NHL Entry Draft need-to-knows

The 2012 NHL Entry Draft takes place on Friday and Saturday this weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. The first round commences at 4:00 p.m. PST on Friday and will be broadcast in the United States on the NBC Sports Network, while rounds two through seven are on Saturday starting 7:00 a.m. on the NHL Network.Here are a few things to know
The Sharks have the 17th overall pick in the first round, and 55th overall pick in the second round. Should they use them both, it will be the first time since 2007 they have drafted two players in the top two rounds. That year, the Sharks drafted Logan Couture (ninth overall) and Nick Petrecki (28th overall), both in the first round.The Sharks have never drafted in the 17th position, and should they keep the pick, it will be the highest theyve drafted since they chose Couture in 2007.San Jose has a total of six picks, including one choice in the fifth round, one in the sixth and two in the seventh. It currently has no third or fourth round choice.Current Sharks drafted by the club (who finished the season on the active roster) include Tommy Wingels (2008, 6th round); Jason Demers (2008, 7th round); Couture, Justin Braun (2007, 7th round); Marc-Edouard Vlasic (2005, 2nd round); Thomas Greiss (2004, 3rd round); Torrey Mitchell (2004; 4th round); Joe Pavelski (2003, 7th round); Ryane Clowe (2001, 6th round); Douglas Murray (1999, 8th round); and Patrick Marleau (1997, 1st round). Brad Stuart was drafted third overall by the Sharks in 1998.Nashville picks 37th overall in the second round. The pick originally belonged to Minnesota, was sent to San Jose as part of the Brent Burns trade last summer, and then flipped to Tampa Bay in return for Dominic Moore. The Predators acquired the pick as part of the trade for goalie Anders Lindback earlier this month.The draft returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1997, when Joe (Boston) and Marleau were the top two picks, respectively.Thornton is the lone player from the 1997 draft to accumulate more than 1,000 career points (1,078), and his 754 assists also ranks first. Marleau leads in games played (1,117).The Sharks other first round pick in 1997 in Pittsburgh was Scott Hannan (23rd overall).Nine players from the 2011 draft played in the NHL this past season, including Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Round 1, Pick 1); Gabriel Landeskog (Round 1, Pick 2); Adam Larsson (Round 1, Pick 4); Sean Couturier (Round 1, Pick 8); and Andrew Shaw (Round 5, Pick 139).The Consol Energy Center opened on August 2, 2010, with the first game on Oct. 7 vs. Philadelphia.The Sharks have played just one game at Consol Energy Center, the new home of the Penguins. They won 3-2 on Feb. 23, 2011, led by two goals from Marleau. They did not visit Pittsburgh this past season.The statue of Mario Lemieux outside of the Consol Energy Center took 15 months
to design and construct, and was transported across the country from California to Pittsburgh on a flat bed truck over six days.Three teams have a pair of first round picks: Washington, Buffalo and Tampa Bay. Washingtons 11 picks total is a league-high.