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Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/7/25...-charlie-trethewey-daniel-laatsch-ryan-miller
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