With their second-round draft choice on Saturday, the Penguins selected Markus Ruck, the twin brother of their first-round choice, Liam Ruck. With their remaining choices and after a couple of trades, the Pens chose two defensemen, a forward, and a goaltender.
Liam and Markus Ruck are 18 years old and played junior hockey together last season for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, with Markus leading the league in scoring with 108 points (14 goals and 87 assists). Liam was second in the league with 104 points (45 goals and 59 assists). Penguins vice president of player personnel Wes Clark said the team’s drafting of the twins was “very strategic,” adding that “both of them have elite offensive instincts” for this draft class.
The Rucks plan to play for Medicine Hat again this season before playing college hockey, continuing their development as they aim to join the Penguins’ organization.
In the third round, the Penguins bolstered the blue line, drafting defenseman Tomas Galvas from Czechia. He’s an offensive defenseman who had eight goals and sixteen assists last season in 32 games with his Czech league team, Bílí Tygři Liberec. He is signed for two more seasons with that team.
With a second pick in the third round, the Penguins chose forward Pierce Mbuyi, an Ontario native who played last season for Owen Sound in the Ontario Hockey League, scoring 32 goals with 43 assists. He’ll play again in the OHL this coming season, then join the Penn State program to play college hockey.
The Penguins’ fourth round choice was defenseman Parker Von Richter, who played last season for Barrie and Brampton, also in the OHL. They traded their sixth round choice and a fourth round pick next season to the Bruins in order to move into the fourth round and get Von Richter
The Pens traded a 2028 fifth round choice to Nashville to take goaltender Matvei Nikonovich with their final selection. He’s a native of Belarus who played the Russian version of junior hockey last season. With Ladya Togliatti last season, he was 20-14-4 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.
All of the draft choices are invited to this week’s Penguins’ prospect development camp in Cranberry. It gets underway on Monday.
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