Prospect Info: 2025 Draft: We are #1….1

[JRS91]

In fairness that 2012 draft has turned out to be pretty mid.

There's some great players there, don't get me wrong, but aside from Rielly there were no homerun picks in the top 10. Picks 11-20 were where the real best of that draft class were, which is funny given how much Yakupov was hyped up.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

In fairness that 2012 draft has turned out to be pretty mid.

There's some great players there, don't get me wrong, but aside from Rielly there were no homerun picks in the top 10. Picks 11-20 were where the real best of that draft class were, which is funny given how much Yakupov was hyped up.

It's true... that draft really did turn out pretty trash.

But man... the Penguins had access to two guys at that slot that nearly everyone here was talking about at the time. I think that's why it sticks out so much in everyone's mind... it was such an egregious example of a team getting it SO wrong largely predicated on personal biases and ego.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Trouba in a similar situation (RFA that wants to leave) got like a mid/late first and Pionk.

And Pionk wasnt Pionk yet

Really obtuse to say we didn’t do well from a value standpoint. Come on.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

@Ugene Magic - you're right about him having one year left at 4.0 from his second contract.

I did not recall that part. I still don't think it changes much. Like I said an 8th overall, an established (and still young) 3C and a second paring LD is a HECK of a return for Jordan Staal regardless of the circumstances.

 

[PensFutures]

But yeah, passing on Trouba, let alone the *obvious* choice in Forsberg, was insane at the time and only looks worse when you revisit it.

Its kind of funny. I hated the pick because I wanted FF, but then who knows if the Hornqvist/Kessel trades ever happen, and this core may be sitting on 1 cup still.

11 and 12 were weird drafts, because the first 2 picks in each rounds were teammates and Shero basically said thats why the 12 picks were made.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Its kind of funny. I hated the pick because I wanted FF, but then who knows if the Hornqvist/Kessel trades ever happen, and this core may be sitting on 1 cup still.

11 and 12 were weird drafts, because the first 2 picks in each rounds were teammates and Shero basically said thats why the 12 picks were made.

Eh, I don't bother with all the butterfly effect stuff. It always comes up when talking about Hossa re-signing too. I'll always err on the side of landing good players. Give me a Hossa and a Forsberg throughout the entirety of their primes any day.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Uh, the Penguins pretty majorly won their 2 cups in 2016 and 2017 due to the Staal trade. Dumoulin was a massive defensive presence in their top-4 plus they turned Sutter into Bonino in the 2015 off-season. Absolute insanity to argue that the Staal trade was pretty "shit value".

Had they actually hit on who they took at #8, it would have been one of the biggest robberies of the entire 2010s in the NHL. I like Staal a lot but the dude literally never even hit 50 points with the Hurricanes.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

Pouliot was 12th in the Central Scouting list for NA that year (Maatta was 8th). Prospects like Forsberg (and Eklund for that matter) often drop. Vanilla type wingers without any unique standout traits. Plenty of teams passed on Forsberg and then he was traded away in an unimpressive deal later. Dmen and centers will get prioritized as they always do every draft.

2012 CSB FINAL (NA SKATERS) – The Draft Analyst

www.thedraftanalyst.com

The weird thing is that if we'd taken Maatta at 8 and Pouliot at 22, there wouldn't be nearly as much controversy. Maatta might not be a 'top 10 pick' in a standard draft, but for that weak 2012 draft, he's not bad.

 

[eXile3]

In fairness that 2012 draft has turned out to be pretty mid.

There's some great players there, don't get me wrong, but aside from Rielly there were no homerun picks in the top 10. Picks 11-20 were where the real best of that draft class were, which is funny given how much Yakupov was hyped up.

2012 was one of our best drafts. Four NHL players. Two contributing heavily to two Stanley Cups.

Two years ago Rust was picked. The next year Jake and Jarry. Shero made some mistakes drafting but he really helped JR out.

 

[Empoleon8771]

But back to the 2025 draft talk, I've seen some people compare Smith to Pouliot and Morrow in this draft and I don't really agree with that. They traded Morrow pretty early so I'll focus on Pouliot, but I think the main thing that caused Pouliot to flame out in the NHL was that he wasn't fast enough to cut it in the NHL. Smith fits more in the Matheson or Miller mold of defenseman, more of a super athletic but low IQ mold.

I generally don't like super athletic but low IQ players, which is a big reason why I'm pretty lukewarm on Smith overall. But I can absolutely see the tools there and what would cause him to be a really good top-4 D if he can be coached to be more refined.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Honestly at the time I expected Trouba, given this team's fascination with blueliners at all costs. Don't worry, we can just flip 'em to fill holes elsewhere. Ignore the fact that you'd need to actually develop all these blueliners and give 'em spots in the lineup to build value. What's that? Mark Eaton's available? Say no more.

But yeah, passing on Trouba, let alone the *obvious* choice in Forsberg, was insane at the time and only looks worse when you revisit it.

This is what kills me about the pick. DP wasn't even the best D available. I wanted FF bout would have loved Trouba.