NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After bolstering their center prospect depth on Day 1 of the draft on Wednesday night in Nashville, the Penguins built up their blue line with their first pick of Day 2 on Thursday afternoon.
The Penguins drafted left-handed defenseman Emil Pieniniemi with pick No. 91 in the third round of the draft in Nashville, Tenn.
"It feels so good," Pieniniemi said Thursday. "I've been dreaming about it all my life."
The Penguins initially had pick No. 90 in the draft, a pick they acquired from New Jersey in the John Marino trade. The Rangers, wanting to trade up from their spot at No. 91, swapped picks with the Penguins and sent a 2024 seventh-round pick to the Penguins for making the trade.
Pieniniemi said that he had a number of meetings with the Penguins leading up to the draft, and said that he's heard good things about both the city and the organization.
Pieniniemi, 18, plays in Karpat's system in Finland and spent most of this past season with Karpat's U20 junior affiliate. He played 31 games for the U20 team, scoring one goal and 12 assists. He had a three-game stint with the U18 affiliate, and scored three goals and four assists in those games. He made his debut in the top Finnish league, Liiga, and was scoreless in that one game with Karpat.
Pieniniemi played for Finland in the U18 World Junior Championship and had one assist in five games. He appeared in a number of other smaller tournaments with the U18 team and recorded a total of six assists in 17 games.
Penguins director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor said that Pieniniemi "moves well, is really good with the puck, smart. He gets you out of your own end clean, his transition game is very good, and the size (6 foot 2, 175 pounds) to go with that. We were really excited where we got him."
Pieniniemi's English is limited, but he summed up his own game well in his succinct way.
"I'm a good two-way defenseman," Pieniniemi said of his game. "And I can skate well."
Pieniniemi named his physical game as what he'd like to continue improving on the most.
Pieniniemi said that his favorite player growing up wasn't a defenseman at all -- it was Pavel Datsyuk, because he liked watching his skill. These days, he likes watching Miro Heiskanen, the Stars' Finnish blueliner. Pieniniemi says that he thinks his skating and puck-moving abilities are similar to those of Heiskanen.
As with many mid-round picks, rankings vary wildly on Pieniniemi. He was ranked as highly as No. 76 (The Hockey News) to No. 135 (Elite Prospects), to No. 174 (FC Hockey), all the way down to No. 191 (McKeen's Hockey). NHL Central Scouting, which ranks North American and European players separately, ranked Pieniniemi as the 31st-best European skater.
The FC Hockey scouting report from April on Pieniniemi said that he "showed some good poise in the offensive zone at times, beating the offensive player on the blue line and creating some time and space for himself through that. However, on the power play, there were times when he went for a sloppy shot towards the net instead of keeping the play alive with an easy pass, which made me question his hockey IQ a bit."
Pieniniemi looks to be more of a project as a prospect. He's eligible to come over to North America at any time, but he's not quite ready. Ideally he'd have one full, strong season in the top Finnish league before making the move over.
For now, that's his main goal -- to play a full season in the Finnish Liiga. If he can continue to develop well over in Finland, then we may see him in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a couple of years.
