From 1993 to 1999, the Pittsburgh Penguins had one of the worst runs of drafting in recent memory.
In this piece, I have a look at the club's futile attempts at constructing a competitive team through the NHL Entry Draft.
Keep in mind that I'm only including the first round bombs made by Craig Patrick and Co., but take a look for yourself at rounds beyond that and you'll find only a handful of somewhat serviceable (at best) NHLers: Richard Park, Patrick Lalime, J.S. Aubin, Jan Hrdina, Michal Rozsival, Josef Melichar, Andrew Ference, Sebastien Caron, to name a few.
Now also included in that list are guys like Rob Scuderi (134th overall, 1998) and Ryan Malone (115th overall in 1999), two guys who played a big part in the Penguins turning things around, though the latter wasn't around for the Stanley Cup in 2009.
So let's take a look into the past and wonder just what the hell Patrick and his scouting staff were thinking...
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mark Rose
A Lesson in Futility: Pittsburgh Penguins at the Draft Table: 1993-1999
May 20th, 2010 by Mark Rose Leave a reply »
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