After trading Jordan Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Penguins received the 8th overall pick. With several top end prospects on the board like Filip Forsberg, Jacob Trouba, Tuomo Teravainen, Michal Grigorenko, still on the board, the Pens went a little off the board and chose defenseman Derrick Pouliot.
Pouliot was on the Portland Winterhawks and the regular defensive partner of Joe Morrow, the very same guy who was the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of last season.
Pouliot, on TSN, has been compared to a Michael Del Zotto or Kris Letang type of defenseman- a little under-sized, but an excellent skater and puck-mover. Even though he wasn't the highest guy on the board (others liked defensemen Trouba, Olli Maata and Cody Cecil more) and many defensemen were already taken in the top 7.
Still, the Pens obviously felt Pouliot has a very high ceiling and merited the selection. At this point, we just will have to wait and see as the fall-out from this huge Staal trade.