Two More Penguins Draft Picks Expected to Make World Juniors
To add to Brayden Yager, the Pittsburgh Penguins could see two more of their prospects at the World Junior Championship.
For the first time in a long time, the Pittsburgh Penguins will likely see multiple top tier prospects of theirs participating in the World Junior Championship.
It was announced earlier that Brayden Yager will join Team Canada, but the Penguins have two more recent draft picks that will likely represent their native country.
Third round pick Emil Pieniniemi and seventh round pick Kalle Kangas are both defensemen listed on Team Finland’s preliminary roster.
This roster, however, likely won’t see many more cuts, giving Pieniniemi and Kangas great chances at being the second and third Penguins prospects at the tournament.
Both left-shot defensemen carry a fair amount of size and aren’t overly gifted offensively, but are stout shutdown blue liners.
Pieniniemi was taken 91st overall by the Penguins and has been given a good push up the rankings as one of the top prospects in the system.
Of the players taken at the 2023 Draft by the Penguins, Pieniniemi is the only one to have already signed an entry level contract.
In 23 games with Karpat of the Finish Liiga, Pieniniemi has recorded four assists.
Kangas was taken 223rd overall, just one shy of the last pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Through most of the 2023-24 season, Kangas has been with Jokerit of the Finish Mestis league and has recoded three goals and three assists in 22 games.
The 2024 World Junior Championship Tournament is set to kick off on December 26 and take place in Sweden.
The Penguins haven’t had many prospects play in this tournament over the years, but this time around seems to be different and a positive sign towards the growth of the organization’s pipeline.
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