After grabbing Dutch forward Daniel Sprong in the second round, the Pittsburgh Penguins wrapped up the 2015 NHL draft on Saturday afternoon with three more selections in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.
It’s a draft class with a lot of similarities. For the first time in team history, they selected all Europeans. All four draft players hail from different European countries, and they are all forwards.
In the fifth round, the Penguins selected 20-year old Czech center Dominik Simon. Simon comes with three years of professional experience, having played with Sparta Praha and Plzen in the Czech Extraleague. In 2014-15, he scored 18 goals and 12 assists for 30 points with Plzen, which was tied for third on the team.
In addition to his club career, Simon has represented the Czech Republic internationally multiple times, including the 2015 World Championships, where he had a goal and five assists in 10 games, and the 2014 World Junior Championships, where he had three goals and two assists in nine games.
The 5-foot-10, 176-pound forward is a left-handed shot and would be eligible to play in the AHL or NHL this season, but he still has two seasons remaining on his Czech contract. He was also selected by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the first round of the 2015 KHL draft, so there is a chance he may decide to play in Russia.
He was chosen by the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL in the 2013 CHL Import Draft, but chose not to come to North America at that time.
In the sixth round, the Penguins went with another European and another overage player, taking 20-year old Western Michigan sophomore left-winger Frederik Tiffels.
Tiffels, who checks in at 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds, had 11 goals and 10 assists in 32 games in his Freshman year at Western Michigan, where he was coached by former Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues head coach Andy Murray.
Tiffels, a native 0f Cologne, Germany, played two seasons in the USHL before starting his collegiate career, so he may be a candidate to leave school early.
He has also represented his country internationally, playing for Germany in three straight World Junior tournaments. He had two goals and two assists in six games in 2014.
In the seventh round, it was yet another European forward, as the Penguins selected 6-foot-7 Russian center Nikita Pavlychev. Pavlychev, 18, is commited to Penn State University in the fall. He spent 2014-15 with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL, scoring six goals and tallying 10 assists in 42 games.
He also is an alumnus of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights program. Pavlychev is the first in-state collegiate player to be drafted by the Penguins.
MORE LOCAL JUNIORS SELECTED: After three regional junior hockey players were selected in the first round on Friday, four more were taken in the later rounds.
Erie Otters defenseman Travis Dermott was taken in the second round by the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving the Otters three selections in the first two rounds. Forward Chase Pearson was the second Youngstown Phantoms player chosen when he went to the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round.
Phantoms alum and Providence College defenseman Steven Ruggiero went to the Anaheim Ducks in the sixth round.
Goaltender Ryan Bernard became the first player in Johnstown Tomahawks history taken in the NHL Draft when the Florida Panthers secured his rights in the seventh round.
Photo credit: ČTK/Pavel Němeček (main), USCHO (inset 1), USHL (inset 2)
