It has been several years since I have down this, so I have to find my old bookmarks to other league pages and brush up on my Finnish and Swedish so I can remember what the categories I am clicking on mean, but it is that time again where we take a look at the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects playing in Europe, the juniors, and the NCAA. Not counting the four defected players whose rights they still hold, the Pens have one goalie, five D, and nine forwards coming up through their development system.
Filip Lindberg, Joseph Masonius, Filip Hållander, and Kasper Björkqvist are all defected players whom the Pens retain their player rights while Thimo Nickl is a Pens prospect who is currently signed to an AHL deal with WBS. There is no reason to cover them though as they don’t fall into the same category as the ones below who are young prospects that have not yet turned pro.
Goaltenders
Sergei Murashov – 2022 4th round
Murashov is a 19 year old, 6’1″, 170lbs G playing for his local Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental’naya Khokkeynaya Liga in Russia. He is currently playing on their junior team in the Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga, his third year as starter for Loko. So far he has gone 4-2-0 with a 2.34 GAA and 91.2 Sv% with two of his games ending in a shutout. He had a rough start, losing his first two games and then missing a week after his first bounce back shutout, but he is currently on a hot streak having won the past three games. His backup has better numbers than him though, minus the shutouts, so he will need to keep playing hard in order to maintain his spot at the top of the depth chart. He is on the final year of his contract and so far has only played a single KHL game during the two years he was signed with the big club, but his career numbers are very good. He is the lone netminder prospect in the system but the Pens have two other young goalies in the minors already so it is uncertain where he fits in the future.
Defenesemen
Daniel Laatsch – 2021 7th round
Laatsch is a 21 year old, 6’5″, 183lbs D who is a junior with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers in the Big Ten Hockey Conference. He was at development camp in July but had to head back to school and couldn’t participate in the rest of the summer activities. The B1G doesn’t start their season until next weekend. He is a long shot to make the Pens at this point, but he has two years left of school before they need to decide whether or not they want to give him a contract.
Owen Pickering – 2022 1st round
Pickering is a 19 year old, 6’4″, 185lbs D who is captain of the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos. He attended development camp in Pittsburgh back in July but he injured his ankle and missed the rookie tournament and has so far has spent all of training camp on the injury list. At this point he has missed his opportunity to try to get into preseason action and as such he will be sent back to the WHL when he is medically cleared and his contract will slide another year. He is still developing but he has the potential to be a pretty good player in a few years if everything goes well.
Nolan Collins – 2022 6th round
Collins is a 19 year old, 6’3″, 194lbs D who is an alternate captain of the Ontario Hockey League Sudbury Wolves. He was at development camp in July but he injured his wrist over the summer, I believe he may have been the one that it said he got hurt during an intrasquad scrimmage at his junior training camp. He was on the injury list for the rookie tournament and the start of training camp, but he was removed from the last roster update so it would appear that he was returned to his WHL team to continue his recovery there. His future with the team is uncertain and this is his last year to make an impression as the Pens will lose his player rights if they do not sign him by June 1.
Emil Pieniniemi – 2023 3rd round
Pieniniemi is an 18 year old, 6’2″, 174lbs D who has been playing for Oulun Kärpät of the Liiga in Finland. He was at development camp in July but he was busy playing with the national team and the Liiga preseason so he did not come back over for the rookie tournament. He started the year in the adult league and for the first four games he was the 7th D but he moved up to the 2nd pair during the past two game and he has 1A and an even +0 in 6gp. This weekend he went down to the junior team in the U20 SM-sarja, but it may just be because the adult team had a few days off, we will have to wait and see if he stays down or goes back up. The Pens like what they see in him, which is why they already signed him to an ELC, but his Euro contract runs through 2024-25 and he has a ways to go developmentally so it will be a few years before we see what he can accomplish.
Kalle Kangas – 2023 7th round
Kangas is an 18 year old, 6’4″, 198lbs D who has been playing for Helsingin Jokerit of the Mestis in Finland. He was at development camp in July but spent the rest of the summer playing with the national team and in the Liiga and Mestis preseasons so he was not available for the other Pens summer activities. He started the season in the U20 SM-sarja where he was a 2nd pairing D scoring 1G and an even +0 in 4gp. He has since moved up to join the adult team in the minors where he has been a 3rd pairing D and has gone scoreless with a -1 through 5 games. He is a long term project so it is too early to say what to expect from him, though his Euro contract only runs through the end of the season so I don’t know what his plans are beyond this year.
Forwards
Chase Yoder – 2020 6th round
Yoder is a 21 year old, 5’10”, 176lbs center who is a senior with the Providence College Friars of the Hockey East Association. He was at development camp in July but had to head back to school so could not participate in the other summer activities. The HEA does not start their season until next weekend. This is his final year of school and his last chance to make an impression so the Pens must decide what to do with him as they will lost his player rights on August 15 if he is not signed before then.
Tristan Broz – 2021 2nd round
Broz is a 21 year old, 6’0″, 183lbs center who is a junior with the University of Denver Pioneers of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. He was at development camp in July but had to head back to school so could not participate in the other summer activities. The NCHC does not start their season until next weekend. He has another year of school remaining and if he plays as well as he did last season he should have a bright future ahead of him. If he does astoundingly well he may even drop out early and sign with the Pens in the spring, but for now let’s assume he continues on to finish his degree.
Kirill Tankov – 2021 7th round
Tankov is a 21 year old, 6’2″, 196lbs center who plays for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental’naya Khokkeynaya Liga in Russia. He has been playing in the minors for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg of the Vserossiyskaya Hokkeinaya Liga. He has been skating top 6 minutes and getting work on the PP and so far he has 3G, 3A, and a +3 in 10gp. He is still under contract with his KHL team through 2024-25 so the Pens are in no rush to make a decision on what his future is with the franchise.
Zam Plante – 2022 5th round
Plante is a 19 year old, 5’10”, 165lbs center who plays for the Fargo Force in the United States Hockey League. He was at development camp in July but couldn’t come back for the rest of the summer activities. He has 3G, 1A, and an even +0 through 3gp. He has been a key part of their power play through the early season. He is scheduled to begin college next year at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, so he is quite a few years away from competing for a spot with the Pens.
Luke Devlin – 2022 6th round
Devlin is a 19 year old, 6’3″, 187lbs center who is a freshman with the Cornell University Big Red of the ECAC Hockey. He was at development camp in July but had to head back to school so could not participate in the other summer activities. The ECAC does not start their season until next weekend. This will be his first year in college so we don’t know what to expect from him yet, but it does mean there are several years left before the Pens need to make a decision about his future.
Brayden Yager – 2023 1st round
Yager is an 18 year old, 6’0″, 170lbs center who is an alternate captain with the Western Hockey League Moose Jaw Warriors. He was at development camp in July, played in the rookie tournament, and then joined the Pens in Pittsburgh to play during the preseason at NHL training camp. He has 3G, 2A, and a +2 in 2gp since being returned to the WHL. He has been logging top 6 minutes with heavy usage on the PP. He still remains unsigned and he is eligible to play in the juniors for the next two seasons so there is no rush to decide what to do with him, but he does project to be an important part of the Pens future. We will have to wait and see if he continues to develop along this path.
Mikhail Ilyin – 2023 5th round
Ilyin is an 18 year old, 6’0″, 181lbs right wing playing for Severstal Cherepovets of the Kontinental’naya Khokkeynaya Liga in Russia. He has been skating 3rd line minutes in the adult league and working on their PP. He has 2G, 3A, and a -1 through 11gp so far this season. It is an impressive start, but he is under contract with his KHL team through the 2024-25 season so it will be some time before the Pens have to decided whether he will be coming over to North America or not.
Cooper Foster – 2023 6th round
Foster is an 18 year old, 5’11”, 172lbs center playing for the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League. He was at development camp in July and participated in the rookie tournament, but he was not invited to stay for NHL training camp. He played in the OHL preseason and now has 1A and an even +0 through 1gp in the regular season. He skated on the 2nd line LW in that game and he logs minutes on the PP with his junior team. He is unsigned and has two years of junior eligibility so it will be a while before we figure out what his future holds within the organization.
Emil Jarventie – 2023 7th round
Järventie is an 18 year old, 5’10”, 168lbs left wing playinf for Tampereen Ilves of the Liiga in Finland. He was at development camp in July but was busy with the Liiga and Mestis preseasons as well as playing for the national team so he was unable to participate in the other summer activities. During the preseason he played for Saimann Pallo, the Liiga team he was loaned to last year, so he will return to SaiPa if he gets called up to the top league again during the season. He began the season playing for Ilves juniors in the U20 SM-sarja where he skated on the top line where he went scoreless with a -3 in 3gp. He was then loaned out to KOOVEE in the Mestis where he started as a top line RW but has since been bumped down to the 4th line and he is scoreless with a -3 in 4gp. He does get some time on their PP. So far he is struggling this year, but his Euro contract runs through the end of this season with an option for an additional year, so the Pens don’t need to rush to decide what to do with him.
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