Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#22: Pittsburgh Penguins

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 30

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 1

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 1

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 161st

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Rutger McGroarty (26th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Owen Pickering (23rd)

System Score: 2.5

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Penguins had a five-year run during which they held top-five draft picks, including two first-overall picks and two second-overall picks. Pittsburgh used the bounty of those draft picks to build a multiple-Stanley Cup championship team full of future Hall of Fame players (in order from 2002-2006: Ryan Whitney, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal). Since the 2018 draft, the Penguins have held a total of only three first-round draft picks, and until last year only three second-round picks, so their recent success in the draft is understandably limited.  Their 53rd-overall pick in 2018 was Calen Addison, a defenseman who has played 152 NHL games over four professional seasons, but none with the Penguins. Beyond Addison, no other player drafted by the Penguins in the last several years has seen any serious NHL ice time. 

However, over the past three drafts, Pittsburgh has been able to restock the system somewhat, and the quality of their top prospects has improved dramatically.

The Top of The Pool:

A few weeks ago, the Penguins traded their 14th-overall draft pick from the 2023 draft Brayden Yager (ranked 39th overall in the Hockey Prophets top forwards ranking) for Rutger McGroarty. The Winnipeg Jets drafted McGroarty 14th overall in the 2022 draft, but the relationship  between the Jets and McGroarty apparently broke down over the prospects path to the NHL, and McGroarty requested a trade. McGroarty (Hockey Prophets' 26th-ranked forward prospect) may not have the eye-popping skill of Yager, but his overall game and two-way play make him a more projectible NHL prospect. McGroarty best moments come in the most dangerous areas of the offensive zone in and around the crease. He as a sturdy frame at 6'1, 200 pounds and shows great strength on his skates. He has a high work rate and shows excellent hand skills in tight spaces. He is the type of player that parks in front of the net, muscles defenders out of position, and cleans up rebounds. McGroarty has good speed, but he will never be a player burning defenders on the rush. Instead, he will make his living banging home loose pucks and mucking around in the corners. 

The best defender in the Penguins system is Owen Pickering, Pittsburgh's 21st-overall pick from the 2022 draft. The Swift Current blueliner has a nice combination of size (he is 6'5, 185 pounds) and hockey intelligence. He uses his long reach as a weapon in the defensive zone, closing gaps quickly with both his feet and his stick, and he is particularly effective on the penalty kill. Pickering can also be an effective puck mover and his 46 points in 59 OHL games shows that he contributes in the offensive zone, as well. He looks like a good, two-way defender who can fill any role required at the time.

Harrison Brunicke is another quality blueliner in the Pittsburgh system. The Penguins drafted Brunicke in the second round of the 2024 draft, and like Pickering, he has great size at 6'3 and 187 pounds. Unlike Pickering, however, Brunicke is much more of a physical, shut-down type of defenseman who will use his size and mobility to eliminate attacking threats. He is the kind of blueliner who can play 20-plus minutes per game and leave his opponents bruised and exhausted. 

Vasili Ponomaryov and Tanner Howe add some additional quality to the forward prospects. Ponomaryov came to Pittsburgh as a part of the return in the Jake Guentzel trade at the 2024 trade deadline. Ponomaryov has had a lot of travel miles in his hockey career thus far, playing junior hockey in the QMJHL before returning to Russia to play for Spartak Moscow for a season, then back to North America for AHL in Chicago, Tuscon and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He works as hard on the ice as his suitcase does in the luggage carousel and he is still a work-in-progress, but his development has been steady and he has a chance of being a bottom-six contributor at some point.

Howe was drafted 46th overall last summer and brings quality passing and intensity to the ice. His scoring pace dropped off a bit last year in Regina, but that can happen when a linemate like Conor Bedard leaves for NHL stardom.  

Return to the Team System Rankings

Below is the full list of the Pittsburgh Penguins' ranked prospects.

Top Forwards 

Top Defensemen