NHL Entry Draft: Penguins’ first round position set

As we shift into off-season mode, the Penguins have no shortage of drama and storylines to track for next season. Several key decisions and negotiations will have to reach a conclusion with key players by free agency.

There’s also the matter of the NHL draft. Draft spots are set partially from where teams get eliminated in the playoffs, which means until last night’s results some of the picks weren’t known.

Pittsburgh will have the 21st pick in this year’s draft.

The Pens do not have a second round pick (traded to Anaheim for Rickard Rakell) or a third round pick (part of the 2021 trade to bring Jeff Carter to Pittsburgh). The Pens do have all their picks in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds as of now.

When in doubt, I always like to look at the Bob McKenzie listing, of which he compiles from a consensus of NHL scouts. They tend to be pretty accurate on ranking prospects and also giving a feel of how the NHL teams generally have these youngsters sorted out. Here’s the mid-season outlook from McKenzie around the #21 range.

The NHL draft will be held July 7th-8th, giving more than seven weeks of time to research and learn about the players who could be available for the Pens at that time.