After years of toiling near the bottom of the prospect rankings, the Pittsburgh Penguins have approached the middle of the pack. At least according to Corey Pronman of The Athletic. He has the Penguins prospect pool ranked 19th among NHL farm systems.
While 19 isn’t a great ranking it is a solid improvement on a team who is in the beginning stages of building things back up. Outside of winning the lottery when you aren’t among the league’s worst teams there really isn’t a quick fix to go from the high twenties into the top third of the league in prospects.
Kyle Dubas has done a very nice job of trading for draft picks by taking on less than desirable contracts. The Penguins have built up a nice stockpile of picks in the first three rounds as a result. Here is how things look for the next three years at the moment
Having a high volume of picks in the first three rounds gives the organization more throws at the dart board. If you have a competent scouting department over time you should be able to hit on some of these selections and get players who can play legitimate NHL minutes. This will however take time.
Pronman had this to say about the Penguins prospects:
After many years of being the punchline when it came to farm rankings, Penguins fans can find relief that there is finally a plethora of promising young players coming up for the organization. That said, this is very much still the beginning of what could be a long, painful process. Pittsburgh has good young forwards and defensemen, but it’s desperately missing the top-tier talent needed to get back to being a winning team.
Can’t really argue with anything said there.
Pronman’s Penguins top 8
Here are his top eight Penguins prospects, who he has placed on the tier labeled, middle of the lineup players
1. Harrison Brunicke
2. Emil Pieniniemi
3. Will Horcoff
4. Rutger McGroarty
5. Benjamin Kindel
6. Bill Zonnon
7. Owen Pickering
8. Ville Koivunen
Over the years I’ve found that I differ from Pronman in what each of us value. I think Corey is more old-school and values the size and physical nature of players more where I have shifted to more of a speed skill based preference. I wouldn’t have Ville Koivunen all the way down in the eighth slot here. I think he has already shown top six potential in his professional sample size. I think the ceiling has the potential to be higher with Benjamin Kindel than either Horcoff or McGroarty. Time will tell, but that’s how I see things.
The process is far from done. However, gone are the days where Sam Poulin and Nate Legare are near the top of these lists.
