For GMs, scouts, excitement caught in draft ☕ taken in Vancouver, British Columbia (Courtesy of Point Park University)

Rogers Arena, Thursday afternoon. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC/ DKPS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Bill Guerin played 1,263 regular-season games in the NHL before moving into a personnel job with the Penguins.

And while there probably is nothing that can match the adrenaline rush of actually getting on the ice and competing, the excitement generated by draft day provides a pretty good fix for guys who have transitioned from the locker room to the front office.

"For guys who can't play anymore and are getting a little older, this is game day," Guerin told DKPittsburghSports.com Thursday afternoon. "And for the scouts who work all season long, this is their (Stanley Cup) final. This is the day."

The NHL Draft is scheduled to begin shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern at Rogers Arena. And, barring a trade, the Penguins actually will be involved in the Day 1 proceedings for the first time since 2014, owning the 21st choice in the opening round.

The Penguins have routinely traded their first-rounder for immediate personnel upgrades for more than a decade, but seem inclined to retain it this time. Assuming no one makes an offer they simply can't refuse.

Being able to invest in a first-round choice seems like it would get members of the scouting staff even more enthused than usual about the draft, when a year's worth of their work is put to use, but Guerin said that isn't necessarily the case.

"I wouldn't say we're more excited this year, because anytime we're picking -- anytime we have picks -- guys are excited," he said. "It's exciting to see all their hard work come to fruition."

While the excitement builds for management and scouts as the day progresses, the stress level generally doesn't. That's because all of the planning and preparatory work figured to be finished by the time the Penguins' contingent headed to a Vancouver steakhouse for a team dinner Thursday evening.

"The meetings are over," Jim Rutherford said Thursday. "It's time for guys to relax in the morning."

Guerin said that Patrik Allvin, the team's director of amateur scouting, may convene his staff Friday to give their prospect ratings list a final once-over, but that all of the discussions about who should be ranked where are over.

"The list is done," Guerin said. "He just wants to make sure there are no questions, no concerns. The day of the draft, that's relatively quick. They work so far in advance that they're ready."

Although Rutherford likely will spend at least part of his day kicking around trade ideas with other GMs -- "Jim's on the phone all the time," Guerin said. "All the time." -- Rutherford said that he didn't think any deals were particularly close to coming together.

The obvious caveat, of course, is that a single phone call can change everything, with absolutely no notice.

If today is uneventful, Rutherford anticipates reaching the draft site an hour or so before the proceedings begin, giving him enough time to settle in and to see if there are any conversations worth having with other clubs.

"I usually get to the draft floor early, and talk to different people," he said. "You may get a team say, 'Do you want to move down in the draft? Here's what we're willing to do. We don't want to do it yet, but when it comes close to that pick, we may call you, two picks away from your pick at 21, and here's what we would give you.' You get a little bit of talk like that. And if there's been trade talk not related to the draft, everybody is in the same room, so somebody may grab you and talk about it a little bit more."

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