Kyle Dubas didn't go into the first round of the NHL Draft today fully expecting to use picks No. 11 and 12 that they had at the start of the evening.

He wanted to move the Penguins up.

He didn't divulge which teams he spoke with in the top 10, or what asking prices were, but he acknowledged they put their "best foot forward," and that several teams seemed "open to it." But once those teams were on the clock, they backed off. None of the teams in the top 10 would part with their picks.

"None of that came to fruition," Dubas said from the team's temporary Downtown draft headquarters. "So that's sometimes just the way it goes. And oftentimes you look back and are thankful that you held."

The Penguins are thinking that this may just be one of those times. 

Had they successfully traded up into the top-10, Dubas explained, it would have meant coming out of Day 1 with only one prospect -- meaning, both picks No. 11 and 12 would have been on the move. 

Instead, the Penguins are coming away from the first round with three prospects.

The Penguins were first on the clock at No. 11, and they used the pick on the small-but-skilled Ben Kindel, a forward who plays both center and wing for the WHL's Calgary Hitmen, and is someone the scouts "keyed in on" from the beginning of the year.

But when the Penguins were on the clock for the next pick, they made a trade, sending No. 12 to the Flyers in exchange for picks No. 22 and 31 later in the evening.

When the Penguins were back up at No. 22, they opted for Bill Zonnon, a well-rounded hard-working, playmaking center from the QMJHL's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

The Penguins didn't wait for No. 31. Two picks later, when the Kings were on the clock at No. 24, the Penguins sent picks No. 31 and 59 -- the latter being the second-rounder acquired in the Anthony Beauvillier trade -- in order to move back up to No. 24. With that pick, the Penguins took big, 6-foot-5 and 203-pound center Will Horcoff, a University of Michigan product who is skilled at the net-front, physical and uses his long reach to defend well. 

Three first-round picks. Three forwards, all who primarily play center.

The Penguins definitely could have stood to bolster their center prospect depth here. But that wasn't the intention. It's just the way things played out.

"We didn't come in thinking that we were going to come out with three forwards," Dubas explained. "We felt by moving out of the 12th pick, it would give us a chance to potentially add two more high-end players that we had rated high on our list."

As the day went on and the Penguins had those two later first-round picks, they realized that they weren't particularly high on anyone who would likely be in the No. 59 range tomorrow. So they used their second pick on Zonnon, then used that No. 59 to move up a little higher in the first round.

The Penguins went heavy on defense in last year's draft, with Harrison Brunicke, Chase Pietila, Joona Vaisanen and Finn Harding. Pietila and Harding will be turning pro next season, Brunicke isn't far off from pushing for NHL time, and defenseman Emil Pieniniemi from the class before will be turning pro, too. And so the Penguins felt comfortable with the fact that forwards were what was atop their draft board each time they were on the clock. The fact that all three forwards have different skillsets is a bonus, too.

"For us to come out of the first round with the three players that we did, I think all very different player types, we're extremely excited and look forward to tomorrow," Dubas said.

The Penguins are scheduled to make eight more picks in rounds two through seven on Saturday -- three in the third round, one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one in the each of the sixth and seventh rounds.

To come away from this draft with 11 new prospects would be a lot for one class. That's a lot for the development staff and scouts to watch over the course of the year, in addition to what they already have. But Dubas made clear on Saturday that he's willing to use all of those picks. If that means they have too many prospects? Well, then he has the clearance from ownership to build out the staff even more to effectively develop them.

"The ownership group was very clear that they were going to invest," Dubas said. "The areas we really needed to invest in were player development and research and development, and they've backed up everything they told me two years ago in coming in here that they would invest. So those departments have continued to grow. If we feel that we get to a point where the players aren't getting enough from our player development department, we will address that and continue to add quality people to it."

Getting younger and developing those players is the priority at this stage. That's clear. And the Penguins were able to take three steps forward toward that goal in a big way.