Penguins Draft Five Players on Day Two of the 2020 NHL Draft
Pittsburgh made multiple trades on the day to acquire two additional draft picks:
The Penguins selected goaltender Joel Blomqvist with the 52nd overall selection (2nd round), their first pick of this year's draft. He was the No. 3 ranked European goaltender by NHL Central Scouting. Blomqvist, 18, is in his second season with Karpat of Finland's top professional league, Liiga. He has played in Karpat's first two games this season, going 2-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. The Uusikaarlepyy, Finland native is currently teammates with former Penguin Jussi Jokinen.
In 2019-20, the 6-foot-2, 183-pound Blomqvist won Junior SM-Liiga's Best Goalie Award and was named to the First All-Star Team after leading all goaltenders with a .931 save percentage in 34 games. The season prior he helped his team to a Junior SM-Liiga championship by posting a 1.33 goals-against average and .947 save percentage in three postseason games.
In Round 3, the Penguins selected goaltender Calle Clang from Kristianstads IK of HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden's second-highest professional league, with the 77th-overall selection. Clang, 18, was the No. 4 ranked European goaltender by NHL Central Scouting. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound Clang spent the majority of the 2019-20 season with Rogle BK J20, a developmental team for the SHL's Rogle BK, appearing in 34 games and posting a 2.64 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. The native of Olofstrom, Sweden also won a gold medal with Team Sweden at the 2019 World Junior Championship.
With the 108th selection (4th round), the Penguins drafted forward Lukas Svejkovsky out of Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League. In 2019-20, the 18-year old split his second junior season between Medicine Hat and Vancouver of the WHL, recording 38 points (18G-20A) in 52 games. In 119 career WHL games, the 5-foot-10, 165-pound forward has tallied 27 goals, 37 assists and 64 points. The Point Roberts, Washington native's father is Jaroslav Svejkovsky, a four-year NHL veteran with the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Penguins used the 149th overall selection on forward Raivis Ansons. The Riga, Latvia native plays alongside Penguins' 2019 third-round pick Nathan Legare on the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In his first junior season in 2019-20, the 6-foot-1, 191-pound Ansons recorded 13 goals, 22 assists and 35 points in 60 games. The 18-year old represented his home country of Latvia at the 2019 World Junior Championship where he led his team with two points (1G-1A) in five games.
The Penguins used their final selection of the draft, the 170th-overall pick in the sixth round, on forward Chase Yoder of the U.S. National Team Development Program. Yoder, 18, spent the 2019-20 season with the USNTDP's Under-18 Team, recording 20 points (10G-10A) in 47 games. A native of Fairview, Texas, Yoder appeared in five games at the 2019 Under-17 World Championship, picking up an assist. The 5-foot-10, 176-pound forward has committed to play collegiate hockey at Providence College in 2020-21.
