themethod7
Registered User
That said though, you're right Sjb141, the Pens have actually taken some boom or bust types like Veilleux and Esposito early on too.
The main point is that we have precious few forward prospects in the system who have been drafted in the first 3 rounds, and only two of those could be considered skill guys - Blueger and Guentzel.
I think these two guys are part of the reason we've seen RS avoid early round forwards recently - in that draft ('07, his 2nd with the Pens), he left Pacioretty and Perron on the board in the first round and took Esposito. The year before that, he took Staal* over Toews, Backstrom, and Kessel, but even with a top-5 pick, it wasn't a slam dunk - imagine Kessel riding shotgun with Crosby. I get it, hindsight is 20/20, but when your first and second round picks don't even play a single game on the parent club...
Also, looking at that draft, kudos to SJ for taking Couture 9th overall when he was barely ranked in the top-20, and Colorado for taking Shattenkirk at 14, 20 spots ahead of his ranking. Just goes to show how much stock to put in those rankings, especially when they had Tangradi ranked higher than P.K. Subban...
*Not arguing whether or not this was the "right" pick - Staal played a big role in our cup win, so I'm not suggesting any of the other 3 taken afterwards would unquestionably have been a better pick.