A Cold Draft on Penguins Prospect List

[Gaucho]

Gaucho - He's hit it good with Goligoski and Whitney, both Patrick draft picks. Let's see what he does with guys he's drafted, which will need to happen soon.

Despres looks good and as of right now there is reason to believe that Morrow, Harrington, Pouliot and Maata will all make it sooner or later. As I said, it's way too early to rate those drafts.

[Fire0nice228]

And when all those D draft picks make it and are nice and cheap there will be plenty of money to get established forwards

[farnham16]

The Pens forward drafting (or lack there of) has been a bit bizarre. I think we can all agree on that. For me, I have to believe one reason Shero is drafting all these defensemen is that there is a huge premium on dmen in the NHL right now. Seems like almost every team is always in need of them and they'll pay a pretty penny for them. He's probably going to use of few of the ones he has to bring forwards into the organization.

That's what I tell myself anyway to make myself feel better about our forward situation right now.

[Gaucho]

For me, I have to believe one reason Shero is drafting all these defensemen is that there is a huge premium on dmen in the NHL right now.

And the Gogo trade would prove him right.

[pcm]

It's not a bad strategy at its core. The problem is that it's gone from a strategy to an obsession. And that's turned into problems...

1. People keep saying Shero can trade any of our D prospects to reap some huge return, as he did with Whitney and Goligoski. Problem with that is, neither of those guys were prospects. Both players were well into their 2nd contracts with the Penguins. As it is now, Despres is the furthest along in his development, and he's not even half way through his EL deal. Shero has ZERO history of trading D prospects for anything other than a conditional 7th round pick (Sneep).

2. How are we going to give enough ice time to develop Despres, Morrow, Harrington, Domoulin, Maata, and Pouliout? Maybe if this were 2004 we could ice a team of rookies. But having more than 2 in the lineup at once is questionable for a Stanley Cup contender. Next year, 4 of the above named should be in the NHL, yet the Penguins already have 5 other defensemen signed and on the roster. Can you say, logjam?