A Penguins Draft Class Resurgence

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Kuljit Parmar

The 2022 NHL Draft class is now completed, and the draft was incredibly entertaining for the fan bases across North America, with so many moves being made to date. 

The Penguins were not short of that either, and they made the best possible improvements to the team, and are beginning to set themselves up for future seasons and draft lotteries that will come to shape with an opportunity to capitalize with a few assets at hand.

Due to the nature of the draft, defensemen were the hot commodity during the first round. Owen Pickering is the newest Penguins’ 1st round choice. Pickering was added to bolster the defensive side of the team and give them the added depth needed down the stretch of future seasons. We’ve seen some tired Penguins’ teams late in the playoffs recently. Plenty of that is due to age. An influx of youth is obviously necessary.

Singing Kris Letang to a six-year $36.6 million dollar contract was a tip of the iceberg to build on the defense system for the future and now looking to free agency, the team is looking to dump a partial amount of salary to sign more quality depth players with added cap space. Rumors are that Evgeni Malkin may not be back in the Burgh. That will allow for cap space to be created for just that.

The best scenario at this point seems to be that they will add two mid level contracts and one hefty bill that would cover most of the team's needs at this point and utilize their prospects pool that will help develop the pool with confidence to play in the future.

The team also made some interesting choices in the fourth to seventh rounds of the 2022 NHL Draft.

In the fourth round, at 6 feet, 170 pounds, the team selected Goalie Sergey Murashov. From what I have heard about him, his agility in net and most importantly his awareness in goal, are superior to most prospects.

During the fifth round, 150th overall, the Penguins selected forward Zam Plante, who said he models his game after Jake Guentzel. This is a young player with incredible raw talent, and he just has a different presence on the ice. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ultimately has a Plante Shake.

In the sixth round, at pick 167th overall, it was another defenseman, Nolan Collins, standing at 6 feet three inches and 194 pounds. He has a big body and gives the penguins the size and grit needed to develop with top-tier defenseman on the team, which would give him the added knowledge of the game stemming from experience.

Also in the sixth round, 182nd overall, at 6 feet two inches 185 pounds, it was Luke Devlin. Chris Pryor likes that he is a “big center who brings a lot of compete on both sides of the puck.”

With these additions it is safe to say that the team is headed in a positive direction in their semi-rebuild, and what it will give them is the added depth most importantly down the stretch.



With a progressing system, and the veterans ready to steer the young guns, these Penguins are becoming more of that defensive threat we were all expecting them to try and become.