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The Pittsburgh Penguins are a team in the National Hockey League.
Joe Daley became the first of 20 players selected by the Penguins in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft on June 6, 1967. The next day the Penguins participated in their first amateur draft, where they selected Steve Rexe second overall.
The Penguins obtained the first-overall pick in 1984, and selected Mario Lemieux from the Laval Voisins of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Lemieux won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best rookie in 1985. He went on to win six Art Ross trophies as the league's leading scorer, captained the team to Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997 following his first retirement. He later came back to play in another five seasons for the Penguins, and in 1999, became chairman and co-owner of the team. As owner, Lemieux negotiated an agreement to construct a new arena, ensuring the team's future in Pittsburgh. After the Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup Finals victory, Lemieux became the first person to win a Stanley Cup as both a player and an owner.[1]
In 1990 the Penguins drafted Czechoslovakian Jaromir Jagr with the fifth-overall pick. Following the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Jagr was the first Czechoslovak to attend the NHL draft with the government's permission, becoming the first drafted without having to defect to the the West.[2][3] Jagr was also the first European drafted in the first round by the Penguins after selecting only Canadians in their first 23 years. He was the first of four consecutive first round Europeans, and eight in ten years from 1990 to 1999.
Brooks Orpik was the first American drafted by the Penguins when he was selected in 2000 from Boston College. Along with Ryan Whitney in 2002, the Penguins have only selected two Americans in the first round as of 2009.
The Penguins earned another first-overall pick in 2003 and selected goaltender Marc-André Fleury. Fleury was the third goaltender selected first-overall behind Michel Plasse and Rick DiPietro.[4] The first-round selection (second overall) in 2004, Evgeni Malkin, was the Penguins second Calder Trophy winner.[5] The Penguins earned another first-overall selection in the 2005 draft and selected Sidney Crosby in what was nicknamed the "Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes".[6]
Through 2009, of the 38 players drafted in the first round by the Penguins, there are 13 centers, 12 wingers (7 right and 5 left), 8 defenders, and 5 goaltenders. The large majority of the players come from Canada with 27. Czechoslovakia, Russia, Sweden and the United States all have two drafted players, while Belarus and the two now constituent states of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, each have a single player drafted.
| † | Selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame | ||
| * | Selected number one overall | ||
Pittsburgh's first players were selected from these Original Six Teams
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"For once, we control our own destiny. The impact that Lemieux
is going to have on our franchise is something we need. It won't
just be the Pittsburgh Penguins; it will be Mario Lemieux and the
Pittsburgh Penguins."
——ED JOHNSTON,
General Manager of the Penguins in 1984. [7]
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"This is huge for the franchise to be able to get a player of
his caliber."
——MARIO LEMIEUX,
Player and owner of the Penguins after the Penguins won the draft
lottery to select Sidney Crosby in 2005
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