NHL Draft Look Back: 57 Varieties of Penguins

This year marks the 57th year of the existence of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Debuting in 1967 the Pens have won five Stanley Cup titles since then. When a new franchise enters any professional league, an expansion draft is always held so the new team can build their roster. Players are released from other NHL teams to be made available for drafting.

For Pittsburgh, their very first pick of that 1967 expansion draft was Joe Daley, a goalie from Canada selected with the fifth overall pick. Known as the “Holy Goalie” Daly was in the minors with Detroit so his Penguins debut was his rookie season. He played in 29 games in that inaugural season, winning 10 games and losing 13. His save percentage was solid at .910. 

The next pick after Daley was also a goalie by the name of Roy Edwards taken with the 10th pick in the second round. The day after he was drafted, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. In all, 20 players were chosen in 1967 by the Penguins in that expansion draft.

Pittsburgh was joined by the other new teams entering the league, the California Golden Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, and the St. Louis Blues. Only the Seals are no longer playing hockey, having moved to Cleveland in 1976 and then disbanding two years later becoming the only 1967 expansion team not to have ever reached a Stanley Cup final.

Of that initial class of Penguins, Andy Bathgate who was chosen in the 19th round with the 112th pick overall would lead the Penguins that first season with 59 points on 20 goals. Left winger Ab McDonald chosen much earlier in the draft (6th round, 34th pick) led the team in goals scored with 22 to go along with 21 assists. But Bathgate 29 assists made him the team’s high scorer.

As for the Penguins in their very first season, they won 27 games, lost 34, and tied 13 times. The Pens finished in fifth place in the west division while the California Seals were last with 15 wins, 42 losses, and 17 ties. The North Stars won just as many games as the Penguins. The Philadelphia Flyers won the division in their first year but with a losing record of 31-32-11. The Blues finished third and the Kings second.

Looking back at the Pittsburgh Penguins draft history, the Pens have had the first overall pick in the National Hockey League just three times. Each time they made it count. In 1984 with the first pick in the draft they hit a home run by selecting Mario Lemieux. As a rookie the Hall of Famer played in seventy-three games and scored 43 goals as he showed what was to come for his career. With fifty-seven assists, he finished the season with 100 points. While Pittsburgh ended up with a losing record that season, Lemieux was just warming up for a stellar career.

In his 17-year career Mario Lemeiux would lead the NHL in goals three times with his career high of 85 coming in the 1988-1989 season. He also led the league in assists three times with a high of 114 the same year he led scored 85 times. In points “Super Mario” led the NHL six times where his career high of 199 game that same season just mentioned. For all 17 seasons, Mario Lemeiux remained a Penguin.

In 2003 the Penguins found themselves holding the overall top pick again and with it they found the “Flower,” Marc-Andre Fleury the goaltender from Canada. Fleury became a highly popular player with fans in the ‘Burgh and many fans were angry and extremely disappointed when he departed for the Vegas Knights in 2017 after 13 seasons with the Penguins. These days he is tending goal in Minnesota. While with the Pens, Fleury was behind goal for 375 victories and just 216 defeats. 

Two years later in 2005 it was déjà vu for Pittsburgh as they found another scoring machine like Mario Lemieux in Sidney Crosby another Canadian who was drafted first overall after playing for Rimouski Oceanic in the Quebec minor leagues. Crosby is still lacing them up today and will surely join Super Mario in the Hall of Fame one day. While he has had a distinguished career, he has led the league in goals scored just twice and in assists just once. Twice he was the leader in points (120 in just his second season and 104 in 2013-14.)

Both great players in Lemieux and Crosby have won Stanley Cups so who is greater? Crosby has played in more games (1,272 to 915). Depending on how long “Sid the Kid” plays, he may catch up to Lemieux’s career goals total as Crosby currently has 592 and will need 98 more just to tie the all-time leader in Lemieux. Super Mario also leads in assists (1,033-1,004) and points (1,723-1,596). Crosby was a part of three Stanley Cup titles, Lemieux two. 

As for hardware, Mario has won three Hart trophies to Crosby’s two. Lemieux is a six-time winner of the Ross trophy, twice the Smythe recipient and an all-star nine times. As for Crosby, twice on the Ross, twice on the Smythe, twice on the Richard award, and an all-star eight times. It is close to who was the greater player.

After the first overall pick there have been only five occasions where Pittsburgh was second in line for the draft. In 1967 their first season it was goaltender Steve Rexe. Nine years later Blair Chapman, a right winger was second overall. In 1985 Craig Simpson, a center who was playing for the Michigan State University Spartans was drafted second. Then in 2004, Sidney Crosby saw a center from Russia drafted that would join Sid the Kid to make one of the most dangerous duos in the NHL. Coming onboard was Evgeni Malkin who was playing his hockey in Russia for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. 

Finally, two seasons later Jordan Staal was selected in the first round with the second pick, and he too would become an outstanding player with his position of center.  Some other notable players in the history of the draft were Pierre Larouche drafted in 1974 in the first round, 8th pick overall. Rich Sutter was a first rounder with the 10th pick in 1982. How about Martin Straka, a center out of Czechoslovakia drafted 19th in the first round in 1992. Then there was one of the greatest players in history that became a Penguin that being Jaromir Jagr fifth overall pick in 1990.

Mark Recchi, a right winger was a fourth-round pick in 1988 with Pittsburgh’s 67th pick overall. With the 134th pick overall in 1998, defenseman Rob Scuderi was taken in the fifth round. More names for you…Brooks Orpik in 2000, 4th round; Patrick Foley, same year, sixth round; Kris Letan, 2005, third round; and in 2009 Nick Peterson was selected in the fourth round. How about this pick? 2009, fifth round, 151st pick overall, Andy Bathgate. You read that right. He was mentioned earlier, and he was drafted and is related to the other Bathgate because the original Penguin from that 1967 expansion draft is his grandfather.

Bryan Rust came along in 2010 one of many American players to take the ice in Pittsburgh. Olli Maatta from Finland was a pick in 2012 and Oskar Sundqvist joined him in that same draft selected two rounds later in the third round. It is hard to believe that it has been 11 years since Jake Guentzel was drafted and made an immediate impact as a rookie. That brings us to last year’s draft class:

• Brayden Yager, center (Canada). 1st round, 14th pick.
• Emil Pieniniemi, defense (Finland). 3rd round, 91st pick.
• Mikhail Ilyn, right wing (Russia). 5th round, 142nd pick.
• Cooper Foster, center (Canada). 6th round, 174th pick.
• Emil Jarventie, left wing (Finland). 7th round, 217th pick.
• Kalle Kangas, defense (Finland). 7th round 223rd pick.

Overall, since that 1967 draft, there have been 479 players selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins. By country Canada has given us the most players, 279 in all. The United States is second with 110. Next would be Finland with 20 followed by Russia with 19. 15 have come out of Sweden and 14 out of the Czech Republic. The rest of the countries with players count are as follows:

• Slovakia-6
• Czechloslovakia-5
• Germany-3
• Latvia-2
• South Korea-2
• Belarus-1
• Netherlands-1
• Switzerland-1
• Ukraine-1



The city of Pittsburgh has been blessed with the Steelers, Pirates, and the Penguins. Between the three there have been 16 league championships. The Pens have had some great players and with Crosby and Malkin at the twilight of their careers, we wait for the next superstar players and hopefully more Stanley Cup trophies to add to their showcase.