Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 8 prospects worth getting excited about
Pittsburgh Penguins fans have been treated with some phenomenal talent on their team over the years.
At one point they were blessed with a Mario Lemieux/Jaromir Jagr duo, and in more recent years a tandem of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The franchise has won 5 Stanley Cups throughout their history, which came in 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, and 2017.
Unfortunately, since their last Stanley Cup win in 2017, their roster has really thinned out. Thanks to the great play of both Crosby and Malkin, amongst some others, they have been able to still be a very successful regular season team. However, in the Playoffs in recent years, their lack of depth has been quite noticeable.
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While Pens fans will not want to hear this, there is no denying their window to win another Stanley Cup with this current core is getting smaller. There certainly is still a chance for them to win again given just how good their top players are, but with Malkin being 34 and Crosby 33, it is fair to wonder when one or possibly both will start to see a decline in their play.
In a perfect world, the Penguins would have plenty of high-end prospects ready to make their debut and help Crosby and Malkin secure their fourth Stanley Cup Championship. That isn’t the case however, as they have traded many of their top end picks and prospects over the years in order to pick up pieces that were meant to help the team at the time.
On top of that, they have also had to pick fairly low in a lot of drafts due to their regular season success. As a result, they have one of the shallower prospect pools throughout the league, but there are still a few on this list who project to be pretty solid players.
As mentioned in every other Top 8 Prospects articles throughout this series, any player who has played in more NHL games than any other league in a season, regardless of the season, will not be included.
With that being said, here are the Top 8 Prospects in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.
8. Kasper Bjorkqvist
The Penguins Second-Round pick (No.61 overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Kasper Bjorkqvist, will need to have a big 2020-21 season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins if he hopes to become a future NHLer. The now 23-year-old suffered a knee injury in practice early in the 2019-20 season which forced him to miss nearly an entire year of development, as he was limited to just six games in his rookie season of pro hockey.
Thankfully, Bjorkqvist has made a full recovery and has been playing for KooKoo Kouvala of the SM-liiga while he waits for the AHL season to begin. In 20 games played, he has 13 points, which is good enough for third in team scoring. Heading into the final year of a two-year contract, he will have to score at a decent pace once the AHL season begins for the Penguins to consider bringing him back into the fold. He certainly has the skill to do so, but it remains to be seen whether or not he can put it all together.
7. Jonathan Gruden
The second prospect on this list is forward Jonathan Gruden, who was taken in the Fourth-Round (No. 95 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators. The 20-year-old remained a Sens prospect until this October when it was announced that he and a Second-Round pick had been traded to the Pens in exchange for goaltender Matt Murray.
After being drafted, Gruden went to Miami University where he had a pretty disappointing freshman season, scoring just 3 goals and 15 points in 38 games. As a result of that, he decided to leave Miami and join the London Knights of the OHL. It turned out to be a great move for him, as he scored 30 goals and 66 points in just 59 games. Like many others, he has not been able to play yet this season due to the pandemic, but will likely suit up for WBS once the season begins.
6. Joshua Maniscalco
The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to sign undrafted defenseman Joshua Maniscalco to a three-year, Entry-Level Contract this summer, and as of now it appears to be a great decision. The 21-year-old has spent the last two seasons playing at Arizona State University. While his freshman season was just okay with 20 points in 35 games, he really picked it up this past year with 11 goals and 32 points in 36 games.
Given the offensive skill he has shown over the past few seasons, it is somewhat surprising Maniscalco went undrafted, but the Penguins certainly aren’t complaining. He too will likely spend the 2020-21 season with the WBS while he adjusts to the professional game. If he is able to continue creating offence like he did at the collegiate level, we should see him getting some reps in at the NHL level sooner than later.
5. Pierre-Olivier Joseph
When the Penguins decided to trade Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes during the 2019 offseason, they received forward Alex Galchenyuk and prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph in return. While Galchenyuk has since moved on, the biggest price they got in Joseph remains with the organization. The now 21-year-old defenseman, who was taken 23rd overall by the Coyotes at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, had a very solid four seasons in the QMJHL, accumulating a total of 140 points over that time.
The 2019-20 season marked his first as a pro, as he suited up for 52 games with WBS. Despite his offence not being near the point per game pace it was during his final season in the QMJHL with just 17 total points, he played great hockey in the defensive end and did not look at all out of place. He has a chance to earn a spot on the Penguins blueline for the upcoming season. Even if he doesn’t crack the roster this year, he should be a regular on the Pens backend soon.
4. Drew O’Connor
Joshua Maniscalco wasn’t the only intriguing college player the Pittsburgh Penguins signed in 2020, as they also agreed to terms with Drew O’Connor on a two-year, Entry-Level Contract in early March. Like Maniscaclo, O’Connor also went undrafted and is making a lot of NHL General Managers look quite bad for that decision based off of the numbers he has posted through his first two seasons of college hockey.
The 22-year-old forward has played in a total of 65 games for Dartmouth College, registering 38 goals and 59 points. His 21 goals led his team by a wide margin for the 2019-20 season, as teammates Will Graber and Quin Foreman finished in second with 11 each. On top of his goal scoring abilities, O’Connor also brings great size standing at six-foot-three, 190 pounds. He is a very intriguing prospect and one Pens fans will want to keep an eye on with WBS for the 2020-21 season.
3. Nathan Legare
Just the second player on this list the Penguins drafted themselves is forward Nathan Legare, who they picked in the Third-Round (No. 74 overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. During his draft year, which was his second in the QMJHL with Baie-Comeau Drakkar, he put up a very impressive team leading 45 goals, along with 87 points in 68 games.
The 2019-20 season saw Legare regress slightly, as he had 35 goals and 71 points in 61 contests. In his defence, Baie-Comeau had a much weaker roster last season, and both of his totals led his team by a wide margin. He played just 14 games with them this season before being traded to Val d’Or Foreurs in late December. He has yet to play in a game with his new team as the league has been paused due to the Pandemic, but assuming they start up again he should be able to put up even bigger numbers on a much better team.
2. Valtteri Puustinen
The Penguins appear to have gotten a very nice late round gem in Valtteri Puustinen, who they selected in the Seventh-Round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently in his third season with HPK Hameenlinna, which is quite impressive by itself given that he is just 21-years-old. Even more impressive is that he has been able to produce quite a bit of offence during those three years. His rookie season, which came as a 19-year-old, saw him score 10 goals in 47 games played.
The 2019-20 season was an even better year for the Finnish forward, as he had 17 goals and 40 points in 54 contests. His goals were tied for first on his team, while his point total was good enough for second. Early on in the 2020-21 season he is on track to have an even better year, as he currently sits with seven goals and 15 points in 15 games played.
Two concerns about Puustinen are his size, as he is listed at just five-foot-eight, 178 pounds, along with the fact that he has yet to sign an Entry-Level Contract with the Pens. It remains to be seen how he would adapt to the North American style of play, but given his clear skill level the Pittsburgh Penguins management has to do everything they can to get him signed to an Entry-Level deal and see for themselves.
1. Samuel Poulin
The best prospect the Pittsburgh Penguins currently have in their organization is forward Samuel Poulin, who they selected with the 21st pick at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. At the time he was drafted, he was coming off of his second season in the QMJHL with Sherbrooke Phoenix where he had a team leading 29 goals and 76 points in 67 games. While those numbers were very good on their own, it was the 2019-20 season that saw Poulin truly establish himself as the team’s number one prospect.
Poulin was limited to just 46 games, but made the most of them, scoring a ridiculous 32 goals and 77 points. As a result of the great season, he was a legitimate consideration for the 2021 Team Canada World Junior Championship Roster.
Unfortunately, he did end up getting cut from the team, but Penguins fans shouldn’t be at all worried about that given how stacked Team Canada was. He will likely finish out the 2020-21 season in the QMJHL, but has a real chance to play in the NHL in 2021-22.