Jesse wrote:The Snapshot wrote:Here's what I hoped to hear about the Pens picks:
* Big body and good skater for his size
* Has offensive upside
* Can add weight to his frame
* Excellent skater
What I got was midgets with "good hockey sense" that scored in some pretty questionable leagues who are all off to college. I get that college affords us free years of development, but all of these guys need to at a minimum put on the Freshman 15.
I do like the idea of having 4 young goaltenders in the system introduced in the last few years. Like all the young D, we can always use them as trade pieces.
You have two options where the Penguins picked:
1. Do what they did.
2. Waste picks on big bodied guys with "upside" that cannot skate and will never play in the NHL.
Once they moved the 50th pick, the options from there were limited at best.
And yet big bodied guys end up playing in the NHL as FAs all the time. I agree that you have to pick "projects" down there, but the across the board swipe at smaller guys playing in questionable leagues is a bit shocking. The NHL is full of late bloomers in roles. The organization as a whole is filled with average size guys and they continue to draft the Nathan Moon types.
Heck, the best "upside" prospect we have signed as a forward in some time as a FA is even average size - Jason Megna.
We do not have a single big body targeted for a 3rd or 4th line role in the NHL - and we need them to push our bottom six while adding more size there.