Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide

PREVIEW

Heading into Minnesota this weekend, the Pittsburgh Penguins have 3 picks. And, it happens that all 3 picks are from other teams. That proves that GM Bern has really been active in the trade market and we all know he's not done! GM Bern always finds holes to fill in the team and he's done quite a goob job with the Penguins losing 4 to 2 in the Stanley Cup finals!! In those 3 picks, there are 2 1st rounders, #20 and #22. #20 is Calgary's 1st round pick acquired for Mark Streit. Mark Streit ending up playing amazing on Calgary's 1st line with Andrei Loktionov and fellow Pens superstar Evgeni Malkin which helped them to clinch the weaker Northwest division. #22 is St.Louis' 1st round pick acquired for Robyn Regehr. Regehr also had a good impact on his team and the Blues surprised everyone with 109 points. GM Bern wasn't too pleased about this trade because Regehr would have come handy against the Coyotes in the finals and #22 is a high pick. Both trades were risks to get a top 10 pick and it failed. But, you win some, you lose some! The last pick is Minnesota's 3rd round pick acquired with Paul Ranger in the deal with Tampa Bay ealier this week. That 3rd round pick is #62, so there is still going to be some big names left early 3rd round. Although, this draft has been said to be weaker than last year's. There are 4 goalies that could go first round, but almost every team in the EHEC is happy with their goalies, so we'll see how far they drop! A player that would really fit in GM Bern's playing style is young american Tyler Biggs. He hits like a truck. It will be interesting to see if he cracks the top 5, or if he even goes in front of one of Larsson, RNH, Couturier or Landeskog. The Penguins will definitely want to improve their forward depth. It will be a wild friday in Minnesota that's for sure!

Rick Scartozzi, pittsburghpenguins.com

REVIEW

In fact, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to upgrade their forward depth in this year's Entry Draft selecting all 3 forwards. GM Bern was very delighted to see #2 and #3 on his list after Tyler Biggs still being available. With #20, he selected Joel Armia. Joel is a big finnish power forward with lots of promise and dirty hands (youtube that bitch!). He was ranked in the 2nd round, but the Penguins feel like he has more potential than the bureau thought! With #22, he selected the same type of player in american J.T. Miller. Both of these guys can hit and they are both very well rounded, Armia being more offensive and Miller being more defensive. Miller excelled at killing penalties during the World Juniors and during his stay in college. It has already been announced that Miller has signed a 3 year ELC and he will be joining the Wilkes-Barre Penguins next season. He is already very mature and the kid really doesn't care about his schooling with the future he is being promised in Pittsburgh. Can't blame him... Pittsburgh native well-known rapper and press-box ticket holder Mac Miller was pleased to hear another Miller is going to rep the town! With the early 3rd round pick, Stefan Noesen was selected. The american from Plano, Texas came a long way to get drafted. Not many texans make it to the show and the kid had an amazing year with Plymouth in the OHL and is supposed to have an even better one. Great size and vision for a 3rd round pick.

Rick Scartozzi, pittsburghpenguins.com