Pittsburgh Penguins: 5 Biggest Needs for the Penguins in the 2011 NHL Draft

Tonight in Minnesota, many young men will begin their careers as players in the National Hockey League. Boyhood dreams will be achieved. Missions will be accomplished. And a few of those players will be members of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins will be drafting based on their needs. Despite having one of the most talented teams in the league and being a major contender to win the Stanley Cup, the Pens still need to draft well in order to have solid depth for the future. 

Here are the five biggest needs for the Penguins in the draft this year.  

Wingers! Wingers! Wingers!

This has been well documented. The never-ending search for a perfect winger for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin continues. 

There are, however, some good options for the Penguins late in the first round. Alex Khokhlachev and Brandon Saad are two wingers that will be able to help the Penguins in the near future.

The Penguins shouldn't stop there, though. In later rounds, they should continue to draft wingers. The more, the better. Having too many wingers will not hurt the Penguins. They are very deep down the middle and getting solid wingers will help them build from within and have homegrown players rather than overpay for a free agent to play with Crosby and Malkin.

Center Depth

The Penguins are already pretty deep at center, but we saw what happened last year when the injury bug hit Pittsburgh. The Penguins should draft a center, particularly one that is good at faceoffs, in later rounds so that the depth at the position continues to be strong. 

It'll be hard to keep guys like Mark Letestu forever. They're going to want to make their money eventually and they'll go off to different teams. That's why it's important to draft the next Mark Letestu today so that he'll provide depth in the future.

Grinders

The Penguins are set with scoring forwards. They have Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, and they will probably re-sign James Neal after this season. 

Grinders, however, are always a necessity. The Penguins need to draft forwards who will be willing to stick their nose in the dirt and fight. The Matt Cookes and Mike Rupps of the world have very quick turnover compared to a scoring forward.

Because of this, it's very vital for the Penguins to make sure they have a stockpile of grinders who will be willing to go up against the best forwards in the league. 

Puck Possession Players

This is an absolute must.

The Penguins' brand of hockey, which Dan Bylsma calls "getting to the game", requires a lot of puck control and puck possession. The Penguins like having the puck 70 percent of the time during a game, and because of this, they teach this brand of hockey to their minor league prospects from the beginning.

By drafting guys who have good stick handling abilities and play the puck possession game well, the Penguins will be a step ahead in the teaching process. 

Future Draft Picks

Why not?

The Penguins are in a great position. They're one of the best teams in the league going into next season. Their main concerns going into the draft are pretty much depth issues. 

So the Penguins should trade a minor leaguer or two for a draft pick in the future. They might need it more than today. Perhaps they can even trade a draft pick this year for a draft pick next year. The future is unforeseeable and it's very important the Penguins are ready for anything. Trading for a future draft pick ensures this.