LAS VEGAS -- The Penguins were quiet on Day 1 of the draft.
The Penguins didn't have a first-round pick, having traded it last summer to San Jose in the Erik Karlsson deal, and they didn't make any moves in the meantime. It was a quiet night for trades in general, with the only moves made by any teams being pick swaps to trade up or down in the first-round order.
The Penguins are set to be pretty active on Day 2 of the draft on Saturday here in Las Vegas. They have the 44th overall (second round), 46th overall (second round), 111th overall (fourth round), 175th overall (sixth round), 207th overall (seventh round) and 223rd overall (seventh round) selections.
The Penguins still have one of the weaker prospect pools in the league, and defense is the weakest position of the pool. They're stocked up in goal between Joel Blomqvist, Filip Larsson, Taylor Gauthier and Sergei Murashov, and they've done a lot to add to the forward pool in the last year, in particular with acquiring Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen and Cruz Lucius in the Jake Guentzel deal.
But on the blue line, outside of first-round pick Owen Pickering, things get pretty bleak. They have a couple of former mid-round picks in the system -- in particular Emil Pieniniemi and Isaac Belliveau -- but they just don't have many high-end defense prospects. Those three defensemen are all left-handed, too. It's especially weak on the right side.
Still, the Penguins don't plan to enter Day 2 of the draft looking to address any positional needs, as Kyle Dubas told me prior to Day 1.
"With where we're at right now, it has to be the best players available," Dubas said. "With the two (second-round) picks so close together, we've had a lot of talk about that. But I mean, we just need to get the two best players we can there and then continue to try to help ourselves stock that pipeline. We'll see what we end up with 24 hours from now."
Here's another look at the profiles I did at the combine of the players who have yet to be drafted. The first five players I had ranked -- Stian Stolberg, Dean Letourneau, EJ Emery, Sam O'Reilly and Matvei Gridin -- all jumped up into the first round.
• Tanner Howe, forward, Regina Pats, (WHL)
• Jesse Pulkkinen, defenseman, JYP (Liiga)
• Henry Mews, defenseman, Ottawa 67's
• Dominik Badinka, defenseman, Malmo Redhawks (SHL)
• Teddy Stiga, forward, U.S. National Team Development Program
• Cole Hutson, defenseman, U.S. National Team Development Program
• Julius Miettinen, forward, Everett Silvertips (WHL)
• Leo Sahlin Wallenius, defenseman, Vaxjo (Swedish U20)
• Alfons Freij, defenseman, Vaxjo (Swedish U20)
• Maxim Masse, winger, Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
• John Mustard, forward, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
• Lucas Pettersson, center, MoDo (SHL)
• Adam Kleber, defenseman, Lincoln Stars (USHL)
• Leon Muggli, defenseman, EV ZUV (Swiss)
• Adam Jecho, forward, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
