A day after returning from the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago, Penguins director of player development Mark Recchi was in a meeting at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Monday when his phone rang.

It was Lanny McDonald, chairman of the board of the Hockey Hall of Fame - calling to let Recchi know that the wait was over. Recchi had finally been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Pittsburgh Penguins director of player development Mark Recchi, whose 22-year NHL career included a Stanley Cup championship as a player with Pittsburgh in 1991, was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame today.

The NHL's 12th all-time leading scorer with 1,533 points in 1,652 games, Recchi is the seventh player from the Penguins' 1991 championship team to make it into the Hall of Fame, joining Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy and Bryan Trottier. Jaromir Jagr will increase that number to eight once he retires.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that they have invited 40 players to their annual prospect development camp. Camp will run from Wednesday, June 28 until Saturday, July 1 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa. 

This year's roster (click here to see full roster) will include all six players selected in Saturday's NHL Draft in Chicago, led by defenseman Zachary Lauzon, Pittsburgh's top choice (2nd round; 51st overall). The Pens' development camp roster has 24 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goaltenders.

Ryan Reaves knows his reputation around the National Hockey League.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder is a bruising power forward that thrives at inflicting punishment on his opposition. 

The Penguins traded their first-round pick (31^st overall) and forward Oskar Sundqvist to St. Louis on Day 1 of the 2017 NHL Draft on Friday at United Center in exchange for forward Ryan Reaves and the Blues' second-round pick (51^st overall).

That gave Pittsburgh six total selections on Day 2, and for the second straight year, they chose four defensemen. Over the past two drafts, eight of the 12 players selected by Pittsburgh have been blueliners.

General manager Jim Rutherford's scouting staff added six players to the organization's prospect pool on Saturday, beginning with defenseman Zachary Lauzon.

While Clayton Phillips was born and raised in Minnesota, he's always been a Penguins fan.

"I just love the way they play," Phillips said. "They're always one of the best teams, if not the best, so it's easy to cheer for them."

Needless to say, Phillips was ecstatic to be selected by the Pens in the third round (93^rd overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft on Saturday at United Center.

When he was a little kid growing up in Val D'Or, Quebec, Zachary Lauzon would go and watch the local junior team that featured a couple of future NHLers - one of them being Kris Letang.

Now, years later, Lauzon is in the same NHL organization as Letang. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins made defenseman Zachary Lauzon from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League their top pick in the 2017 NHL Draft Draft. Lauzon was selected with the 51st overall selection in the second round.

The Pens' star players took a lot of abuse during the past two seasons, especially during their back-to-back Stanley Cup championship runs in 2016 and '17.

On occasion, that abuse crossed the line beyond just the normal physical play one expects during a game.