The Pittsburgh Penguins now have a big decision to make for the upcoming draft

While still trying to determine exactly what went wrong in their play-in series against the Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a big decision to make as it pertains to the upcoming NHL entry draft. The Penguins traded away their first-round pick to the Minnesota Wild at February's trade deadline, along with Alex Galchenyuk and Calen Addison, in exchange for Jason Zucker. That pick was conditional, hence the decision that needs to be made. 

Pittsburgh landed the 15th overall pick in tonight's entry draft. It's not the Lafreniere sweepstakes, but in a draft predicted to be as deep by analysts as this one, it's still a great selection. Because Pittsburgh lost in the qualifying round and technically didn't make the playoffs, the team can choose to either give its 15th overall selection to Minnesota, or wait until next season. However, if the team decides to wait until 2021, the pick is unprotected, meaning even if they happened to land the first overall selection somehow, it would belong to the Minnesota Wild. Not an easy decision by any means.

According to Sportsnet's draft rankings, the 15th overall pick is projected to beDylan Halloway, a centre with Wisconsin of the NCAA. He described as a power forward with elite skating ability. TSN's Bob McKenzie chose Hendrix Lapierre, a centre with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL. He was slated to go higher in the draft at the beginning of the 2019-20 NHL season, but missed much of this year with an injury and slipped down the rankings. Still, it seems either would be a great addition to the team. 

As per the Pittsburgh team itself, "The Penguins have seven days following the draft lottery to determine if they want to keep the pick (15th overall). If the Penguins decide to keep the pick, their first-round pick in 2021 (unprotected) would then be transferred to Minnesota." Decisions, decisions. 

In case you missed Phase 2 of the draft lottery today, you can find the full results here.