It’s been seven years since the Penguins saw one of their draft picks graduate to a full-time role in the NHL.
No Penguins draft selections since 2015— when Dominik Simon’s name was called in the fifth round— has skated more than 30 NHL games. Only five Penguins picks over these last seven years have made their NHL debuts.
This low draft turnout isn’t surprising for a perennially competitive team, which had only selected in the first round five times in the decade before 2022. If anything, the surprise is that the Penguins actually used their first-round selection this year.