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Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images

An honorable mention list that’s worth the mention

Most years, we haven’t had to put in the effort for an honorable mention article prior to the Top 25 countdown of young players in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ organization. A lot of the time the bottom-half of the list has been longshots at best, let alone those who didn’t make the cut in the first place.

After making 13 draft picks this year and acquiring some others via trade, that’s changing now. In the past, the stance was to defer to the hope of newly drafted players, out of necessity since the Pens had little else in their system. We don’t have to do that any longer either — young players who have a lot of development or some proving things to go can now be left off the list to see how they fare over time.

So in many cases the list below isn’t an indictment on the outlook of the player’s future, it’s just too early in their journeys to accurately give them a spot just quite yet. In hockey, patience with development is key — the draft pick of today could require three or four years before truly getting a sense of where they might end up.

There will be some 2025 draftees making the list of the top players in the organization at this snapshot in time, but it can be the ones with projectable skills and/or carrying organizational value as high picks. It’s just no longer a necessity to be automatically included any longer, which is a pretty positive development for the health of the list and prospect pool alike.

Indeed, for once, there is some honor in being mentioned in this prospect pool that the Pens have been building. Some young players won’t be this year at all. Our “best of the rest” for this year, in no specific order

Daniel Laatsch — Unlike many on this list, Laatsch (23) is not young. He’s untested just the same, having finished up a four-year career at the University of Wisconsin and going through a hip surgery. “Love the size, love the kid,” Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said on July 3rd in the midst of development camp. “He’s ready to dive in and work, his reach and his stick detail is something special. His willingness to kill penalties, block shots, defend in the corners [it’s] something that we really like.”

Laatsch is finally turning pro and it’s a huge season for him to show how he handles the AHL speed and competition. He’s got a big hill to climb to defend his way into rising up the ranks, having almost no offensive skills or ability at all. That’s a long-shot but there’s something about his 6’5” frame and having a really good stick that gives him a glimmer of a chance. He also looked good skating with his pivots and turns at development camp for a big guy. Laatsch will be basic and limited with the puck, but he’ll be trying to “Rob Scuderi it” up the ranks as a reliable, sound, defender. 2025-26 is a huge season for him that will tell us a lot about any potential to do just that.

Ryan Miller — A fifth round pick in 2025 (130th overall), Miller was another player that showed Kostopolous what he wanted to see at this month’s development camp. “He made an impact out there almost every shift he was on the ice,” Kostopoulos said. “He was involved and on the puck. You see when players keep getting the puck, you can tell they’re into the game, and he was all over it. It was nice to see his compete level, I think there’s a lot to work with. I think there’s intelligence and puck skills, and he’s not scared to get to the inside of the ice”.

Miller was ranked as high as 66th by Dobber Prospects ahead of the draft, Luke Sweeney wrote of him: “an industrious forward who skates and handles the puck very well, Miller’s shift-to-shift consistency demonstrated that he can be a dependable playoff performer.”

The Portland Winterhawks pointed out Miller was the first 17-year old alternate captain for the team in 20 years, and he played in all situations (PK, ES, PP) and will have a huge role next year as he looks to build on his success. Miller isn’t the most eye-catching prospect right now that pops off the page with raw skill or offensive ability, but as a hard-worker and well-rounded player that’s always involved in the action he is one to keep an eye on as time goes on. If all goes right, he’s the type of lower-line player that makes the right plays and has the versatility to help teams win games.

Gabriel D’Aigle — There’s raw material to work with, and then there’s a young goalie who got shelled with by far the most shots in his league last year, that just happens to be a wide open, goal-hungry league in the best of times. The stats aren’t pretty, but the Penguins didn’t seem to mind by taking the once heralded goalie prospect 84th overall in the 2025 draft.

“With Gabe, what I’d say he got thrust into a situation where he played a ton, played it basically every night on a bad team, and got faced with a lot of shots,” Penguins assistant GM Jason Spezza said during development camp. “I think now that we have him in the roost, we’re going to try to really help him with his technical game. The athleticism and size is there, and now it’s just kind of building his game up with some structure. I think the team will probably take a step next year, which will help him, and we’ll just keep chipping away.”

There’s a lot to work on, but there’s seemingly a lot of natural talent and athleticism as a base to build upon. You never really know with goalies, and Pittsburgh has all the time in the world to let D’Aigle develop and see how advanced he can end up in a couple of years. This one is a big question mark for now, D’Aigle has some things going for him, but it’s going to take a lot of work and a good shake developmentally for him to make the strides needed to get on the NHL radar one day.

Kalle Kangas — Kangas, 20, a seventh round pick in 2023 has popped up just enough to intrigue. He performed pretty well the last two years for Finland at the U-20 World Junior Championships. In 2024-25 Kangas stepped up to the top league in Finland, skating 41 games for HPK. He’s unsigned to the NHL (rights lasting with Pittsburgh until June 2027, per Puck Pedia) and his future is probably a little up in the air since the Pens have a metric TON of defensive prospects moving up to the pro ranks in the coming years. Not sure where this leaves Kangas, but he showed at prospect camp to have the size and growing experience to be in the picture. His skating is somewhat lurch like, when it comes to turns or pivots he’s slow like the good ol’ USS Hal Gill.

Charlie Trethewey — It’ll be a great story if a product of the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program and kid with Western PA roots can make it to the NHL. Trethewey, who still doesn’t turn 18 until next month was the 73rd overall pick in 2025 will be looking to finish it, but has a long time to do so.

“We liked the upside as a two-way guy,” said Wes Clark, the Penguins’ vice president of player personnel following the draft. “He makes a really good first pass. Strong defensively. Intelligent. Competitive.

Trethewey will be off to Boston University next season. He has the look of a player who probably is going to need three years of college and turn pro in 2028, if he were to stay all four then it would take until 2029 before moving onto the next step. That’s a lot of time to learn and grow, and at this point there’s nothing wrong with the slow pace for proper time of such a young player to gain experience, strength and size as he puts it all together.

The Pens can afford to wait, and thanks to a stocked up pipeline, a legitimately promising prospect like Trethewey or the others on this list don’t have to be subjected to even the dull lights of being considered a “top” prospect at this point in time. It can only be a positive for the youngster and certainly the organization itself that it is becoming deep enough to afford plenty of time for the names above to do their thing on their own terms and time, mostly outside of the organization this fall (and for some a few more hockey seasons after that).

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/25...-charlie-trethewey-daniel-laatsch-ryan-miller

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: No. 25 - Quinn Beauchesne

Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images

The countdown begins with an intriguing defenseman

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list begins with a newly drafted defender with a lot of tools and upside.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:
Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest

#25: Quinn Beauchense, RHD
2024 Ranking: unranked
Age: 18 (Mar. 1, 2007)
Acquired Via: 2025 NHL Draft (Round 5 - No. 148 overall)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 185 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:

Quinn Beauchesne was ranked 83rd on a compilation of 20 different public scouting rankings heading into the 2025 NHL entry draft, per Sound of Hockey. In a climate where many NHL teams leaned to size in a major way with early picks, Beauchesne endured something of a fall in the draft to where the Penguins happily scooped him up at 148th overall. Here was the team’s instant reaction via Vice President of Player Personnel Wes Clark:

“National team kid outside of Guelph, right-shot D, two-way guy, makes a really strong pass, defends well, intelligent. We’ll see where that one goes, but Brandon Defazio and Chris Roque, our guys in Ontario, were really passionate about him at that spot.”

Other than size preferences or macro-level issues, there was other factors in Beauchesne’s draft day fall related to him specifically. Beauchesne missed time with an injury last season, playing in only 49 OHL games. He also played for Guelph - a terrible of a team they were (last place in OHL West, 301 goals allowed were worst as well) which doesn’t serve as the best situation for a talented young player to have to fight through in an uphill battle to stand out in a good light individually.

Mixing all that together, it becomes less of a surprise that Beauchesne’s stock wasn’t high in the draft. It wouldn’t be the first time that the collective NHL let a good player slide a little by placing short-term importance on a big picture type of career-wide path.

From Jesse Marshall:

NEW: Quinn Beauchesne prospect profile. Lots of words and 13 minutes worth of video on a defenseman that I think is one of the biggest steals of this year's draft and some unreal work by Dubas & Clarke. Subscribe and enjoy! More to come. https://t.co/9Aup8IGjPH pic.twitter.com/TFg540dQdS

— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) July 7, 2025​

The first thing that stood out to me about Beauchesne, and I think this is reflected in the video I posted below, is that he’s a highly aggressive defenseman. Not in a primarily physical sense, although you’ll see that element in his tape; I’m speaking more about his use of his stick. Beauchesne has one of the most aggressive and technical sticks among anyone in this draft class, no hyperbole. Beauchesne is violently aggressive in his gap control, making streaking runs downhill at players with his base wide and his stick out, robbing forwards of time and space and dispossessing them with a variety of stick-sweeps and poke checks. He doesn’t wait for forwards to approach him to close his gap; he has a seek-and-destroy mentality when it comes to protecting his blue line. Because he angles himself at these attacks perfectly, forwards have to beat his active stick, as well as his skates. He jams up a lot of plays by getting both skates angled in front of a forward so their pass or dangle goes right into his blades.

Jesse also created this YouTube of Beauchesne’s season:

From NeutralZone.com:

Why He Should Be an NHL Draft Pick:

High-End Skating Foundation

Beauchesne’s feet are elite for his age. His edgework, lateral agility, and ability to activate quickly into offensive or defensive transitions give him NHL-caliber potential. He walks the blue line fluidly, closes space defensively, and recovers when beat due to his stride efficiency. His retrieval-to-breakout transitions are a real strength.

Puck Moving Intelligence and Creativity

He completes 87% of his passes, including 0.74 per game that directly create Grade “A” scoring opportunities—a top-end mark for OHL defensemen in this year’s draft class. He shows vision through layers, can bait forecheckers with shoulder fakes or edge work, and passes crisply with touch or pace depending on the situation. His decisions with the puck in the offensive zone show maturity and intent.

Competitiveness and Grit Under Pressure

Despite not being overly physical, Beauchesne draws 0.46 penalties per game—a very strong number that reflects his willingness to play through contact and hold pucks under pressure. His 2.1 loose puck recoveries after shots and 7 takeaways per game back up that his anticipation, stick positioning, and compete level are major assets. He wins 54% of his 50/50 puck battles.

Strong International Showing at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup

Beauchesne was trusted in a top-four role with penalty killing responsibilities for Team Canada. He flashed mobility, intelligence, and adaptability against high-end international competition. He made multiple standout plays in transition, puck movement under pressure, and defensive reads from the weak side. While he struggled at times with positioning and risk-reward decisions, he bounced back strongly and proved he can handle pace.

Why He Might Not Be an NHL Draft Pick:

Turnover Rate and Puck Management Under Pressure

Beauchesne averages 5.3 giveaways per game, a concerning number—especially when he’s not always clearing the zone under pressure. He sometimes holds the puck too long or tries to make plays through traffic instead of executing the simple, high-percentage outlet. In multiple viewings, this risk has led to extended defensive zone time or odd-man rushes the other way.

Needs to Win More Physical Battles Consistently

At 6’0”, 185 lbs, Beauchesne is not undersized—but his 1.05 hits received per game is high for a player with his feet. Against heavier or more physically mature forecheckers, he can be outmuscled on retrievals. The issue isn’t compete level—it’s owning his ice and physical strength.

Shot Selection and Offensive Refinement

While Beauchesne attempts 3.5 shots per game, only 1.79 hit the net, and 0.81 are blocked—a high rate that must come down. His shot selection from the point needs tightening, and he should be more deceptive at the line to create shooting lanes rather than forcing pucks into shin pads. His 12% scoring rate on Grade “A” chances is good for a defenseman but reinforces his need to get pucks on net more frequently.

Projection:

Beauchesne projects as a middle-pairing puck-moving defenseman with second-unit power play potential and the skating ability to play in a pace-driven NHL system. His NHL floor will depend on how much he simplifies his game under pressure, builds strength, and tightens his decision-making. The tools are there for a transition-focused defenseman who plays a meaningful role every night if developed properly.

Overall, Beauchesne is an 18-year old defenseman. His decision making isn’t always right, he can suffer from trying to do too much or attacking the game a little too hard. A lot of those are seemingly fixes that could come with more experience and can be coachable areas of improvement. With hockey player development, there’s never a guarantee that fixable problems can actually be fixed, but it’s seemingly better than the alternative for matters that can’t be addressed (i.e. better problems to have than the 6’6” guy with irredeemably heavy feet and skating issues or the 5’7” player who doesn’t have the oomph to compete at professional levels).

Beauchesne makes the Top 25, even when some players in his draft class selected higher than him didn’t, due to a projectable ceiling. That comes from a great skillset: Beauchesne can really scoot around the ice. He has good hands and can control the puck or pass it effectively. He’s engaged and though not big or a banger, he will compete and doesn’t look afraid of going for pucks. Being an always coveted right shot defender doesn’t hurt either to add to his value profile.

Beauchesne is a long, long way from a finished product - he only has 82 career OHL games under his belt that could be almost doubled in 2025-26. Beauchesne has a later birthday, he’ll be 18-years old for much of next season (until March 1). He’s got a long runway of development still to go in the OHL in the next couple of years and should be able to push his way into a part of the future in the Pens’ organization one day down the line.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/26/24474352/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-25-quinn-beauchesne

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

On this date in Penguins history: Crosby, Lemieux christen new arena ice in 2010

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The “new” arena is already 15 years old

Happy unofficial birthday to the home of the Penguins, the venue now known as the PPG Paints Arena! It’s tough to believe that it is now 15 years old, for on this date back in 2010 the ice got broken in for the first time by Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux doing the honors to make sure they touched the surface at the same time on this steamy summer day a few months before the regular season began.

Before we get to that report, a trio Sunday trivia questions to stretch the mind and memory — which players scored the first preseason goal and goal in the arena altogether? Which Penguin scored the first regular season goal? And finally, that spring who was the first player to score a playoff goal in the barn? (Answers at the bottom)

From the Penguins about the historic July 27 skate:

Crosby and Lemieux became the first people to skate at CONSOL Energy Center when they each hit the ice together shortly after 2 p.m. The pair emerged from the Penguins locker room in their warmup gear, walked to separate doors on the Penguins bench and skated onto the ice in unison as Penguins’ employees and construction workers looked on.

For Lemieux, it was the culmination of all the years of hard work he and his ownership group devoted to make the CONSOL Energy Center a reality for the city of Pittsburgh, while Crosby was appreciative to have the chance to be one of the first people skate on the CONSOL ice.

“It felt great to be able to skate for the first time with Sid,” Lemieux said. “I think it was pretty special for all of us. It was a long time coming. We worked hard to get this accomplished. I’m glad we were able to do this today.”

“That was pretty special,” Crosby said. “There are going to be a ton of things that will happen here, so to go out there and be the first ones on the ice, that was pretty special. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to skate with Mario.”

After Crosby and Lemieux spent their first couple minutes skating and stretching by themselves, with much of that time spent taking in the new scenery, the pair came together to skate a few more laps as they discussed what they liked about the new building.

“I was just asking him questions because this was the first time I was in the building and I wanted to know what certain areas were,” Crosby said. “He was kind of explaining everything to me. I was looking for the banners and all that stuff. I found out where they were. Other than that I was just trying to get a feel for the building since I hadn’t seen anything until today. It’s a beautiful place and it’s our new home.”

“We felt that the seats were pretty close to the ice and that should be great for the atmosphere of the building,” Lemieux said. “We thought that it was going to be great for the fans being so close to the ice. And we also talked about how beautiful the building looked.”

Besides how beautiful the arena looked from ice level, and much like Lemieux, Crosby was also blown away by how close the fans are going to be to the action.

“On the ice I just liked looking around at the building,” Crosby said. “It is first class all the way. When you are out there the stands and the suites seem like they are really close to the ice. That intimacy is something that we had at the Mellon, and I think we brought it here.”

Once Crosby and Lemieux were done taking everything in, a couple pucks were tossed onto the ice for them to pass around and shoot into the empty nets.

About five minutes after Crosby and Lemieux hit the ice they were joined by several children who were divided into two colors – black and gold – with either ‘Crosby 87’ or ‘Lemieux 66’ on the back. The children skated with Crosby and Lemieux for the next 45 minutes, passing pucks and trying to beat them one-on-one. A couple lucky kids even had the chance to take a few shots at Lemieux, who playfully stood in the crease putting on his best Marc-Andre Fleury impersonation.

Crosby said sharing such a special moment with the children who have helped make the Penguins such a popular brand and the construction workers who helped make the CONOSL Energy Center a first-class facility added to the day’s event.

“Those kids are going to have a really special memory for the rest of their lives,” Crosby said. “All of us – myself, Mario and all of the kids – are lucky to have had the chance to skate on the first ice here. A lot of people have worked really hard to make this arena and this building possible. We are pretty lucky that we were able to go on the ice first and enjoy it.”

Following the skate Crosby and Lemieux embarked on a tour of CONSOL Energy Center, and just like they did when they were skating earlier, they came away impressed with what the building has to offer.

“I think it is a totally different building (than Mellon Arena),” Lemieux said. “I think that the sight lines are incredible for fans. There is not a bad seat in the house. It is a little bit brighter here. It’s just an incredible building.

“I think the fans are going to love all of the amenities and the technology we will use. The sight lines and the restaurants are going to be great. We think that all of that along with the suites is going to make this one of the best buildings in the league.”

And thanks to Crosby and Lemieux, Tuesday’s first skate at CONSOL Energy Center was certainly the first of what figures to be many – in the words of the great Badger Bob Johnson – great days for hockey.

Trivia answers:

Mike Comrie scored the first preseason goal in the building, on September 22nd, 2010. Fast forward a few weeks and it was Tyler Kennedy who netted the first Penguin regular season goal in the building on October 7, 2010 (records of the first overall goal for the building have unfortunately been lost to the annals of time on account of it being scored by a Flyer). And it was none other than Alex Kovalev who tallied the very first playoff goal in the new barn on April 13, 2011. (Sadly, that marker would also end up standing as Kovalev’s final goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin, and his final NHL playoff goal).

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/27...crosby-lemieux-christen-new-arena-ice-in-2010

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Alex Ovechkin names two Penguins as part of best fighters he’s seen on the ice

Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images

No, one wasn’t Mario..

From the files of ‘this is supposed to be fun’, Alex Ovechkin cited a couple of Penguins when asked in a Russian interview about the best fighters he’s played with or against.

From rmnb.com:

Gadzhiev then asked Ovechkin to name who he believes are the best fighters he has shared the ice with during his career.

“Donald Brashear, [Georges] Laraque,” Ovechkin quickly replied.

...

When pressed for a third choice by Gadzhiev, Ovechkin jokingly agreed to include Penguins legend and close friend Evgeni Malkin.

Saving the best of the little ditty at the end for the end, it’s hard to argue Ovechkin instantly thinking about Laraque and Brashear as the two big dogs from his era. Seemingly any and every Pittsburgh/Washington game during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 season when Laraque played for the Pens, you could write it in ink that at some point he would drop the gloves with his fellow heavyweight in Brashear. It was as sure as the opening faceoff or the Zamboni coming out after the horn sounded for the first intermission.

The bout in October 2007 might have been their magnum opus. Laraque hammers Brashear with the left for 80% of the fight, but Brashear is down but not out. He comes back to knock Laraque over with a flurry of lefts of his own.

It was a different time when almost every team had a big tough guy in the lineup primarily there to fight against the other team’s big tough guy, but what a time it was. Certainly didn’t get any better than Brashear and Laraque.

Big Georges noted and thanked Ovechkin for the compliment.

Thanks @ovi8 https://t.co/FeiVlsjwRD

— Georges Laraque (@GeorgesLaraque) July 23, 2025​

As far as the latter goes, it’s nice that Ovechkin can joke about that with Malkin. The irony is Ovechkin as a fighter ended up breaking the jaw of Malkin’s agent way back in 2007, leading to a very public period of intense feuding between the two star players on the ice that ignited an extremely personal rivalry. That seems like water that’s well under the bridge by this point after the two have put their differences behind one another and reconciled. In the future, maybe Ovi could go with Alex Semin if he wanted a light-hearted way to deflect?

There’s no official word on either but many believe that 2025-26 could be the final NHL season for both Malkin and Ovechkin. Geno turns 39 next week, Ovechkin celebrates his 40th birthday this September. It’s been a long and tremendous run for the both of them through all the twists and turns they’ve seen in long careers.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/25...-fighters-evgeni-malkin-georges-laraque-fight

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: No. 24 - Cruz Lucius

Easily the leader for best name among the Penguins prospects, Lucius has a lot to prove this season at Arizona State.

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list kicks off your Monday morning with a piece of the Jake Guentzel trade coming off a tough college season.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense

#24: Cruz Lucius, RW
2024 Ranking: No. 14
Age: 21 (April 5, 2004)
Acquired Via: Trade (w/ Carolina Hurricanes for Jake Guentzel)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 179 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:

After two productive seasons at Wisconsin, prospect Cruz Lucius transferred to Arizona State for his junior season where his development hit a bump in the road following an injury that limited him to only 19 games last season for the Sun Devils. In those 19 games, Lucius only posted two goals and 10 points, a significant step back from where he was with the Badgers and it cost him 10 spots in our rankings compared to where he debuted last year.

It was a shoulder injury that cost Lucius a large chunk of his first season at Arizona State, where he will return this coming season for his senior year of college hockey. Now the pressure is on his back to bounce back and prove to the Penguins he can still be the prospect they were hoping for back when he was acquired for Jake Guentzel from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Earlier this month, Lucius participated in the Penguins annual development camp and turned some heads with his performance. When asked about his performance at camp and the team’s expectations for Lucius, Pittsburgh Penguins Head of Player Development Tom Kostopoulos praised what he saw on the ice and was blunt in his assessment as to what this season meant for the prospect.

From the Penguins:

His skillset is really, he’s got a high end skillset. I think his shot, his puck skills are elite. I thought the one play that I was most impressed with in the games is on Horcoff’s goal, he set it up by tracking back and forcing the turnover and then he scored the nice goal after that. So it was good to see him get rewarded offensively.

I think he knows this is a huge year for him. He has to prove what kind of player he can become and he’s been working hard throughout the summer and I know he is going to push himself, so this would be a big season for him. I know his coach is expecting a lot from him at a ASU, so it’d be a good season for him.

Safe to say the Penguins have high expectations for Lucius, but the onus is now on him to go out and show what he’s capable of doing on the ice. Losing a chunk of last season recovering from a shoulder injury certainly set back his development in a significant way, and being robbed of an offseason while transferring to a new school was always going to be a difficult obstacle to overcome. Those roadblocks are not in place this season and the expectation from the Penguins organization is for Lucius to go out and show what he can do and get that development back on track.

Interestingly enough, Lucius joined the Penguins organization at a time they were restructuring and putting a greater emphasis on development as they prepare to build for the next generation. This is something that has stuck out to Lucius since coming over from Carolina, and he discussed that during development camp.

From The Hockey News:

One of the sentiments that has been echoed by many in the organization throughout the summer is that there is a major focus on development. General manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has said it. Assistant general manager Jason Spezza has talked about it. So, too, has new head coach Dan Muse.

Director of player development Tom Kostopoulos discussed the growth of the Penguins’ development team since Dubas took the reigns in the summer of 2023.

“I think that ownership and management has built out a ton of resources available to players that can only help them,” Kostopoulos said. “And, if the players are willing to use that to help them develop, that’s where we’re seeing growth in some of the players. It’s been a lot of fun to watch the growth in the staff, then resulting in helping the players develop.”

Lucius has also noticed the breadth of the Penguins’ developmental staff. And he loves how individualized the approach from the organization is when it comes to each player, which is something that isn’t necessarily common across NHL organizations.

“The development piece of it is, from what it seems like, next to none,” Lucius said. “The amount of people that put their energy - and really, a lot of their energy - into each individual player, it’s really, really cool to see. And I think that’s something with my injury, seeing how great everyone was and how much help the organization was for even just some little things, too - before surgery, and after, and during.

“It’s just really, really good, and they just want you to get better every single day.”

Whether or not Lucius can get his development back on track remains to be seen and it’s clear the Penguins will be keeping a close eye on his progress at Arizona State this winter. There may be some added pressure placed upon him from being a piece in the Jake Guentzel trade, but the Penguins development team was quite clear that they have the bar set high for Lucius this season.

How Lucius responds to the challenge set before him will go a long way in determining what his NHL future looks like in the Penguins organization. The next good look at where he stands will be in September at the Prospects Challenge the team will participate in and then potentially a small stint in training camp if he earns an invite.

After that, he will be an intriguing prospect to keep an eye on his college hockey season which kicks off for Lucius and the Sun Devils in October against Gavin McKenna and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/28...no-24-cruz-lucius-penguins-nhl-ncaa-prospects

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

On this date in Penguins history: Sidney Crosby picked 1st overall in 2005 NHL Draft

Photo by Andre Ringuette/Getty Images

The Penguins made one of their biggest draft picks in the history of the franchise on this date 20 years ago.

Twenty years ago today, the Penguins made one of their biggest draft picks in franchise history when Sidney Crosby was selected first overall in the 2005 NHL Draft.

The Penguins’ fate was changed forever when they won the draft lottery eight days earlier, ensuring that they’d be picking Crosby first overall in what was dubbed the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes.

When the day came, the Penguins drafted Crosby with the first pick at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images for NHL

It’s safe to say Crosby lived up to the hype, scoring 102 points in his rookie campaign, leading the Penguins back to the playoffs in his second season and back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances in his third and fourth seasons.

Throughout his immaculate career, Crosby has amassed 1,062 points, thee Stanley Cup titles, two NHL scoring titles, two playoff MVP awards, two MVP awards, and was named to the All-Star game eight times.

Crosby has also won gold medals while representing Team Canada in the Olympics, in the World Cup of Hockey, and in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Crosby currently sits 9th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list and has averaged a point-per-game or higher during all 20 of his NHL seasons.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/30...y-crosby-picked-1st-overall-in-2005-nhl-draft

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Celebrating Evgeni Malkin’s 39th birthday

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

One of the best to ever do it

Evgeni Malkin has managed to somehow be in the shadows of the two best forwards of the salary cap era at the same time. There’s the team aspect with Sidney Crosby and the country/draft year area with Evgeni Malkin.

But Malkin remains one of the best to ever do it. Only Crosby and Malkin have scored more points since 2005-06.

Malkin and Crosby are also the only two players in the last 20 years to score at least 500 goals and tally 800 assists, though Patrick Kane could join that club soon.

(Speaking of which, there was a minor stir created on social media earlier this month questioning who was better between Malkin and Joe Pavelski. With all due respect to Pavelski, who was a wonderful player, that is ridiculous and highlights Malkin’s general status not being where it truly belongs).

Through his brilliant play, it’s a wonder Malkin could be considered in any shadows, but such has been the fate of one of the more unassuming stars in league history.

Top 10 Evgeni Malkin Edits of All Time pic.twitter.com/oZDlBEqEqD

— jo (@genosbest) July 23, 2025​

This summer, of course, marks a special moment of reflection on this day, Malkin’s 39th birthday. It is Geno’s last season under contract with the Penguins. There have been disputed reports that this will be the final year Malkin plays in Pittsburgh. It doesn’t look like he’s going to have a formal, official retirement tour that lasts a full season, which is fitting - but realistically it looks like this could be the end of the road.

Malkin and Ovechkin were the only two players from the 2004 draft class to play in the NHL in 2024-25. Now that Marc-Andre Fleury is retired, Malkin is the fifth oldest active NHL player behind Ovechkin, Brent Burns, Corey Perry and Ryan Suter. The end is much closer than the beginning, no matter when it may arrive.

But what a journey it’s been. Malkin, Crosby and Kris Letang are all primed to come back for their record-setting 20th season together as teammates, long surpassing Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter’s previous record of 18. It’ll be a long time, if ever, before anyone ever sees two of the very, very best players of their era together for 20 straight years the way that Crosby and Malkin have torn up the NHL together.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/31...ns-record-sidney-crosby-kris-letang-teammates

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Predicting the Penguins lineup in 2027

Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

What will the Pens look like in two years?

It’s fun but ultimately impossible summer task to look at future NHL lineups. This exercise could (and will) be dashed with a single phone call to make a big trade within the next 24 months, but what the heck - you’re here, we’re here, let’s take a stab at what the Penguins could look like two years from now.

A lot will be different by then, and the only thing known for sure is that the future will be unknowable. There are only five players under contract for 2027-28, with ironically a couple of them the team will probably move soon (Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell) and others that they would love to move if possible (Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry) in addition to the omnipresent Kris Letang.

Conspicuous open space LW - Sidney Crosby - Rutger McGroarty

It seems kismet that the Penguins will add their next franchise piece 21 years after Sidney Crosby in the way they got Crosby 21 years after drafting Mario Lemieux. Maybe that works, maybe it requires signing a free agent, but we’ll leave a wink and nod to let you figure out who it is. Oh, and we’re also assuming that the 40-year old Crosby signs on to play for the Pens again.

Ville Koivunen - Free agent/trade center - Ben Kindel

It would be a big leap to pencil Kindel into a top-six role in what will be his draft+3 season, but let’s hope for a developmental win and quick turn here. Kindel’s played center and wing, it should be easier as a rookie to stick as a winger and then perhaps grow into a center down the line. Pittsburgh will need to externally add some talent down the middle, since they don’t have much coming from the center spot.

Free agent - Free agent - Avery Hayes

It would be nice to see Mikhail Ilyin or Melvin Fernstrom here, but even two years from now they will still be on the younger side. Something about Hayes says he’s going to make it as a small bottom-six winger with a bit of scoring touch. Will Horcoff and Bill Zonnon could also be knocking on the door to eventually figure into this area during the season, but we’ll stash them hypothetically in WBS to start the year.

Tanner Howe - An old player no one likes - Another replacement level Dubas pet project

Howe will have put his ACL surgery well in the past by now and should be getting towards NHL usefulness. As usual, it won’t be an exciting fourth line with some random veterans acquired in the future filling the gaps.

Owen Pickering / Harrison Brunicke

Let’s hope Pickering takes a big leap and is able to slot in here. Brunicke’s ascent might not reach the levels of dominant first pair player, but the sky looks like the limit for him as a quality player.

Random defender / veteran player

The Pens need to add a lot of blueliners in the near future. Someone is coming, who is it? To be determined.

Daniel Laatsch / Kris Letang

This might be the surprise pair of the future that probably has a 1% chance of really coming to fruition. Laatsch is like a strange fusion of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, he’s all defense but has the size, positional awareness and reach to go a little further than might be realized. It’s no sure thing he makes it to the NHL or stays there a long time but this is my vision. Speaking of lasting a long time, Letang could very well be involuntarily retired by a medical team by this point, but what’s the fun in that? He still has a contract and I assume no team will want to trade for an ancient, somewhat expensive player so here he stays.

Goalies: A veteran and Sergei Murashov

By 2027-28, the Pens will know what they have in Murashov. Goalies can be unpredictable but his athleticism is worth banking on.

—

Overall for the Pens, two years from now they should be a mostly new team from what is on hand even today. There’s a chance players like Koivunen, McGroarty and Brunicke should be staples but at this time last year that would have been Brayden Yager in the picture and he was removed before he even started his pro career. A lot can change and in a hurry.

One thing about the timeframe is that two years isn’t much time. In some ways it’ll be more interesting to see where the team is five years from now when even Crosby and Letang will certainly be gone and much of the 2025 draft class will be established (..or not) to see what that next wave of bodies looks like. The Pens remain in a period of transition and it will take a long time until the prospects they are building up will make their way to NHL impacts.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/31/24476596/predicting-the-penguins-in-2027-nhl-future-lineups

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Sidney Crosby is on the verge of breaking the big Penguin franchise record

Pens captain closing in on record previously thought as unbreakable

It’s early August, which means there’s not much going on in the hockey world AND it’s a great time to reflect upon Sidney Crosby’s status and place in history. Any time of year is a good time for that, but doubly so as his famous August 7th birthday again draws near.

This past season in 2024-25, Crosby accomplished something that probably 25-35 years ago that no one thought they would live to see: someone break one of Mario Lemieux’s major career statistical marks with the Penguins. Crosby accomplished that by recording his 1,034th career assist- going by Lemieux (albeit, with the disclaimer of playing 400+ more games).

Still, a record is a record and Sid took one from Mario. With the knowledge that so many like to speak in hushed tones and pre-superstitious ignorance of impending milestones when it comes to Crosby, it’s worth mentioning the biggest team record is within striking distance.

Crosby is just 36 points away from tying Lemieux’s franchise points record of 1,723. It’s a wonderful accomplishment and testament to the consistent greatness Crosby has shown over the last 20 years.

We’ve been talking about this for over a decade, when Crosby was almost 1,000 points behind Lemieux in early 2014. The prediction back then didn’t come true, but it wasn’t looking very promising back then that Crosby would be expected to have the success he’s had in the last 11 years:

Realistically, given how player point production drops in the latter years, combined with Crosby’s injury history, the betting odds say that Mario is safe as the Penguins #1 scorer of all time*.Crosby lost 113 games (or 160 points at his rate of scoring) due to injuries from 2011-2013 in what should have been the prime of his career, and that probably ended all doubt of whether or not Lemieux would remain number one.

Still, what we’re witnessing with Crosby- who’s 11 points up on everyone in the entire league right now in scoring- is special. Just as Mario Lemieux was special, especially considering how few games he was able to play, and just how well he played despite being in a lot of pain even when he was able to play.

Barring some Jagr-esque commitment to play the game until an extremely late age, it seems unlikely that Crosby will pass Lemieux. But as we’ve seen over the years, I sure wouldn’t bet against greatness.

The comparisons to Jagr are only going to grow for Crosby, who is showing that dogged and undeniable type of work ethic in order to fight off the hands of time for as long as possible.

Jagr, by the way, recorded 67 points in his age-41 season in 2013-14 and then added 66 more two years later at age 43. Crosby would surely chuckle and incredulously say there would be no way he could keep that going for that long, but would anyone else agree if that was how things went if he set his mind towards playing for that long? Almost no one decides to do that, but Crosby has done nothing but impress and exceed expectations since time immemorial, so who is to say?

The only thing certain is Crosby is closing in on team history in that major way of setting the all-time points record. It wasn’t always a foregone conclusion that he would make it, but he’s chugged along just the same with tremendous results. Let’s look at it over the years:

By the time each of Crosby and Lemieux had finished their age-31 seasons, Mario had a commanding 278 point lead on Crosby. It was at this point that Lemieux took a temporary retirement and Crosby kept steadily chipping away.

Another wild fact is that this season Crosby put up 91 points in his age-37 season. Mario Lemieux’s age-37 season? Also exactly 91 points back in 2002-03. The data runs together but at this point the score is Mario 1,692 and Crosby 1,687 based on total points through age-37, the same five-point difference that it was at the end of age-36 (Mario 1,601 - Sid 1,596).

The major differentiator is that Lemieux only scored 31 more career NHL points following his age-37 season. Between his back, hip and eventually a discovered heart issue, Lemieux’s body was completely beaten up and gone through the ringer, unable to continue. That stands in stark contrast to the tremendous condition and shape Crosby is in right now comparatively speaking to where Lemieux found himself. In the end, that will likely be the difference in where they end up for point totals (other than, you know, Lemieux only getting to appear in 915 career games and keeping the door open for Crosby to come close to his totals from the wide open 80s/90s..)

The next big question should already turn to whether or not Crosby and complete the clean sweep and erase Lemieux’s name from the third jewel of the big three (goals-assists-points) and take the goal mark as well.

Here’s the part where we’ll cast doubt on Crosby’s outlook, only to have it revisited to look foolish in the future. Crosby is 65 goals behind Lemieux, and Sid signed onto play two more seasons. Crosby’s goal totals in the last three seasons (33, 42, 33) suggest that this record is at the very least, in play. However, he is now about to turn 38-years old. Can he score (fittingly) the 66 goals in two seasons that would be needed to set the record? Will he sign on for more, especially if the Pens are going through a prolonged period of non-competitiveness? All reasonable questions with unknown conclusions at this point.

Sidney Crosby already has more assists than Lemieux, and he is rapidly approaching taking the biggest franchise record of ‘em all in total points. Whether or not Crosby can get that clean sweep and take the goal total will remain an open-ended question and give another little factor to watch for in the seasons to come.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/1/...-of-breaking-the-big-penguin-franchise-record

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

PensBurgh Top-25 Under 25: No. 19 Joona Vaisanen

Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

National champion steadily progressing up the ranks

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list rolls on with a look at the newest national champion in the Penguins’ organization, defenseman Joona Vaisanen.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding
No. 20: Sam Poulin

#19: Joona Vaisanen, RHD
2024 Ranking: 18th
Age: 21 (July 29, 2004)
Acquired Via: 2024 NHL Draft (Round 6, Pick 175)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 176 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:

Vaisanen is another of the Penguins’ recent overage drafted players who got skipped over once in a draft but are blooming late. Pittsburgh saw enough to invest in Vaisanen after his 2023-24 season in the USHL and have to be thrilled how he followed that up in 2024-25 moving up the ranks to the NCAA and playing a big role while winning the national championship at Western Michigan. In this player profile, Jason Spezza talked about just what the Pens saw in Vaisanen:

For the Pens, it was all about his hockey IQ.

“It’s something that I value and we value as an organization at a very high level,” assistant general manager Jason Spezza said ahead of the Frozen Four. “(With Vaisanen), it was having lots of volume and trusting that over time we’ve watched him enough that we’re confident in our evaluation of him and that we feel he’s going to get better as he continues to climb. And he’s showing that this year just because of the intelligence of his game. He looks to the middle of the ice. He seems to know when to cut his losses and make a safe play and when he has to try to create. I think he had a lot of signal towards him in terms of hockey sense … and that’s why we picked him.”

But there were other, quieter draws too.

Spezza calls him a “sneaky-competitive player.”

“It’s probably not a word you’d use by just watching him but it was one of the big draws to us as a prospect is just how competitive he is, and he pays attention to the details and I think that’s why he has done well in both (Dubuque and Kalamazoo),” Spezza said.

Vaisanen competed his way to a top-pair role playing 20 minutes per game with WMU, and scored a huge OT goal.

As a result of that experience (and at almost 21 during prospect camp having been one of the older players around), Vaisanen was named a team captain of one of the three camp teams.

Pittsburgh’s director of player development Tom Kostopoulos gave some nice praise after Vaisanen came through again with the championship, albeit on a small stage of a summer development camp.

“I think we all know and expected a lot, and he didn’t disappoint. I thought he looked really good out there and captained his team to the win, so it was good.”

Next up for Vaisanen in 2025-26 is another year of college. It will be difficult to top the team success found last year, but Vaisanen should be able individually to keep growing and adding on more experience as he continues his journey in college.

As he told the Trib:

“I’m just trying to get stronger and add some weight,” Vaisanen said. “I think it’s going to be a big part of my game, getting out of those corners and winning more puck battles.”

Vaisanen could use the strength, he’s going to have to be solid defensively to make waves as he continues to climb the ranks. He’s not big or overly physical, he doesn’t have the best hands or puck skills but he’s no slouch in any of those departments either. Just a dependable, all-around solid player that has a knack for being a piece of helping teams get better.

“Every year I feel like I take a step forward,” Vaisanen said. “Right now I’m just trying to take one year at a time and see where that takes me.”

So far that’s been from undrafted at 18 years old, to hearing his name at 19 and becoming a key member of a national champion at 20. The Pens and WMU will be excited to see what comes next at 21 in the upcoming year.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/2/24478141/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-19-joona-vaisanen

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: No. 20 - Sam Poulin

Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

His lowest ranking in what will be his final appearance

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list continues with a fallen first round pick.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding

#20: Sam Poulin, LW
2024 Ranking: 8th
Age: 24 (February 25, 2001)
Acquired Via: 2019 NHL Draft (Round 1, Pick 21)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 213 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:

The good news is Poulin set career highs in goals (19) assists (24) and points (43) last season. The disclaimer is that those statistics are from the American Hockey League. Poulin did record a single-season high seven NHL games last season - six of which came in a chunk from November 13-23. It didn’t really go his way, he only recorded two shots on goal (neither of which hit the back of the net), generated a single assist, played about 10 minutes per night and was back out of the NHL until the final game of the season.

Based on his age, this year will be the final appearance for Poulin in the Pensburgh T25U25, and perhaps that’s a year too late. Poulin cleared waivers in October 2024, and is looking at the very real possibility of ending up on the waiver wire again following this training camp with the Pens signing forwards like Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau while already being overstocked with lower line options like Kevin Hayes, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari, Danton Heinen, Phil Tomasino and Connor Dewar - to name a few. Poulin is a victim to the numbers on the roster, but also a case of stalled development that has ground to a halt over the past several years.

The reasons may be a perfect storm of unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable events that broke against him. There was a global pandemic to zap crucial time in some formative years shortly after his draft. There were injuries and a mental health absence to attend to in recent times.

There were bigger issues in play too - skating and pace were question marks dating back to the pre-draft process, and Poulin never advanced in those areas to NHL caliber which ending up limiting his effectiveness. It wasn’t for a lack of trying or that far — after all, he’s developed enough to become a quality AHL player in the past few seasons. It’s that very fine line between being very, very good and being absolutely elite and at the top of the entire sport that separates those who can make it to the NHL and those that don’t.

It’s been trending that way for Poulin for some time, and now in his final T25U25 profile it’s about time to call the process as over as far as living up to the billing of a first round pick, thus the massive slide down the list in the rankings. Poulin is a player who has organizational value and can be brought up to the NHL for a spell when injuries hit, but he’s unlikely to make much of an impact beyond being a solid AHL player and NHL fill-in.

He’s also looking at becoming a Group-6 unrestricted free agent (barring playing 67 NHL regular season games this season) and could be seeing his time in the Pens’ organization wrapping up sometime with the next 10 months in a variety of ways between waiver claim, trade, or leaving in free agency.

Unfortunately, that can be a common end point for mid/late first round picks. It always starts with some promise but players picked in this area are no guarantee to make significant NHL impacts. There was added importance to Poulin since he was one of the few first round picks that the Pens had kept for themselves in the 2015-23 range. The team badly needed an infusion of young talent and to find a young piece through the 2019 draft, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Though, ironically, a player that Pittsburgh could have drafted when they picked Sam Poulin was Phil Tomasino, a player the Pens picked up for a fourth round pick. In just over half a season Tomasino managed to score almost as many goals for the Pens (11) as Poulin has NHL games played (13), to at least salvage some sort of contribution from the 2019 draft class.

That’s a silver lining in that cloud, but for Poulin’s case he is going to have to have a great training camp to stay relevant for this season in the NHL plans. Between Filip Hallander, Boko Imama and Joona Koppanen there will be a lot of competition for lower line wingers on the fringe of the NHL/AHL divide where Poulin will fit into somewhere. It would be a surprise if Poulin can end up doing more than that and do the unlikely to force himself into a bigger NHL role than expected after all this time.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/1/24476690/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-20-sam-poulin

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Sidney Crosby kicking off long 2025-26 season later this month with Team Canada

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Pens’ captain pulling international duty again ahead of training camp

Sidney Crosby extended his 2024-25 season by playing in the World Championships, and he’s going to be getting a de facto early start on 2025-26 in Calgary at the end of this month.

Crosby was included in the 42 players invited to Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary from August 26-28. That’s no surprise, since Crosby was already named in the first six players to the Canadian national team and is again expected to captain his homeland for the 2026 Olympics in Milan.

Kyle Dubas is also involved with Team Canada, serving as their director of player personnel. There won’t be any other Penguins headed that way.

Of course, when it’s Sidney Crosby the training never ends and one season just blends into the next seamlessly. Crosby was photographed with Nathan MacKinnon at his fellow Nova Scotian Brad Marchand’s Stanley Cup party last week but the two also got their work on the ice in — with young San Jose stars Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini training with the former MVPs.

We’ve got Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith going against Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon in summer training

(h/t @technicallybee) pic.twitter.com/49mC8wtNy4

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 31, 2025​

Celebrini is also going to the Team Canada orientation and drew rave reviews from Crosby and MacKinnon from their time at Worlds together earlier in the spring. Celebrini, the 2024 first overall pick, is already quickly getting to the verge of making the big national teams — depending on how his season begins he might even make it to Italy. No doubt his new off-season training partner in Crosby will be tracking how it goes for the youngster.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/3/...5-26-season-later-this-month-with-team-canada

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

PensBurgh Top-25 Under 25: No. 21 Finn Harding

Photo by Justin Berl/NHLI via Getty Images

The countdown continues with an intriguing defenseman that keeps getting better.

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list kicks off your Monday morning with a piece of the Jake Guentzel trade coming off a tough college season.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025

Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest

No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle

#21: Finn Harding, D​

2024 Ranking: NR​

Age: 20 (March 2, 2005)​

Acquired Via: Seventh-round draft pick (No. 223 overall) in 2024 NHL Draft​

Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 192 pounds​

Pittsburgh Penguins President of Hockey Operations/General Manager Kyle Dubas has spent a significant part of his early tenure trying to build up the team’s prospect depth, especially as it relates to the defense.

The team’s 2024 draft class was defense-heavy with four of the team’s six picks that year playing on the back end. That includes Finn Harding, the team’s seventh-round pick and one of a handful of “overage” players that they took that season.

He played his junior hockey for Mississauga and Brampton, steadily improving his offensive production every season.

Elite Prospects resume:

The improved point production throughout his junior career is encouraging, because at the time of his selection the biggest knocks on him were mostly related to his play and upside with the puck on his stick.

Both Corey Pronman at The Athletic and Dobber Hockey pointed out his potential limitations as a puck-mover as he gets into the higher levels.

From Corey Pronman, at The Athletic.

Harding skates well and makes a lot of stops in the OHL. His puck play is fine in junior, he can make a first pass, but scouts have questions on how he projects with the puck versus men.

From DobberHockey:

Harding is another overage defenseman to add to the prospect pool for the Penguins. Unlike the two previous defenseman talked about earlier Harding is just 19 and one year removed from his traditional draft year. Harding is a defense first defenseman with a powerful stride. With the puck he isn’t particularly flashy but makes solid reliable plays to get the puck on the sticks of his team’s playmakers. He is a player who self admittedly had a bit of a late start on the development curve starting his OHL career a year later than most of his peers.

With this in mind his development track is actually pretty promising. If he is looked at as a late bloomer then his production of 34 points in 68 OHL games becomes a lot more impressive. Either way Harding will need to learn to become more assertive on the ice. Both with and without the puck especially in transition he would wait for the play to come to him instead taking initiative.

To Harding’s credit, he has worked hard to make improvements to all aspects of his game. That improvement was noted by Penguins Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos at this month’s prospect camp.

“Absorbs everything we’ve thrown at him. Throughout his season in Brampton, he was thrown into every different role. He was killing penalties (and) on the power play. There was times during the Christmas stretch where (other players) were at (the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship tournament), and he was playing 30 minutes a night and just eating it up.

“A lot of growth in his game. His skating, it keeps getting better. Speed is always going to be something … that he’s going to have to keep getting better on. But he’s a willing learner. He’s learning how to defend really hard consistently (and) move pucks. Some offensive side to him. Exciting times for him.”

Anytime you are dealing with a seventh-round draft pick you are talking about a player with long odds to make it to the NHL, and even longer adds to become an NHL regular. You have to be insanely lucky to get an All-Star level player. So for as encouraging as Harding’s improvement has been, some reasonable expectations still need to be kept, and his defensive game is going to have to really excel to get him to the NHL given his questions over skating and playmaking.

But the expectations are probably higher today than they were at the time of his selection into the organization.

Right now, that is probably all the Penguins can ask for.

They still have Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson on the right side of their defense at the NHL level for now, but neither figures to be in Pittsburgh a few years down the line. Harrison Brunicke is the team’s best defense prospect, and certainly their best one on the right side, but Harding is making his case to add more depth to that spot in the prospect pool.

At this point he has played just three games in the ECHL, so this season is going to be a big test for him as he steps into pro hockey full time. How he does, and how he improves, will go a long way toward determing whether or not he becomes a legit prospect with an NHL future, or if he is just your typical seventh-round roster filler in the minor leagues.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/31/24478013/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-21-finn-harding

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins’ mid-summer off-season checklist

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Looking at what the Pens have done in recent weeks and what is still to come

A few more weeks have ticked by since our last summer checklist for key decisions the Pittsburgh Penguins have on their docket, so let’s go back and see what has gone on, and what is yet to come as hockey enters what traditionally is its dead period of August.

Step 5: Name assistant coaches

It’ll be interesting to see the first staff that Muse gets together for the upcoming season

It’s an eclectic group that will be coaching the Pens this season. Dan Muse got the chance for seemingly one hire on his own and added Nick Bonino from his past in Nashville and New York as the rare player-to-NHL-coach transition. Bonino’s obvious past with the Pens and the veteran players made that an easy hire, what he lacks in experience should be made up for by having intimate, unique knowledge on how key members of the team (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust if he’s not traded) operate.

From there, the Pens hired Todd Nelson in what looks like a home run assistant coach hire. Nelson has NHL experience and is coming off a lot of success with AHL Hershey. Nelson will work with the forwards and run the power play and should add a ton of value to Muse and Bonino.

Pittsburgh rounded out their bench with veteran assistant Mike Stothers to work with the defensemen and penalty kill. Stothers, 62, has a lot more experience in juniors and the AHL than the NHL but did work most recently in coaching with NHL Anaheim from 2021-23.

The Pens also added Rich Clune, a Toronto connection with Kyle Dubas, to be an assistant who will help the staff but not work on the bench during games.

Step 6: Decisions on internal free agents

This has been ongoing with recent re-signings of Boko Imama and Joona Koppanen in recent days. Pittsburgh still has Matt Nieto, Matt Grzelcyk, Nate Clurman, Marc Johnstone, Jimmy Huntington, Colton Poolman and Mattias Laferriere on their unrestricted list

The Pens, as expected, brought back none of their free agents from unrestricted list above, with a slight procedural technicality that we’ll talk about in the next segment.

Step 6b: Qualifying offer decisions on restricted free agents

Conor Timmins, Philip Tomasino, Ponomarev, Connor Dewar. P.O Joseph and Emil Bemstrom are on the list in a quick placement of most to least likely to see qualifying offers.

Pittsburgh opted to not qualify any players on this list, with the exception of an administrative offer issued to Ponomarev, who had already signed back in Russia. Timmins was traded to Buffalo in June and the team decided they didn’t want to give QO’s and the arbitration leverage that comes with it (which could have come with two-year commitments) to Tomasino and Dewar — but as it turned out when both his unrestricted free agency they found a way to work out team-friendly one-year contracts that satisfied all parties.

Joseph hit UFA and signed with Vancouver. Bemstrom is apparently still a free agent and surprisingly hasn’t jumped back to a European club yet. Qualifying offers were once a formality but this cycle demonstrated very clearly the modern strategies on how to bring back mid-level players on a team’s own terms and avoiding the RFA/arbitration process.

Step 7: the draft

The first round is Friday June 27, the Pens pick 11th (and possibly 12th, NYR dependent). Rounds 2-7 are Saturday June 28th.

The Pens picked up 13 young players in the draft, the biggest and most interesting decision to watch unfold in the years to come was the team electing to trade out of pick 12 and eventually end up with two later first round picks. Pittsburgh could have had Victor Eklund, Jackson Smith, Kashawn Aitcheson or Jack Nesbitt (the last name hearing his name called at pick No. 12) and exited draft weekend with Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff instead. The wisdom of that decision will be tracked and talked about for a long time.

Step 8: July 1 madness

Pittsburgh figures not to be a player involved in going after key free agents that will command a large salary and term commitment, but that doesn’t mean that silly season won’t be active.

So far the first part of that sentence rang incredibly true, but the second part...not so much. The Pens only signed Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau, Parker Wotherspoon and Alex Alexeyev to contracts. All were $2 million or less (though Mantha could push his salary higher through bonuses) and all were for one-year, besides Brazeau getting a second year.

Silly season has, in fact, been more like sleepy season so far. Pittsburgh picked up veteran defensemen Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba — both of whom with $3+ million cap hits are considered a little overpaid for their contributions. Both are also in the final seasons of their contracts in 2025-26. There’s been nothing of note on the front to trade Rust, Rickard Rakell or Erik Karlsson — and despite some chatter and loose “rumors”, no one really seems to know when or if those transactions are coming this summer. The team has stocked up on enough warm NHL bodies that they are setup to make moves to trade any or all of their veterans on the trade block away, but it hasn’t happened yet.

With the past out of the way, here’s what is to come:

Step 9: Waiting for the big summer move

As mentioned above, a big trade could fall from the clouds at seemingly any moment — yet with no guarantee that it will happen. That’s the odd status of summer. In some ways, it’s not dissimilar from the circumstances of the 2023 Karlsson trade that brought the defender to Pittsburgh and happened relatively late in the summer cycle on August 6th. But for now, we wait. Given how Kyle Dubas has operated, any big trade will likely come out of just about thin air without much prior lead up to the announcement of the completed deal. So, as we have learned in the past few months, don’t hold your breath while knowing it could happen at just about any time.

Step 10: New alternate jersey

This one has kind of faded off the radar, but at some point there’s going to be a jersey announcement of what next season’s alternate jersey will be. In 2023-24, the Pens wore the alternate on every Thursday home game. Last year in 2024-25, it was every Tuesday home game. Details on the future use are still to be announced.

Step 11: Prospects Challenge 2025 in Buffalo

The first game will be Friday Sept 12 when the Pens play the Boston Bruins prospects in Buffalo. Pittsburgh will have a crew playing on Sunday Sept 14 (vs Columbus) and Monday Sept 15 (vs Buffalo) to round out the typical three-game event.

Step 12: Training camp

There’s no word on the exact dates, but last year’s camp opened on September 18th. That’s probably a good approximation for this year’s festivities to start ahead of the exhibition schedule that begins on Monday Sept 22 with a game in Montreal.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/4/24480279/penguins-mid-summer-off-season-checklist

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

PensBurgh Top-25 Under 25: No. 18 Avery Hayes

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

A well earned contract has Avery Hayes pushing for an NHL spot with the Penguins.

His newly drafted brother already made an appearance earlier in the countdown, but now it’s time to take a look at Avery Hayes, the young forward who turned heads in the AHL last season.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding
No. 20: Sam Poulin
No. 19: Joona Vaisanen

#18: Avery Hayes, RW
2024 Ranking: NR
Age: 22 (October 10, 2002)
Acquired Via: Undrafted. Signed AHL deal with WBS. Signed to NHL deal with Pittsburgh Penguins in March 2025.
Height/Weight: 5-foot-10, 174 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:.

A two-time OHL champion at the junior level, Avery Hayes saw himself go undrafted during his draft year and had to take the more difficult path to the pros, but a path has been taken by many before him and led to great NHL careers.

After not being selected in the 2023 NHL Draft, Hayes hit the market as an undrafted free agent, eventually signing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. During his first pro season, Hayes posted nine points in 29 games with the Baby Pens, enough to earn himself another season with the team for 2024-25.

His development took a major step forward last season in the AHL, becoming one of the Baby Penguins most potent offensive threats, posting 42 points in 60 games, good enough for fifth on the team. Perhaps even more notably was his scoring touch that helped him pot 23 goals, tied with Emil Bemstrom for most on the team.

Hayes’ breakout 2024-25 campaign paid huge dividends for his hockey career as it earned him his first NHL contract, agreeing to a two-year entry level deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins in March. Prior to signing the deal, hype was already developing around what Hayes was doing in Wilkes-Barre and by inking the deal, many wonder if he could be battle for an opening night roster position during training camp.

Per Trib Live:

And his first taste of professional hockey was somewhat unappetizing as a broken sternum limited him to only 29 AHL games and nine points (six goals, three assists) in 2023-24 while largely inhabiting a bottom-six role.

Fully healthy entering the 2024-25 season, Hayes graduated to a steady role on the top two lines and led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in goals.

After Hayes displayed a blend of skill, speed and grit, the Penguins signed him to an entry-level contract in mid-March.

Perhaps the keynote game of Hayes’ season was a 4-3 overtime home win against the Hartford Wolf Pack on March 26 in which the Penguins secured a playoff berth.

MR CLUTCH AVERY HAYES pic.twitter.com/49prlo6Dhk

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 27, 2025​

Cont. from the Trib:

The Pittsburgh Penguins are understandably turning to the future after three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance.

But it might be a tad bit premature to assume Hayes will be someone who gets an immediate look for a spot on the NHL roster this September in training camp. He has a single strong professional season on his resume and certainly has plenty of room to develop. Beyond that, the Penguins have some more talented candidates in their prospect pool among wingers.

That said, he has all the attributes to be a steady third-line winger in the NHL. He offers some scoring touch, a nice amount of speed and isn’t afraid to play a hard game despite limited size. Additionally, the way he earned his chance in the NHL illustrates a determined work ethic.

He has earned a contract. Now, it’s time to time to earn a job.

It’s clear from the contract offer that the Penguins see something in Hayes they believe can translate to the NHL level. There may be some bumps to iron out with more development this coming season, but Hayes has done all that has been asked of him and created a path for himself to be an NHL player.

Ironically enough, as Hayes adds much needed depth to a still rebuilding prospect pool and has the looks of being a higher upside project, it was actually the complete empty cupboards in the Penguins system that led Hayes to choose the Penguins organization when he was passed over in the draft.

From the PPG:

Hayes signed with the Baby Pens because he saw “a depleted prospect pool,” which he believed gave him the best opportunity to climb an organization’s depth chart.

“I thought I could be one of their younger guys right away,” he said. “Obviously, now we have great prospects. It’s awesome to see how far it’s come in just one year.”I

When we talk about prospects being lottery tickets, Hayes is the perfect example of what we mean. He came to the Penguins as basically a one dollar scratcher, and while they are still clearing the boxes on his ticket, the odds are leaning in the Penguins favor that they may have pulled a winner.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/8/4/...-avery-hayes-penguins-prospects-nhl-draft-ahl

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Summer hypothetical: What does a bounce-back look like for Ryan Graves in 2025-26?

In the dead of summer, let’s go through some optimistic type of scenarios for the Penguins where they could see improvements. Today we’ll start with one of the most limited players tied to Pittsburgh these days in a free agent signing that’s only caused pain and disappointment so far.

Yahoo’s season splits for Graves are so sad to see how far he fell in 2024-25.

An occasional healthy scratch, Graves’ offense disappeared to non-existent. He’s never been an offensive defenseman (zero career power play points) but in his best of seasons in 2019-20 with Colorado and 2022-23 with New Jersey, Graves was up to nearly two shots on goal per game. This past year with Pittsburgh it was 0.64. His assist totals have dropped for four years running from 22 in 2021-22 to just three last season. His blocked shots — also near 2 per game in a good year (and even in his first season in Pittsburgh) was down to barely over one.

And the biggest key, the ice time was down to 15 minutes per game. It’s stating the obvious to point out what kind of picture this paints: Graves was not trusted by the coaching staff and played virtually as little as possible.

While no one is expecting a defensive performance like Gustav Forsling or Charlie MacAvoy from the black and gold’s No. 27 next season, what if Graves can get back to at least being decent?

It would be most welcome — the Pens left side defense is not even NHL quality at this point, and it wasn’t last season either after trading Marcus Pettersson away in January. Graves joins Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, Alex Alexeyev and Owen Pickering in a very lacking list of left shot defenders. Given how many bodies the Pens have as right-handers currently by picking up Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba in trades and possibly watching Harrison Brunicke force his way into the lineup, it’s a wonder if some right-handed player will be forced into playing on the left side, given the lack of quality LHD on the roster these days.

There will be a new coaching staff and system in play — Graves mentioned how former coach Mike Sullivan’s system was drastically different from what he was used to and obviously challenging for him to execute. That could go a long way.

Confidence is another. Graves has gone from a really good season in 2022-23 playing on the Devils’ shut down defensive pair to barely being NHL quality in two years. The issue isn’t age or injury limitations, it is arguably as much mental as it has been physical. Last off-season wasn’t the refresh that many hoped, but could it be now?

The bar is low – if Graves can come in and play 19 minutes per night in a passable way (similar to what he did in NJ and COL), that would be a big win and improvement on what the Pens have received from Graves in the last two seasons. That might be easier said than done since Graves has not performed well in the classic “steady defensive defender supporting an offensive minded defenseman” archetype that players like Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin thrived in.

Note again that Graves’s best success came in a year he was paired with the defensively stout Marino and not a high-risk, skilled offensively talented partner. The fit might have been all wrong from the start and a classic case of a bad free agent match for the Pens to incorrectly have figured how Graves would have fit into their team.

Maybe this is all for naught and Graves’s decline has gone into an irreversible spiral to the point where he can no longer be effective at the NHL level. The past two seasons suggest that could be possible too, where the game has passed him by and his quality seasons may be the outlier and not the norm for what he can consistently bring to the table. But the Pens now have a new coach, system, and plenty of opportunity for Graves to salvage his career. Many gave Graves a pass for a bad first season and held out hope that a summer and time to adjust would lead to a better second time around. That makes sense being as many defenseman in particular can take time to fully integrate with a new team. While that sounds good in theory, the results for Graves in year two in Pittsburgh were even worse than his poor first year.

With that in mind, no one is expecting much from Graves in 2025-26. All results have pointed firmly towards him being a liability and mistake that will go down in franchise history as one of the most under-achieving free agent signings around. There’s not a lot beyond blind hope to give reasons for imagining a huge turnaround but if Graves could at least find some success playing a little more than bare minimum and eat up some minutes while avoiding mistakes it could be a big help for a team that will desperately need capable performances on the blueline.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/4950...nce-back-look-like-for-ryan-graves-in-2025-26

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

PensBurgh Top 25 Under 25: No. 17 Tanner Howe

Howe dropped ten spots in Pensburgh’s prospect rankings over the last year because of a knee injury that will sideline him for at least half of the 2025-26 season— but the Penguins are still hoping to see him take the next step in his development once he’s recovered.

Find all the previous entries in this year’s series below.

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding
No. 20: Sam Poulin
No. 19: Joona Vaisanen
No. 18: Avery Hayes

#17: Tanner Howe, LW
2024 Ranking: No. 7
Age: 19 (November 11, 2005)
Acquired Via: 2024 draft (Round 2, No. 46 overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Signed to three-year ELC in 2024.​

Height/Weight: 5’10”, 183 lbs​

Elite Prospects resume:

Reports from around the time when the Penguins selected him in last spring’s draft all have a similar theme of describing Howe’s aggressive, competitive, Brad Marchand-style pest-like approach to the game:

Howe is the kind of player you absolutely can’t stand in your beer league games. He shows up giving an effort level that is way beyond what you expect for an 11:00 p.m. faceoff, he’s chirping on the ice and from the bench all night long, and at some point he’s going to knock you off the puck, walk it in for a prime scoring chance and let you know about it. —The Athletic’s Jesse Marshall

“However people view Brad Marchand is what I see in [Howe]. . He’s a guy that’s got that fire, that competitiveness in his game. There’s not many checks he won’t finish, yet he’s got that offensive touch to play up and down a lineup, in the top six. He has that scoring and playmaking ability to play with elite players.” — Regina Pats head coach Brad Herauf, per NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale

Howe used that energy to take a step toward the AHL during his fourth junior hockey campaign.

The former teammate of Connor Bedard and captain of the Regina Pats adjusted from a midseason trade to score 39 points (12 goals, 27 assists) in 37 games with the Calgary Hitmen.

The winger also represented Team Canada at the 2025 World Junior Championship and scored a goal during the team’s quarterfinals loss to Czechia.

TANNER HOWE STRIKES SHORT-HANDED!

Canada ties it up.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/nbliEKU1GH

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 3, 2025

He later helped the Hitmen make it to the conference semifinal of the WHL playoffs with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in six postseason games. Howe is wearing No. 9 in the clips below.

Howie from his knees pic.twitter.com/vHnMiXUacB

— Calgary Hitmen (@WHLHitmen) April 2, 2025

When we say we want Moore – we usually get it… pic.twitter.com/y82vhCIBlC

— Calgary Hitmen (@WHLHitmen) March 30, 2025

Ben Kindel has two! pic.twitter.com/cSRB4MScZF

— Calgary Hitmen (@WHLHitmen) April 3, 2025

That campaign put Howe on track to make his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut when eligible for AHL play this fall, especially after WBS general manager Jason Spezza complimented his development in March.

“I would say probably his consistency off the puck has gotten better in terms of his ability to reload, his ability to kind of keep a high pace during a shift, and I think he’s just grown in a lot of his kind of smaller habits that I call pro habits that we’re trying to really encourage him to get better at,” Spezza said in March, per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “I think that’s been, for me, the biggest area of growth.”

Howe meanwhile said at the time, per Kimelman, he believed that “with a good summer I have a really good shot” at the next level.

Then came the bad injury news.

Howe’s season ended in the WHL playoffs with knee injury, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas announced on April 24 that Howe had undergone reconstructive surgery on a torn right ACL.

Howe’s expected recovery time is nine months, according to the press release, so the winger won’t be on track to return until late January.

Spezza said in July that Howe will still spend the next season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while recovering.

“He’ll miss a good chunk of the season to start. We’ll take things slow with him. With the injury that he had, it’s important that he’s 100 percent healthy,” Spezza told reporters at development camp on July 15. “But he’ll be in Wilkes next year. When he’ll be back from the injury is a little more up in the air, based on what he’s feeling. And we won’t rush him, either. It’s a young kid. You want to make sure the rehab goes smooth, and just put it behind him.”

Howe’s three-year entry level contract is set to begin in 2025-26. The Penguins will want to make sure he’s healthy and ready to play, especially because Howe is both an undersized and physical player. He’s got a lot of rehab work to get back up to speed and then will have to jump into the AHL season when everyone else is at mid-season speed. It’s not an easy task and makes for a tough outlook in the near future as Howe makes the already difficult transition from Junior to AHL levels while also dealing with a massive injury.

Howe’s former linemate Ben Kindel is also in the Penguins organization, and fellow linemate Oliver Tulk was invited to development camp in July. Potentially getting the chance to play with some of his former WHL teammates down the road might eventually help ease Howe’s transition to the next level.

The best-case scenario for Howe next season involves a smooth recovery from knee surgery, a careful ramp-up to play, and a strong professional debut that leads to him finishing out the season with the WBS Penguins.

The Penguins could use some agitators in the lineup after some lackluster performances over the last few seasons. If Howe is able to infuriate his AHL opponents like he did for four seasons in the WHL, he could make a compelling case for the Penguins to call him up some time during the 2026-27 campaign.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/top-25-under-25/24480938/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-17-tanner-howe

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

What to expect from Sidney Crosby in his age 38 season

(Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is celebrating his 38th birthday on Thursday, and for most players that would be an age where they would either be deep into retirement, contemplating retirement or going through some sort of a serious decline in both their play and their production.

Crosby, however, is not like most players.

He is doing none of those things.

There is no indication he is even contemplating retirement anytime soon.

He still has two years remaining on his contract and could still sign another one to keep playing into his 40s.

He is not only one of the best players in NHL history, he is still one of the best players in hockey right now and still performing at a level that almost nobody else ever has at this age.

It’s kind of staggering when you look at the numbers from a historical context.

He is coming off an age 37 season where he recorded 91 points, the fourth-most ever for a player in a single season age 37 or older. The only players that topped him were a 103-point season from Gordie Howe in 1968-69, a 100-point season from Joe Sakic in 2006-07 and a 93-point season from Johnny Buyck in 1972-73.

From the time Crosby turned 35, he’s already accumulated 278 total points, the fourth-most ever for a player between their age 35 and 37 seasons, trailing only Buyck, Wayne Gretzky and Jean Ratelle.

In NHL history there have only been six instances of a player topping 80 points in a season age 38 or older, and only one of them (the aforementioned Howe season with 103 points) topped more than 83 in a single season. Given the way Crosby played in 2024-25 and how dominant he still looked, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think he could not only easily top the 83-point mark (which would guarantee him yet another point-per-game season), but also make a run at the 90-point mark again and perhaps even the 100-point mark. Especially if he still has one of Rickard Rakell or Bryan Rust on his wings (or both) for the season.

To get a better historical comparison on this for an expectation, I went back through the top-15 age 37 performances (excluding Crosby) in league history and then looked at how they followed up that performance in their age 38 season.

In total, those 15 players averaged 1.05 points per game in their age 37 season.

As a group, they averaged .848 points per game in their age 38 season.

A slight — but not unexpected — decline given the fact they were all a year older.

If Crosby saw a similar decrease from age 37 to age 38 that would put him at a .932 points per game average during the 2025-26 season, which would put him on a 76-point pace.

But those are only *averages* among a small sampling of relatively comparable players. Some performed better in their age 38 season than others. Some performed significantly better than others. And some of the more recent players on the list (specifically Alex Ovechkin and Joe Pavelski) performed significantly better than others. Training, nutrition, modern equipment and every other variable that goes into a player performance all matter here. As does work ethic and drive. And not to take anything away from anybody else that has played to this age (you don’t do so without insane work ethic and drive), Crosby seems to be wired differently than even some of the best players in league history. He almost takes it as a challenge if somebody says he can’t do something to go out there and prove that he can.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to be the best player on the ice during the 2024-25 season no matter who the Penguins were playing. At some point he is going to start slowing down, and he might even slow down a little bit this season. But I am not ready to say he is going to slow down significantly. Expectations should still be high for his performance this season even if they are not high for the remainder of the team.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/statistics/52365/what-to-expect-from-sidney-crosby-in-his-age-38-season

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Summer hypothetical: what if the Penguins get better goaltending next season?

When shifting gears to think about the upcoming season, goaltending will be a big focus and point of emphasis for any NHL team, but especially the Pittsburgh Penguins.

2024-25 saw a drama-filled year in net, franchise goalie Tristan Jarry was sent to the minor leagues on two separate occasions, and by the end of the year he was able to stabilize his game and play fairly well when the pressure was off and the team was far outside of the playoff picture. The Pens always seemed to trust Alex Nedeljkovic a little more than they should have based on his unimpressive statistics and ended up trading him away this summer.

The change made is an intriguing one, Pittsburgh will likely go with 24-year old Arturs Silovs as their NHL backup goalie. Silovs has not found much success at the NHL level (8-8-2 career record with a 3.11 GAA and .880 save% in 18 appearances) but is coming off a dominant, AHL playoff MVP 2025 with Abbotsford that carried a 16-7 record and .931 save%. The Pens also have 23-year old Joel Blomqvist, who made his NHL debut last season and appears to be getting close to making the case for earning an NHL role in the not-too-distant future.

A lot can be made of goaltending, since it is a position reliant on the rest of the team. The Pens did not give much help to their goalies — finishing 26th per Natural Stat Trick in scoring chances and high danger scoring chances allowed in 2024-25. The case can be made — and accurately so — that the goaltenders were put in a position to fail. And fail they did, ending up 28th in high danger goals allowed.

The thoughts about paths forward can vary. From a personnel outlook, things are bleak. Pittsburgh did little to upgrade their defense — Matt Grzelcyk, Conor Timmins and P.O Joseph are gone and a smorgasbord of unappealing options (Connor Clifton, Matt Dumba, Parker Wotherspoon, Alex Alexeyev) have come in. The team badly misses the days of yore from having players like Marcus Pettersson, John Marino and Brian Dumoulin as responsible defenders.

But if you’re hanging a hat on an area of potential improvement, a brand new coaching staff serves as reasons for at least faint optimism for performance gains that don’t look to be coming from adding quality players. Mike Sullivan employed an aggressive system that demanded much of defenders in all three zones. He also allowed and encouraged players to take risks and attempt to hold pucks in the zone at all costs, which often spectacularly backfired and left the team exposed to rushes the other way and serious issues for the goalies behind them.

It’s unknown at current what Dan Muse and company have in store for that, or how or if his systems will translate to the NHL and be grasped by those attempting to run them. Hope springs eternal that it could be effective, but at this point no one can accurately say. Still, it’s not difficult to imagine the team attempting to play a more simple and cautious type of game and better position themselves to tamp down the chances against compared to last season. The good news in that regard is that it will be easier to get some improvement considering the ranks near the bottom of the league in chances against.

There’s also the individuals in play. It could be argued based on pure statistics that last season was the first truly poor one for Jarry. It was the first time his save percentage was under the expectations.

The good thing about Jarry’s game is that he usually maintains his level of play. He’s not a world beater but he’s capable of strong performances. And he stops most of the ones that he “should” get from medium and low danger areas. He’s struggled against the top chances, but given the whole “hung out to dry” aspect of the Pens’ style, perhaps that’s to be expected.

The better news when looking for some positive regression might be that the Pens dumped the weak link of their net by trading away Nedeljkovic.

Again, Silovs has not performed well in the NHL so far, but with under 20 career games he’s basically still an unknown quantity. There’s clearly risk in any facet of life that unknown quantities might not prove to be positive outcomes, but Nedeljkovic left a fairly low bar to clear as far as the previous netminding performance goes.

The other piece of somewhat encouraging news is that Blomqvist is waiting in the wings should the Pens need him. Last year Pittsburgh was pretty quick to give opportunities to their different goalies, and if performance dictates it they should not hesitate to do the same in order to find what they’re looking for in net. The team has plenty of cap space and while Silovs would need waivers to be assigned to the AHL, three-goalie rotations are starting to become a lot more frequent in the modern NHL for teams that are searching for answers in net. For better or worse, Pittsburgh could follow that mold.

Back at NST, looking at 5v5 save percentage, setting a sample of 875 minutes from last year allows 64 goalies to qualify, which adds up in theory to each of the 32 teams having a starter+backup. Nedeljkovic ranked tied-46th out of the 62 with a .902 save%, Jarry was tied-51st with .900. This is an area for primed for potential regression. Given team strength and goalie skill, you wouldn’t expect the Pens to get a .920+ 5v5 performance in the upcoming season. But if one/both can nudge up towards and past the .910% mark, there will be a noticeable change within the games themselves for the Penguins receiving the type of goaltending that should hold them in games — in theory long enough for the strength of their team to score them into wins.

Sounds easy in the summer, but it will bear watching come the fall and winter. The Pens are rightly seen as an underdog team without a lot going for them and they have not shown a lot of ambition in improving their NHL squad lately. But the lowkey move to dump Nedeljkovic and take a chance on Silovs — combined with the unexplainable and unpredictable potential goalie voodoo that might see Tristan Jarry return more towards his 2019-23 form as a mid-level starting goalie could go a long ways towards areas where the team could be better next season than they were last.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/statistic...e-penguins-get-better-goaltending-next-season

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

PensBurgh Top-25 under 25: No. 15 Emil Pieniniemi

The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top-25 Under 25 countdown list rolls on with a look at a prospect from Kyle Dubas’ first draft class with the Pittsburgh Penguins, defenseman Emil Pieniniemi.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding
No. 20: Sam Poulin
No. 19: Joona Vaisanen
No. 18: Avery Hayes
No. 17: Tanner Howe
No. 16: Tristan Broz

#15: Emil Pieniniemi, D​

2024 Ranking: No. 13​

Age: 20 (Mar. 2, 2005)​

Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft (Round 3, Pick 91)​

Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 176 pounds​

Elite Prospects resume:

In some ways Pieniniemi is a testament to how much the Penguins’ prospect depth and young talent depth has improved over the past year, simply because he actually dropped two spots in our top-25 under 25 ranking.

That drop is not because he had a bad 2024-25 season or that his stock as a prospect has fallen. Quite the opposite. There was actually a lot to be encouraged with in his development as he made the jump from Finland over to North America where he spent the season playing for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.

The drop is simply because the Penguins prospect pool has some actual depth in it for the first time in years. Perhaps more than a decade.

After spending the previous season playing professionally in Finland against grown men, Pieniniemi was a top-10 pick in the OHL Draft, and he did not disappoint in his first season of North American hockey.

Along with being a point-per-game scorer and one of the top offensive players in Kingston, he was also one of the top offensive defensemen in the entire OHL with 60 points (1o goals, 50 assists) in 60 games.

Beyond the point total, he showed incredible confidence and puck skills to create those numbers.

EMIL PIENINIEMI DRIVES THE NET AND OPENS THE SCORING @penguins | #LetsGoPens https://t.co/j3F16q2FlL pic.twitter.com/40Ntjy7b3P

— Kingston Frontenacs (@KingstonFronts) April 22, 2025

The Finnish Connection kicks things off!

Tuomas Uronen finds Emil Pieniniemi all alone and he fires it home!@penguins | #LetsGoPens https://t.co/EHKefnau49 pic.twitter.com/9wtDaxIaJh

— Kingston Frontenacs (@KingstonFronts) March 12, 2025

His production and overall play earned him a spot on Corey Pronman’s top prospects and players under age 23 ranking (No. 97) back in January.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler called Pieniniemi a high-floor type of player that should have an excellent career in the AHL and potentially as a third-pairing defender in the NHL. He ranked him as the No. 9 prospect in the Penguins’ farm system back in January.

He has been a top player in the 2005 age group for sure, and there are some smarts to work with there. He feels like a high-floor guy to me who should be a serviceable AHL defenseman with some offense. I enjoy watching him play, but I’m not sure he’s dynamic enough to project into an offensive role or hard enough/fast enough defensively to project into that role at the NHL level. As a result, he probably tops out as a third-pairing five-on-five type who can move and manage pucks and/or a call-up option. He’s a good player, though.

Wheeler also wrote a far more in-depth feature on him in December and his initial play in North America.

Cooper said he has also benefitted from the attention the Penguins’ development staff have been able to give him in Kingston. In the early months of this season, Cooper said members of the Penguins development staff, including director of player development Tom Kostopouloss and skills consultant Andrew Fritsch have been in town “a lot — monthly, if not biweekly” to take him to dinner and get out on the ice with him. Pieniniemi said their focus has been primarily on his skating and that he feels like it has improved.

“They really guide them along the process of not only on the ice but off the ice from a culture standpoint and right down to food and all those areas,” Cooper said of the Penguins’ hands-on approach. “They check in regularly and are here often with him.

“I think they really helped the process with him and allowed him to adapt a little quicker than some other imports.”

He doesn’t have the biggest frame and isn’t the most physical player, but he has great reach and enough offensive instincts to make himself a really intriguing prospect. Especially after his solid debut season in North America.

In his first three draft classes with the Penguins, Dubas has added a lot of help on defense and really tried to stockpile talent at the position. Pieniniemi joins recent picks like Harrison Brunicke and Finn Harding on the team’s improving prospect depth chart on defense.

He has already signed his entry-level contract with the Penguins and figures to start his pro hockey career in North America this season by playing in either Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (American Hockey League) or Wheeling (East Coast Hockey League). It will be the next big challenge for him in his development, but so far he has answered the call every single time at every level. He’s impressed in the Finnish league, the OHL and was a key contributor for Finland at the World Junior Championships.

He may not have the upside of Brunicke at this point in his development, but he still has a chance to become an NHL contributor at some point in the future due to his offensive play and instincts.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/top-25-under-25/62550/pensburgh-top-25-under-25-no-15-emil-pieniniemi