At the first full day of the Penguins' rookie and prospects conditioning camp yesterday, some players were learning names and finding their way around the Mellon Arena and Southpointe facilities.

Then there were the club's six 2007 draft picks.

In the fluky world of NHL talent evaluation, a lot of teams' draft classes suffer from attrition in the first few years after they are selected, but the Penguins' group from 2007 not only is fairly intact but also seems to include several viable prospects.

"I was thinking about that the other day, that we had such a good draft year and a lot of guys got signed," said winger Casey Pierro-Zabotel, who was taken in the third round in 2007 and is coming off a monster season in juniors with 115 points for Vancouver of the Western Hockey League.

Missing from the original group of eight draftees that year are forward Angelo Esposito, a first-rounder who was shipped to Atlanta in the blockbuster Marian Hossa trade in February 2008, and Jake Muzzin, a fifth-round pick who was not signed.

The other six are signed to NHL entry-level contracts and are participating in the camp this week. In addition to Pierro-Zabotel, they are forwards Keven Veilleux (second round), Luca Caputi (fourth round) and Dustin Jeffrey (sixth round) and defensemen Robert Bortuzzo (third round) and Alex Grant (fourth round).

Jeffrey and Caputi stand out because they made their NHL debuts last season, Jeffrey getting a goal and two assists in 14 games with the Penguins and Caputi getting a goal in five games. Those two also seem the most likely to earn a spot with the team out of training camp, especially with Max Talbot out until November or December after shoulder surgery.

"There is an opportunity there with Max being out for a little bit," said Jeffrey, who was part of the Penguins' reserve squad during much of their playoff run to the Stanley Cup in the spring.

The other four remaining from the class of 2007 are hoping to graduate from junior hockey and have a productive first season as pros.

"I'm looking forward to making that next leap to the AHL or even the NHL," said Bortuzzo, a 6-foot-4 right-handed shooter who had a goal and 16 assists in 23 games for Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League but likes another statistic -- one that shows that 17 players who got into at least one game with the Penguins last season spent at least some time in their career with the club's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton American Hockey League team.

"They've done a good job with developing their prospects," Bortuzzo said. "They've had this camp three years in a row, which we've all [from the 2007 draft] attended. The proof is in the pudding: A lot of guys are getting their shot in the NHL."

The Penguins built their championship squad heavily through the drafts of this decade. They took defenseman Brooks Orpik in 2000, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003, center Evgeni Malkin, defenseman Alex Goligoski and winger Tyler Kennedy in 2004, center Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang in 2005 and center Jordan Staal in 2006.

"It's a pretty good draft in '07. It's good competition. I like competition," said Veilleux, a hulking 6-5 center who had 15 goals, 48 points in 29 games for Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season.

The 2007 draft came at the end of general manager Ray Shero's first full season. While there don't appear to be stars in the group in the mold of Crosby, Malkin, Staal or Fleury, it seems highly plausible that each of the six still in the organization will get a shot at the NHL.

"I think it's testimony to the way they do things here -- the scouting staff and from a hockey development standpoint," Caputi said.

Caputi and Jeffrey were teammates in junior hockey at Mississauga of the OHL, but all six Penguins prospects from the 2007 draft have become familiar with one another.

"You kind of have a bond with the guys and check on them throughout the year to see how they're doing," Pierro-Zabotel said.

They won't have to look as far this season. Many will share the same bench.

"We're all going to end up playing together in Wilkes-Barre, or even here, so it's about forming a bond with them so that when we do play together it's an easier transition," Caputi said.

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NOTE -- The NHL moved a Penguins-Carolina game at RBC Center from Oct. 15 to Oct. 14 to avoid a conflict with the North Carolina State Fair. The move also shortens a Penguins four-game road trip by a day.