The Pittsburgh Penguins have made 45 first-round draft picks in their history. As of 2024, 40 of them have made their NHL debuts, with Steve Rexe (1967), Craig Hillier (1996), and Angelo Esposito (2007) never making it.
Owen Pickering (2022) and Brayden Yager (2023) are the only two skaters from that five yet to make their debuts. Yager will never play with the Penguins after general manager Kyle Dubas sent him to the Winnipeg Jets for Rutger McGroarty.
Instead, Yager joins a small fraternity of Pittsburgh first-round picks, which had been traded before making their NHL debuts. Who are the other four?
Darrin Shannon (Fourth overall 1988)
The Penguins selected Darrin Shannon with the fourth overall pick in the 1988 Draft. On Nov. 12, 1988, they traded him to the Buffalo Sabres for Tom Barrasso before he made it to the NHL.
Shannon played 506 games with the Sabres and Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise, scoring 250 points. Meanwhile, Barrasso led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992 and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023.
Angelo Esposito (20th overall 2007)
Angelo Esposito was Pittsburgh’s top pick at the 2007 Draft. Despite being a Memorial Cup champion and a top player in the CHL, he never skated a game in the NHL.
At the 2008 trade deadline, the Penguins traded Esposito to the Atlanta Thrashers along with Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.
Joseph Morrow (23rd overall 2011)
The Penguins drafted Joseph Morrow 23rd overall in the 2011 Draft. After a season in the AHL, they traded him to the Dallas Stars in 2013 in a package for Brendan Morrow. Pittsburgh also acquired a third-round pick in the exchange, which they would use to draft Jake Guentzel.
Eventually, Joseph debuted with the Boston Bruins in 2014-15 and played 162 games with Winnipeg and Montreal. After leaving North America in 2020, he toured Europe and plays in the EIHL with the Manchester Storm.
Kasperi Kapanen (22nd overall 2014)
Pittsburgh selected Kasperi Kapanen in the first round of the 2014 draft (22nd overall). Within a year of his draft, the team traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a megadeal that brought Phil Kessel to the Steel City.
Kessel won two Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017, while Kapanen eventually joined the Penguins in a 2020 trade that included Evan Rodrigues’ departure to Toronto.
Thus far, Kapanen is the only player on this list to have been drafted by Pittsburgh, traded before his debut, and returned to skate in black and gold.
Brayden Yager (14th overall 2023)
Yager was the Penguins’ top pick in the 2023 Draft and has spent the past four seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL, scoring a career-high 95 points last season.
In August 2024, Pittsburgh acquired McGroarty, who was Winnipeg’s top pick (14th overall) in 2022. He’s been scoring at the University of Michigan and was a Hobey Baker Award nominee in 2023-24 with 52 points in 36 games.
Neither player involved in this trade has yet to make their NH debut, but experts believe McGroarty is ahead of Yager in achieving that.
Related: 5 Things to Know About Penguins Prospect Rutger McGroarty
Related: BREAKING: Penguins acquire top prospect Rutger McGroarty from Jets
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