Redrafting Penguins Top Picks 2019-2025

Drafting well and the Pittsburgh Penguins have not been synonymous since former general manager Ray Shero was terminated in the fiasco known as the 2014 offseason.

Former GM Jim Rutherford’s staff didn’t draft well, nor did they have many chances, as picks were little more than trade currency to acquire the next solution. GM Ron Hextall only had one top pick in his brief tenure and used it on a project before Kyle Dubas’s regime took over in 2023 and had draft control in 2024.

For accuracy, Dubas was hired as the Penguins GM in June 2023, but it was just a few weeks before the draft, so he largely had to rely on the existing scouting work. Director of player personnel Chris Pryor ran the Penguins’ 2023 draft before being moved aside for Wes Clark prior to the 2024 draft.

Unfortunately for the franchise, the Penguins’ draft classes quickly dropped from surprisingly good under Shero’s crew to shockingly bad under Rutherford’s regime, lowlighted by the 2017 class in which none of the draftees came within a country mile of the NHL. The largest contribution they received was from seventh-rounder Will Reilly, who played a few seasons as a regular with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before departing overseas.

In fairness, the top Penguins pick of that draft was Zachary Lauzon, who suffered severe concussions in the seasons following his selection and retired from hockey without turning pro.

But the drafting trend didn’t improve, either.

2019: The Penguins selected Sam Poulin with their first-round pick (21st overall). It was the first time in five years the Penguins kept a first-rounder, but the ’19 draft is a case study in disappointment and late bloomers.

With Cole Caufield and Thomas Harley coming off the board at No. 15 and 18, respectively, the Penguins snagged Poulin from a group of underwhelming choices. However, the New York Islanders selected Simon Holmstrom two picks later, and PHN’s pick that year, Connor McMichael, was taken four picks later by the Washington Capitals.

The lockdowns and developmental league shutdowns hindered the development of ’19 and ’20 picks greatly, but Holmstrom has posted 45 and 41 points in the last two NHL seasons. McMichael is beginning to find his stride and was the centerpiece of the St. Louis Blues trade get for star winger Jordan Kyrou this summer, while Poulin’s career never really got on track and he signed a two-way deal with the Montreal Canadiens this summer.

Redrafting: Connor McMichael, who is one year removed from a 26-goal, 57-point season. Perhaps stretching the good faith of hindsight, Shane Pinto was selected 11 picks later with the 33rd pick by the Ottawa Senators.

2020: The Penguins didn’t have a first-round pick, and used their top choice to select goalie Joel Blomqvist with the 52nd selection. After a promising start to his NHL career in 2024-25, Blomqvist was rocked during his recall in January and February of 2025 and has not played in the NHL since.

Eight of the 10 players selected behind Blomqvist have reached the NHL, but only one with distinction. The New York Rangers drafted Will Cuylle with the 60th pick.

Redrafting: The Penguins selected a goalie who may yet reach the NHL, and nine other teams in the nearest vicinity of that pick came up largely empty, too. For example, the Flyers selected D-man Emil Andrae, the Boston Bruins selected defenseman Mason Lohrei, and with the 53rd selection, the Carolina Hurricanes selected future and now-former Penguin Vasily Ponomarev.

Cuylle is a solid third-liner and is the easy choice here, but the Penguins did not err with Blomqvist.

2021: The Penguins’ top pick in the ’21 class was Tristan Broz, but the Penguins didn’t get to select him until 58th overall, which is well into crapshoot territory.

Broz has begun to find his stride in the last 18 months and has NHL potential as a center, but has played just one NHL game. Within the six picks behind Broz, four have played at least 86 games in the NHL, and Arizona (now Utah) selected defenseman J.J.

Moser (60th overall), and Montreal selected Oliver Kapanen with the 64th pick.

Redrafting: PHN believes Broz has the goods to make the show, but it’s hard to pass up Moser, who is a top-pair left-side defenseman for Tampa Bay (acquired in a trade for Mikhail Sergachev in 2024), and in the first year of an eight-year, $54 million contract.

2022: The Penguins selected Owen Pickering with the 21st pick, and did so with the knowledge they were taking a raw prospect who wasn’t done growing. Indeed, Pickering has grown a couple of inches and about 40 pounds since draft day.

However, he’s only played in 29 NHL games and has had an up-and-down ride to this point.

Pickering found his best game in the latter half of last season and in the playoffs with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, exciting the Penguins brass. So, his story is not yet written.

Redrafting: The 10 of the 11 picks behind Pickering haven’t done much to register an impact, but at No. 23, the St. Louis Blues selected Jimmy Snuggerud, who cracked the lineup in 2025-26 and scored 21 goals with 51 points in 70 games.

Interestingly, prior to the draft, Pickering wasn’t featured among PHN’s top four draft potentials; there was another defenseman not selected until later in the second round who was. That D-man, whom one of our advisors quite literally banged the table for, was Lane Hutson.

Also Read:2022 Penguins Draft: 4 NHL Prospects to Watch (+)

Since we circled Hutson among our top candidates, the former Calder Trophy winner who has also factored into Norris Trophy voting after just two years in the league is the unquestioned pick and a player that makes a lot of teams wish for a redo. Snuggerud is a solid second, and Pickering makes the cut as third, and we like Pickering’s chances to stick in the NHL at some point this season.

2023: The Penguins missed out on winger Zach Benson, whom the Buffalo Sabres selected with the 13th pick, one ahead of the Penguins. Instead, Pryor selected two-way centerman and Moose Jaw Warriors top center Brayden Yager.

PHN’s disappointment with Yager’s game when scouted in person at the 2024 Memorial Cup quickly became irrelevant as Dubas soon swapped Yager to the Winnipeg Jets for their 2022 14th overall pick, Rutger McGroarty, who had informed Winnipeg he would stay at the University of Michigan and not sign with them.

Redrafting: There are several very talented players who are showing a potentially high ceiling among the next nine picks, but two are at the fore: Gabriel Perrault, selected 23rd by the New York Rangers, and Axel Sandin-Pellika, selected 17th by the Detroit Red Wings.

The trade for McGroarty notwithstanding, ASP is the clear pick.

Detroit is abuzz over the young defenseman. Last season, he cracked the lineup as a 20-year-old and acquitted himself well.

Sandin-Pellika posted only 21 points in 68 games, but the sky is the limit as he had to acclimate to the North American game from Sweden and continues to mature.

Perrault, who earned his rookie stripes by scoring 12 goals in 49 games last season, is a solid second, while Yager made his NHL debut for Winnipeg late last season and was pointless in three games after totaling just 30 points (10-20-30) in 68 AHL games.

2024: The Penguins ditched their first-round pick on Aug. 6, 2023, in the trade for Erik Karlsson.

So, their top pick wasn’t until No. 44, which was the pick they acquired as part of trading Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Penguins’ own pick was No. 46.

With No. 44, the Penguins nabbed Harrison Brunicke, an offensive defenseman whose wild ride through a nine-game NHL stint, a conditioning assignment in the AHL, Team Canada, Kamloops of the WHL, and back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL looks like it did the trick.

Brunicke was a stud in the AHL playoff run. The 6-foot-3 defenseman is listed at 196 pounds but is likely over 200 now.

Clearly, he physically matured from October to April, and his game did, too.

Tanner Howe was the 46th pick. He’s been beset by injuries over the last two seasons and missed most of last year recovering from knee surgery, so his ceiling remains cloudy.

When he finally joined the WBS Penguins last season, he had 16 points (8-8-16) in 27 games and five more points in 14 playoff games.

Redraft: Nope. Leave it as is.

No player selected after Brunicke in the second round has played in the NHL, and he is likely the very best option.

The Penguins chose Howe over Max Plante, who won the 2026 Hobey Baker Award while playing at the University of North Dakota on a line with his brother, Zam Plante. That decision to select Howe might prove incorrect, in part based on the bad luck of injuries, but Howe was a member of Team Canada and carries an NHL pedigree.

2025: The Penguins’ monster 13-member draft class began with the 11th overall pick, Ben Kindel. It continued with Bill Zonnon at No. 22 and Will Horcoff at No. 24.

Of course, some horsetrading fattened the Penguins’ draft, as Dubas flipped the Rangers’ 12th overall pick, which he had acquired in a trade with Vancouver, to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 22nd and 31st overall picks. Then Dubas packaged a second-rounder with the 31st to move up to 24 for Horcoff.

On paper, only Zonnon was drafted near an expected slot. However, PHN’s draft day grade of “either an A or an F” is clearly an A as Kindel cracked the NHL season as an 18-year-old rookie.

He played a stellar 200-foot game, added offense, and was fearless physically. Zonnon showed good speed and hands.

He was solid in his AHL debut late in the season. And Horcoff exploded for 39 points in 40 games at the University of Michigan, despite a serious shoulder injury.

He could be a power forward in waiting.

Redraft: Again, nope. It looks like a masterclass by Dubas and Clark.

No player selected after Kindel stuck in the NHL, but more importantly, the Penguins appear to have uncovered NHL talent with picks in the 20s despite the draft being touted as a down year.

Tags: Penguins Analysis Penguins draft Penguins Prospects Pittsburgh Penguins

Categorized:Penguins Draft Penguins Draft Picks Penguins Prospects Pittsburgh Penguins