And With Their First Round Pick In The 2010 NHL Entry Draft, The Penguins Select ....

With things quiet on the free agent and trade front for the Pittsburgh Penguins overnight (but more on this below), focus moves squarely to tonight's first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles.

Pens' GM Ray Shero and Head Scouting Director Jay Heinbuck have traditionally looked at taking the best player available in the first round, partly because that's their shared philosophy and partly because, in picking so low in the draft -- as the Penguins have in recent seasons -- the ability to hand pick a sure-fire player at any particular position of need diminishes greatly.

After its regular season finish this last season, Pittsburgh will actually pick a bit higher than it has in recent seasons -- 20th overall -- and, in what is regarded as a fairly deep draft, should have an opportunity to get a player with a good chance of making an impact for the team in years to come.

Despite employing the 'best player available' philosophy, look for Shero and Heinbuck to resolve all doubts or ties in favor of going for a forward this evening. The Penguins have strong organizational depth on defense, with prospects Simon Despres, Robert Bortozzo, Brian Strait and Carl Sneep showing that not only are they likely to be NHL'ers at some point, they are likely to be meaningful contributors.

Couple that with the team's lack of good prospects up front -- particularly after dealing LW Luca Caputi to the Toronto Maple Leafs to acquire RW Alexei Ponikarovsky at the trade deadline -- and it's not hard to think the Pens won't look to bloster the flanks if they can.

With that in mind, here are some of the guys that the Penguins should be looking at -- and who may be available -- when their pick comes around:

1) RW Austin Watson -- Watson is a rangy 6' 3" RW from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He can score and skates well. He finished with 20 goals and 54 points in 52 games played this past season. Because he's a winger who can do it all, he may not be around when Pittsburgh steps up to the podium.

2) W Emerson Etem -- The Penguins are said to be pretty high on Etem, and why not? He skates like the wind and has a great shot. He finished with 37 goals and 65 points in 72 games for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Ontario Hockey League -- a team with a history of producing good NHL players. If the California native is around when the Penguins pick, I'd be shocked if he was any longer.

3) D Jarred Tinordi -- Son of former NHL defenseman Mark Tinordi, it's hard to miss the young bloodlines here. Jarred is a 6' 6" beast of a specimen who's probably the toughest, most physical player in the draft. He captained the USA under-18 squad and will go to Notre Dame this fall. While the Penguins don't need another defenseman, Tinordi has so much to offer that it would be hard to pass him up if he's around and they don't like the forwards then on the board.

4) W Stanislav Gailev -- Some would say Gailev might be a bit of a reach for Pittsburgh at 20th overall, but Gailev is certainly no stranger to the Penguins, since he plays for a St. John Sea Dogs club in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that currently hosts two other up-and comers in the organization, last year's #1 pick, defenseman Simon Despres, and 4th round selection Nicholas Petersen. Gailev is 6' 2", posted 15 goals and 45 assists for 60 points in 67 games last season, his first in the "Q", and has an attractive offensive repitroire. He may be the Russian player in the draft who has the least amount of question marks surrounding him.

Draft pick speculation aside, there may be just as much to watch on the trade front tonight as anything else. I certainly wouldn't rule out Shero making a move, and while I can't say my sources are reporting a whole lot that's new today, I can say that there now may be a surprise entry on the Penguins' trade radar.

While I think Shero's focus continues to be on Sergei Gonchar and a meeting scheduled today with Gonchar's agent, J.P. Barry, I think there's a chance that Pittsburgh has not just considered the potential for Gonchar's departure, but has already taken active steps to consider or lay the groundwork for a potential replacement in the form of Toronto Maple Leafs' offensive defenseman Tomas Kaberle.

Kaberle has been rumored to be on the move for about 18 months now, but I feel confident that Leafs' GM Brian Burke will actually (and finally) pull the trigger on Kaberle either at the draft or prior to free agency next week. Kaberle has had a no trade clause with various 'exception windows' during that time, and one of those starts today at 7 PM. Meanwhile, Burke was quoted yesterday as saying he had a number of firm offers for Kaberle on the table and that, while they weren't quite worth accepting, it seemed that they were approaching that level.

Now, I don't have any official confirmation that the Penguins are one of the teams who have made an offer, but Burke is frequently a willing trading partner, and one who consummated a deal with Shero just a few months ago, as I mentioned earlier.

Kaberle commands about a 4.5 million dollar cap hit, which -- coincidentally or not -- seems to be right about the level of compensation the Penguins are hoping to get Gonchar to take. Kaberle isn't quite as accomplished as Gonchar, but he's a pretty consistent 45-55 point per year offensive blueliner whose skills would fit in well with the Penguins' fleet forward group. He's not a stalwart in his own end by any means, but let's be honest --- that's not why you bring in a guy like Kaberle.

Again, time will tell whether there are any legs to this notion, but if it happened, I wouldn't be shocked. We'll see.

I also will be watching to see if the Penguins look to move up into the second round of the draft (where they currently do not have a selection), which is something I've heard they're looking at.

If there are any updates to post later today, they'll be here. Otherwise, it's on for tonight.

More soon.