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Thursday, 27 October 2011 16:24

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

The world's worst-kept secret was finally let out of the bag today when the NHL officially announced it would hold the 2012 draft in Pittsburgh at Consol Energy Center.

The draft was last held in Pittsburgh at the Civic Arena in 1997. The Bruins drafted Joe Thornton with the No. 1 overall selection.

The promotional video released by the league:

EN Says: This is obviously great news for the city, the hockey community in the region and the team. A draft itself it is fairly boring. It's just a bunch of teenage names being red off by old men in suits.

But it's a showcase for Pittsburgh, hockey in the region and the franchise. It's another international event being staged in our city. And it provides an economic boost the area.

Consol Energy Center wasn't just built for the sake of finding a place for the Penguins' to play hockey. It was also built for reasons such as this.

There's a reason hockey-mad cities like Detroit and Edmonton don't host events like this. They have outdated buildings. Consol Energy Center provides opportunities such as this.

One of those events/opportunities is the all-star game. Team president David Morehouse joked about lobbying NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about bringing one to Pittsburgh. When asked about Pittsburgh chances of getting one, Bettman said Pittsburgh is a candiate to host one, but would not commit to naming a specific year one would be held here.

On a minor note, we really dig the logo for the draft. It's not some generic stock logo where the only thing that gets updated is the date. It's says "Pittsburgh" by incorporating something you find plenty of in city, a bridge. The logo for last season's Winter Classic did the same thing:

For comparison's sake, here's what the logo for the 1997 draft looked like:

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