2017–18 Pittsburgh Penguins season season. Notes: Notes Below are the Pittsburgh Penguins' selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago. Draft notes: 2017–18 Pittsburgh Penguins season The 2017–18 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the 51st season for the National Hockey League ice hockey team that was established on June 5, 1967. They entered the season as two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. It was the first season since the 2002–03 season in which the team played without goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was drafted to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft.
Pittsburgh Penguins Penguins lost out on the first overall pick for the 2004 NHL Entry Draft which went to the Washington Capitals. As expected, the Capitals made Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin, the top pick. However, Ovechkin's countryman, center Evgeni Malkin, was similarly highly regarded, and Pittsburgh took him with the second overall pick. By this point, the Penguins had collapsed financially since the Stanley Cup-winning years of the early 1990s. Their home venue, the Civic Arena had become the oldest and was widely regarded as the worst NHL arena in the league, and Lemieux had tried unsuccessfully to cut a deal with