Jun 27, 2009 3:22 pm US/Eastern
Pens Draft Former Defenseman's Son In 2nd Round
MONTREAL (KDKA) ―
The 2009 NHL Draft continued today in Montreal and the Penguins made several more selections in addition to their first round choice on Friday evening.
The Pens couldn't have produced more interesting subplots to their draft this weekend if the PR staff was making the picks in Montreal.
Twenty-five years after Mario Lemieux was drafted in the same city, their first round pick was defenseman Simon Despres.
The 17-year-old just happened to grow up in Laval, which is the same town where Lemieux put together possibly the greatest career in the history of Major Junior Hockey.
Meanwhile, on the second day of the draft, the staff of Pens general manager Ray Shero was busy again.
In the second round, with the 61st pick the Pens selected 6'3" tall, 198 pound defenseman Philip Samuelsson. He is the son of former Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, who won Stanley Cup championships with the team during the 1991 and 1992 seasons.
The younger Samuelsson claims he's not as physical as his father, but says he plays the same shutdown style and eats minutes on the blue line.
He played on USA Hockey's gold medal team at this year's World Under-18 Championships. He will start his college career this year at Boston College.
The Pens went further into their historic vault for their 5th round pick.
Andy Bathgate is a center from the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario League. He was slowed this past season by shoulder surgery. But Bathgate was a teammate of Eric Tangradi, who the Pens acquired earlier this year in the Ryan Whitney trade.
The name is very familiar as well because Bathgate is the grandson of Hall of Famer, Andy Bathgate Sr., who played two seasons with the Pens including the franchise's first year in the NHL.
The Pens made four other picks today at the draft including winger Ben Hanowski, who scored 405 career points in high school, which is the most in Minnesota high school history.
He will play next year at St. Cloud State
Nicholas Petersen is a 6'3" tall forward from Shawinigan of the Quebec League. He scored 37 goals and 90 points in 68 games to become the Pens fourth round pick.
Before taking Bathgate in the fifth, the Pens took defenseman Alex Velischek in the same round. He's a two-time state champion in New Jersey and is headed to college at Providence.
And Viktor Ekbom was the Penguins final selection in the sixth round. The 20-year-old defenseman played last year in the Swedish Elite League.
The Pens traded their seventh round pick to the Montréal Canadiens for a sixth-rounder next year.
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