark Major LW (25th overall) 2 games, 0 points, 5 PIMs
1991 - Rusty Fitzgerald C (38th overall) 25 games, 4 points (2g + 2a) 12 PIMs
1992 - Marc Hussey D (43rd overall) 0 games
1996 - Pavel Skrbek D (28th overall) 12 games, 0 points, 8 PIMs
1997 - Brian Gaffaney C (44th overall) 0 games
1998 - Alexander Zevakhin LW (54th overall) 0 games
1999 - Jeremy Van Hoof D (57th overall) 0 games
2000 - Shane Endicott C (52nd overall) 45 games, 3 points (1g + 2a) 47 PIMs
2002 - Ondrej Nemec D (32nd overall), 0 games2004 - Johannes Salmonsson LW (31st overall), 0 games
2005 - Michael Gergen RW (61st overall), 0 games
At least they kinda made it
1977 - Jim Hamilton LW (30th overall) 94 games, 32 points (14 g + 18 a), 28 PIMs
1979 - Paul Marshall (31st overall), 95 games, 33 points (15g + 18a), 17 PIMs
1981 - Steve Gatzos F (28th overall), 89 games, 35 points (15g + 20a) 83 PIMs
1982 -Tim Hrynewich LW (38th overall), 55 games, 14 points (6g +8a) 82 PIMs
1983 - Todd Charlesworth D (22th overall), 93 games, 12 points (3g + 9a) 47 PIMs
1986 - Dave Capuano LW (25th overall) 104 games, 56 points (17g + 38a) 56 PIMs [only played 6 games with Pittsburgh for 0 points]
1987 - Rick Tabaracci G (26th overall), 1 game played with Pittsburgh
1993 - Dominic Pittis (52nd overall), 86 games, 16 points (5g + 11a) 71 PIMs [1 game with Pittsburgh]
1999- Matt Murley LW (51st overall) 62 games, 9 points (2g, 7a) 38 PIMs2001 - Noah Welch D (54th overall) 73 games, 9 points (4g + 5a) 358 PIMs...(has been in the AHL all season)
2003 - Ryan Stone LW (32nd overall) 35 games, 7 points (0g, 7a) – 2 points in 7 games with Pittsburgh
Too early to tell
2006 - Carl Sneep D (32nd overall), senior season at Boston College, having his best statistical season of his collegiate career
2007 - Keven Veilleux C, (51st overall) first professional season (out for year with injury)2009- Philip Samuelsson D, (61st overall), freshman season at BC, 8 points in 20 games
Possibly the exceptions to the rule
1989 Paul Laus D (35th overall) 530 games, 72 points (14g + 58a), 1702 PIMs [All games played with Florida Panthers]
1994 Richard Park LW (50th overall), 654 games and counting, 211 points (90g + 121a) 240 PIMs [58 games with Pittsburgh for 11 points]
The breakthrough?
2004 - Alex Goligoski D (61st overall) 90 games, 45 points (12g + 33a), 32 PIMs
Goligoski has been in a rut lately, at times it seems hard to remember he only has 90 career NHL games under his belt. Richard Park keeps plugging along with the Islanders and Stone remains on in the NHL up in Edmonton. Those are the only three currently in the NHL, and likely the only on the horizion for the foreseeable future.
It hasn't been the prettiest of pictures for Pittsburgh when it comes to the 2nd round. However with Goligoski a solid contributor, if the team can develop guys like Sneep and Veilleux we may finally be able lay the curse of Greg Malone to rest.