NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins had a No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft was 1984. They choose Mario Lemieux, who became a franchise center that led them to two Stanley Cups.

On Saturday at Gaylord Entertainment Center, the Florida Panthers flipped their No. 1 overall pick to Pittsburgh, who had the third pick, so that the Penguins could take coveted goalie Marc-Andre Fleury of Cape Breton.

The 18-year-old could be another franchise player like Lemieux.

“I think it’s great to be the second (No. 1 pick) for them,” Fleury said. “I know he’s a great hockey player and guy and I really look forward to meeting him. My goal is to stay in the NHL. That’s always been my dream.”

Florida got Penguins prospect Mikael Samuelsson in return for the exchange of picks, plus Pittsburgh’s second-round pick (55th overall).

“You’re never sure of anything when you are drafting 18-year-olds,” Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said. “But I think the guys that are in the top of this draft are pretty predictable. We’re in a real rebuilding mode in Pittsburgh. We’ve made that pretty clear. We decided the best place to start building is in goal.”

The Flyers had been in the mix for the Panthers’ top pick all week but couldn’t pull off a deal.

“We didn’t come close,” Flyers GM Bob Clarke said. “For us, it was too expensive and they didn’t want to drop back that far, anyway.”

Obviously, the Flyers could have offered more in players but Panthers general manager Rick Dudley said he wanted to stay within the top four picks of the draft. That eliminated the Flyers since their highest pick was at No. 11.

Florida used the flip-pick to take 6-2, 201-pound center Nate Horton from Oshawa.

“We had offers but we didn’t want to lose Horton,” Dudley said. “We felt Carolina would take (Eric) Staal. … I think Clarke felt that the asking price to drop to 11th was a little high.”

The price was both Flyers’ picks in the first round, plus Justin Williams and Jeff Woywitka.

Carolina, choosing second, took Staal, the 6-3, 182-pound center from Peterborough. Rated the top forward in the draft, he scored 39 goals last season in juniors. Columbus, picking fourth, chose Russia’s Nikolai Zherdev, a 6-0, 176-pound right wing who was ranked as the top European skater.

Buffalo took 6-2, 208-pound left wing Thomas Vanek from Minnesota, a player the Flyers had their eyes on. San Jose, picking sixth, chose 6-2, 205-pound Czech right winger Milan Michalek, the second-ranked European skater.

Wisconsin’s Ryan Suter, playing for the U.S. National Team this past year, was the first American prospect and defenseman taken in the draft. Nashville selected the 6-1, 183-pound nephew of former NHLer Gary Suter with its seventh pick.

Atlanta selected massive 6-5, 205-pound defenseman Braydon Coburn from Portland with the eighth pick. Dion Phaneuf, the 6-2, 205-pound defensive partner with the Flyers Jeff Woywitka at Red Deer, was taken by Calgary with the ninth pick.

Montreal, picking 10th, took 6-0, 186-pound Russian right wing Andrei Kostitsyn.

The last time a goalie was taken with the first pick came three years ago when the Islanders selected Rick DiPietro from Boston University.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A small group of fans chanted “We want Jagr! We want Jagr!” at the NHL Draft, but that was the only time the name of the Washington Capitals’ star was mentioned Saturday.

Teams looking to slash payroll heading into the final year of the league’s current labor contract were expected to start trading away some players this weekend at the two-day draft.

Jaromir Jagr, due $11 million next season, has been mentioned as the top trade bait. He has been notably linked to rumors involving the New York Rangers, but he stayed put – at least for now.

Instead, the biggest deal of the day involved picks and a player, and it kicked off the draft.