Now that the first round order is set for the NHL’s upcoming draft, it’s officially mock draft season. The first ones are trickling in. The Penguins got bumped down two places, as several teams did which might need to adjust the areas that they’ll be picking.
It doesn’t have to mean total despair. Our good, close, personal friend Jesse Marshall — who likely spends way more time and brainpower on draftable players than you or I — doesn’t see much of a difference in the shelf of players from the 6-14 range. There’s a downside of picking 11 instead of nine for margin of error and losing the choice of a couple of players, but the Pens should still be adding a very nice prospect, to a prospect pool that has no top-10ish pedigree players in it.