Pittsburgh Penguins

Player Notes

 

 

Random Quote From The Archive

Robert MastrosimoneUSA vs Czech Republic (Hlinka-Gretzky U18s)8/6/2018Thoughtless crosschecking in the offensive zone while on the forecheck, with just a minute left in the period. Absolutely no reason for that, at all.

 

Number of Players

Number of Notes

Number of Games Noted
1,469 9,483 326
Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#4: Anaheim Ducks

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 40

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 3

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 3

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 38th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Beckett Sennecke (10th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Olen Zellweger (14th)

System Score: 4.75

 

After a decade-long run as one of the NHL's top teams, the Anaheim Ducks in 2018 entered a major rebuilding phase. In 2019 the Ducks drafted the hyper-creative center Trevor Zegras from the US development squad and Jackson LaCombe from Shattuck-St. Mary's. In 2020 they drafted the offensive blueliner Jamie Drysdale (since traded to Philadelphia for Cutter Gauthier), and in 2021 center Mason McTavish. The 2022 and 2023 drafts brought in defender Pavel Mintyukov and Swedish center Leo Carlsson. Each of these top-round picks have become full-time NHLers and comprise a solid core for the Anaheim team (save for Drysdale, but more on his return below). Those players have already combined for over 700 NHL games,  140 goals and 250 assists despite. Further picks have yielded several promising prospects (some already in the NHL) as Anaheim has been slowly but steadily creating not only a solid, young team but one of the best prospect pools in the league. 

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#5: Utah HC

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 40

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 3

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 3

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 51st

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Tij Iginla (6th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Dmitri Simashev (18th)

System Score: 4.75

 

The long and meandering desert journey of the once-Winnipeg Jets ended last summer when the NHL essentially took control of the organization and sold it to Utah billionaire Ryan Smith, and the Arizona Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City to become the Utah Hockey Club. General Manager Bill Armstrong has been with the team since the fall of 2020, and in that time he has completed four drafts in which the team has added 42 players. Two of those picks, Logan Cooley (drafted 3rd overall in 2022) and Dylan Guenther (9th overall in 2021) have become mainstay players and key contributors at the NHL level for the club. 

The depth of the UHC prospect pool and the relative strength at the top end result primarily from the accumulated top-round draft picks over the past couple of years. Fifteen first- and second-round picks over four drafts can give an instant boost to any prospect pool, and Armstrong has been working hard--and successfully--to rebuild the team's young talent. 

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#6: Montreal Canadiens

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 42

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 3

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 3

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 48th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Ivan Demidov (3rd)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: David Reinbacher (2nd)

System Score: 4.75

 

It is no secret that the most storied franchise in all of hockey--the Montreal Canadiens--has been struggling for relevancy for some time, the Covid run to the Western Conference [editor's note: ?!?] championship notwithstanding. From 2016 through 2021, the Canadiens drafted six players who have played more than 200 NHL games, but only one of those players--Cole Caufield--actually plays for Montreal. Players like 9th-overall pick Mikhail Sergachev, 25th-overall pick Ryan Poehling, 3rd-overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi and 38th-overall pick Alexander Romanov were all moved out via trade, with almost no Stanley Cup success to show for it (see again: Covid run). 

A new rebuild was launched with the hiring of General Manager Kent Hughes just before the NHL trade deadline in January 2022. Hughes immediately started moving aging veterans for young talent, and brought in NHL Hall-of-Famer Martin St. Louis to coach them. In his first draft (summer 2022), Hughes made the bold move to select the big Slovakian power forward Juraj Slafkovsky first overall. Although the transition for Slafkovsky has not been smooth, he has already played 148 NHL in the two-plus seasons since being drafted, with 26 goals and 49 assists. Despite the rocky start, Slafkovsky looks more and more at place in the NHL and he should be a key part of the Canadiens core as the rebuild continues around him.

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#7: Seattle Kraken

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 30

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 3

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 3

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 47th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Berkley Catton (8th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Lukas Dragicevic (19th)

System Score: 4.75

 

Now in its fourth season of existence, the Seattle Kraken look like a team on the border of true respectability, both as an NHL team and as a prospect system. General Manager Ron Francis started building the club from scratch by quickly collecting and sprinkling young NHL talent among NHL veterans, and has since been adding more prospects and supplemental pieces to the structure of the team through the draft and waiver wire. Seattle's inaugural draft in 2021 yielded not only Rookie of the Year Matt Beniers, but also a full-time NHL defenseman selected 35th overall that year, Ryker Evans, and the team has used its twelve top-two-round draft picks in the last three seasons well. The Kraken made the playoffs in their second season (losing in the second round) and are currently a .500 team after the first third of the 2024-2025. They are a team on the rise with a lot of young talent developing and preparing to take the most recent expansion franchise to the next level.

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#8: Chicago Blackhawks

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 39

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 2

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 55th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Sacha Boisvert (15th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Artyom Levshunov (1st)

System Score: 4.5

 

The Chicago Blackhawks took a major step forward in their rebuild process when they drafted the generational talent Conor Bedard first overall in the 2023 draft. Bedard won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie player last season, and despite a relatively sluggish start to the  2024-2025 season--if 19 points in 26 games can be considered sluggish for a 19-year-old NHL player--he will be the franchise cornerstone for years to come. The key to Chicago's future success will be their ability to build a solid team around Bedard, and they seem well on their way to doing so. In the past three drafts (those under current General Manager Kyle Davidson), the Blackhawks have collected and used 12 first- and second-round draft picks (not including Bedard) to add a set of high-end prospects that give the team one of the best pipelines in the NHL. One of those players--defenseman Kevin Korchinski--already has a full season of NHL play behind him (note that he had been ranked 5th overall in the Hockey Prophets top defenseman prospect ranking before he graduated) or he, too, would be considered one of the best defensive prospects in the game.