PHN’s Penguins Prospect Ranks 10+: Poulin Falling, Others Rising

For the first time in memory, the Pittsburgh Penguins are amassing prospects. Not since former general manager Craig Patrick was shoved into rebuilding with young players by virtue of the organization’s empty bank account in the early 2000s has the organization shown such a devotion to the talent pipeline.

Of course, when Patrick began the rebuild, he had the greatest luck of any team in the lottery era. After pulling a slick trade to move from third overall to first in 2003 to select goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Patrick lost the 2004 lottery to get Alex Ovechkin but got Evgeni Malkin at No. 2. In 2005, the Penguins won the lottery despite having less than a 7% chance and drafted Sidney Crosby.

By 2006, they had the third overall pick and snared Jordan Staal.

That’s the easy way to rebuild. However, the odds of that sort of run at the top of the draft with all-time talent, generational talent, and nearly perfect complementary players are infinitesimal.

(It was an easy trade to get Fleury because there were three players considered worthy of first overall, and Fleury was far from the unanimous choice. Eric Staal and Nathan Horton were the other players).

The current Penguins organization won’t have that sort of luck or opportunity, at least for the foreseeable future. The Penguins are a mid-pack team still riding on the back of Crosby, Malkin, and a talented core. At the same time, president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas is not-so-slowly weening the team from their superstar status by no longer trading away draft picks but anxiously trading non-core veterans for more picks.

From former GM Ron Hextall’s smaller efforts to Dubas’s recent lurch to desperation, the Penguins’ prospect pool is deeper than it has ever been. That’s not exactly a high bar to cross, but this year, it will not be a challenge to fill a top-10 list.

In fact, we have a third in the series with prospects who have fallen out of the top 10 or who are outside the top 10 but have the potential to launch themselves onto the NHL radar.

This year, we’ve aged out prospect Jonathan Gruden, who is now 24 and battling for an NHL roster spot, as well as young players Jack St. Ivany, John Ludvig, and Valtteri Puustinen, who are already on the NHL roster.

**This is the first in the series of PHN’s Penguins prospect rankings, beginning with 11-15.

Penguins Prospects 11-15

11. Sam Poulin

It’s been five years since Poulin was drafted 21st overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. All but one member of the 2019 first-round draft class have made their NHL debuts, and Poulin’s six games of NHL experience are the second-fewest among the 31 prospects who have made it to the show.

(Carolina drafted Ryan Suzuki 28th overall, and he has not made it to the NHL. Anaheim selected Brayden Tracey 29th overall and he’s played only one NHL game. All others have played significantly more).

Poulin, 23, has moved from wing to center and back again. He’s missed time with injuries and to deal with personal issues. He played just 44 games (41 in the AHL and three in the NHL) last season but did not distinguish himself or make an impact with his three-game NHL opportunity.

His skating remains somewhat of an issue, and he hasn’t otherwise forced himself into the NHL lineup by creating a need for his services. While Gruden is a zippy forward who is good on the forecheck and defensively, Poulin’s slightly heavier game seems to be caught in hockey limbo.

He very well could make the NHL roster this season, but with the depth of prospects now ahead of him, the 2024-25 NHL season, if not the training camp, seems to be his make-or-break moment. Even if he does make the NHL roster, he’ll need to be significantly better than he’s been at that level because there are a plethora of players ready to take the spot.

12. Emil Pieniniemi

He was a polarizing third-round pick in 2023. Some scouts howled that the Penguins and Dubas’s new squad had reached with the pick. Central Scouting ranked him as the 32nd-best European skater at the time of the draft, but other scouting services considered him to be a “fringe” prospect likely to be selected in the later rounds, if at all.

Last season, Pieniniemi played 37 games with Karpat in the SM-Liiga but Karpat also demoted him for a few games to the non-elite league.

The 19-year-old defenseman had only six points (2-4-6) with Karpat and certainly did not stand out at the Penguin’s recent development camp. Of course, individual skills are not Pieniniemi’s strength. He’s not fast, physical, or offensive. His job is to be a smooth cog in the machine.

After some optimism that Pieniniemi had more offense to give or could quickly grow into an all-around defenseman, it would seem his growth has stalled. The game is growing toward extremes—defensemen need to be able to join the play or be shutdown defenders. We’re not sure where Pieniniemi will fit, and his stock is likely to fall as the Penguins stockpile better prospects, such as 2024 second-round pick (44th overall) Harrison Brunicke.

13. Zam Plante

Fifth-round picks are usually an afterthought. They must prove they can play rather than getting the benefit of the doubt that higher picks get. Plante also has the double whammy of being a small forward.

Plante was a fifth-rounder in 2022 by the Hextall regime, but he took a significant step forward last season with the USHL’s Fargo Force. After scoring 12 goals and 33 points in 51 games split between a pair of USHL teams in 2022-23, Plante lept forward with a 71-point, 26-goal campaign.

He was noticeable in the recent development camp, too. Plante’s size holds him back. At 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, he’ll need to be quicker, smarter, and more productive to get to the show. He’s moving on from the USHL to college hockey this season and will play for Minnesota-Duluth.

14. Cruz Lucius

After one successful season under former Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato at the University of Wisconsin and another under new coach Mike Hastings, Lucius will eschew Wisconsin and the Big 10 for Arizona State this fall.

Lucius, 20, had a pair of 34-point seasons with Wisconsin, scoring 11 and 13 goals, respectively. His scouting report shows he’s a shoot-first right wing but has some playmaking ability. He was Carolina’s fourth-round pick in 2022 and the third of three prospects the Penguins obtained in the Guentzel trade.

ASU is making a big leap forward this season with the hockey program, moving to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with better hockey schools such as reigning national champion University of Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, and North Dakota. ASU will have significantly better competition and have Mullet Arena all to themselves as the Arizona Coyotes moved to Utah.

Lucius was not present at the Penguins’ recent camp due to illness, so we haven’t yet gotten our first in-person look. Since he’s a college player, he likely will not participate in other Penguins camps or the Prospects Challenge this year, but a smattering of amateur scouting reports have been positive.

15. Mikhail Ilyin

There were a handful of players we considered for No. 15. Mikhail Ilyin is neither a falling prospect nor one who has scouts drooling, but with another strong season in the KHL, he looks like he has the frame and the skills to rocket up the list.

So, why did we include him despite him not being present at last month’s development camp or him on the immediate NHL radar? At 18, he leaped the KHL with Cherepovets Severstal and played 65 games. The Penguins 2023 fifth-round pick (142nd overall) is appropriately sized for professional hockey at 6-foot, 182 pounds, and registered 29 points (12-17-29) in his rookie year.

He plays a full 200 feet with intensity at both ends. That’s a lot to like for a young player already skating with the big boys.

Since Cherepovets is not one of the KHL powerhouses, that means he wasn’t playing with handpicked top talent. Instead, Ilyin was one of just three players on the team drafted since 2020 (none of them higher than Ilyin) and led his club with four assists in five playoff games.

There isn’t much video available, but we like the look of this goal Ilyin scored against Moscow Dynamo in February. Also, he wears No. 99.