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Catching up with the top Pittsburgh Penguins prospects

A look at how the best young players in the organization are doing

NHL: Preseason-Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

As we get to mid-December, why not take a chance to look at how the members of our annual summer list of the Top 25 players under 25 in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization are doing. Hockey is a unique major pro sport, being as players are spread far and wide from the reaches of Western Canada to colleges in America over to outposts in Finland and Sweden and Russia - you never know where the top young talent may be playing.

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Rank Name League/Team Stats Stock Comment
Rank Name League/Team Stats Stock Comment
25 Tobias Lindberg AHL/WB Pens 15 games, 2 goals, 4 assists GONE Traded out of the Pens in an AHL deal just last week, didn't seem to have an NHL future
24 Justin Almeida WHL/ Moose Jaw 24gp, 6g+30a Small gain Diminutive player remains great at producing at juniors - 5th in his league in assists
23 Jan Drozg QMJHL/Shawinigan 27gp, 8g+23a Small gain Again the best player on a bad junior team, producing a lot despite not much help
22 Sam Lafferty AHL/WB Pens 26gp, 4g+12a Gain Tied for most assists currently in Wilkes-Barre, impressive start to season
21 Clayton Phillips NCAA/Minnesota 15gp, 1g+7a Gain Tied for team lead in assists, impressive for being so young in first full NCAA season
20 Adam Johnson AHL/WB Pens 26gp, 7g+5a Same So far, so good in AHL year #2 to emerge as more of a team-leader
19 Zach Lauzon N/A none Down Hasn't played yet this season following off-season surgery
18 Sam Miletic AHL/WB Pens 13gp, 3g+3a Same Started off strong early, got hurt, looking to come back strong
17 Niclas Almari SM-liiga/HPK Hameenlinna 15gp, 0g+3a Same Impressive to be in a men's league at a young age but not too much to read into
16 Linus Olund AHL/WB Pens 26gp, 3g+5a Same A staple of the AHL lineup's bottom six so far this season
15 Jean-Sebastien Dea NHL/New Jersey + Pittsburgh 22gp, 4g+2a Small gain Getting picked up on waivers by NJ might have been best thing for NHL career
14 Anthony Angelo AHL/WB Pens 24gp, 8g+5a Gain Monster forward tied for AHL team lead in goals so far
13 Juuso Riikola NHL/Pittsburgh 14gp, 0g+1a Small gain Made NHL off a strong camp performance, since then on the fringe of the lineup
12 Filip Hallander SHL/Timra IK 23gp, 5g+7a Gain Super impressive production, looking for a star turn at the WJC later this month
11 Teddy Blueger AHL/WB Pens 26gp, 8g+12a Same Feels like a holding pattern, great AHL stats but will he ever get NHL opportunity in Pgh?
10 Kaspar Bjorkqvist NCAA/Providence 16gp, 8g+7a Small gain Strong start to jr season for hard-working forward, starting to get assist numbers now
9 Calen Addison WHL/Lethbridge 30gp, 4g+27a Gain A bit of a rocky start but almost an assist/game AND shot at Team Canada WJC are encouraging
8 Tristan Jarry AHL and NHL 13gp, 4-6-1, .905save% Same The yo-yo for playing time for Jarry continues, would probably like him to have more
7 Dominik Simon NHL/Pittsburgh 26gp, 4g+9a Gain Quietly playing well again, seeming to find a good fit on Crosby's wing - not a bad place to be
6 Zach Aston-Reese NHL/Pittsburgh 16gp, 2g+1a Same Hasn't produced a ton in NHL, but is becoming trusted member of PK and bottom six
5 Jordy Bellerive WHL/Lethbridge 30gp, 12g+20a Same His individual stats have gone down as his team's gone better but all in all happy to be playing
4 Daniel Sprong NHL/Pittsburgh and Anaheim 19gp, 1g+4a GONE Couldn't find a home in Pittsburgh lineup, now getting a chance with the Ducks
3 Olli Maatta NHL/Pittsburgh 28gp, 0g+8a Same Got healthy scratched, also played fairly sturdy at parts of the season. Hurt by Schultz injury
2 Jake Guentzel NHL/Pittsburgh 29gp, 12g+14a Up Having a huge year in contract year, becoming one of top young players in the whole NHL
1 Matt Murray NHL/Pittsburgh 11gp, 4-5-1, .877 save% Down Injury and inconsistency, 2018 has been a year to forget for Murray

So far, the non-professional names to watch this month are definitely Filip Hallander (Sweden) and Calen Addison (Canada) as they look to compete for their teams at the World Junior Championship. The Penguins haven’t have an interesting prospect in that tournament for a very long time, so it will be fun to watch how that goes.

And I guess you can also throw a bone to Penn State’s Nikita Pavlychev who is having a great junior season, and really for the first time making a case that he could be a legit pro prospect moving forward, so that’s always exciting to watch a possible diamond in the rough show some indication of forming.

At the NCAA level Clayton Phillips (Minnesota) and Kaspar Bjorkqvist (Providence) are having impressive starts as well, but both of them still look like long-term prospects - especially if Bjorkqvist stays in college in 2019-20 as rumored. As a player who turns 22 this summer, if you’re the Pens’ organization you sure want him to turn pro and start developing in the AHL versus going back for the degree, but that’s the player’s choice to make. We’ll see how that shapes out, the persuasion of getting a pro contract usually wins out once the teams make their case, and the Pens are no stranger to signing players a year or two early out of college - four players on this list including Jake Guentzel did it.

Speaking of Guentzel, he’s having an amazing season. His 23 even strength points rank only behind Johnny Gaudreau, Artemi Panarin and Alex Ovechkin for players listed as left wings. And yeah, Guentzel gets to play with Sidney Crosby, but he’s playing well, getting limited quality power play time and still on pace for 74 points this season. As someone who predicted that Guentzel’s new salary could well begin with the total number of points he puts up this season (be it in the $5-5.9 million range for 50 points or $6+ million range for 60+ points) it’s pretty wild to consider if he ends up with a 70+ point regular season to go along with the massive post-season success he has already on his resume.

And, at the risk of speaking too early - the best thing about the future right now might be that as of now the Pens still have their 1st and 2nd round draft picks! It won’t be a shock when either or both are traded near the deadline in late February, but if no one interesting is available this year could be a chance for Pittsburgh to re-stock the organization. Given the lack of high-end forwards and defensemen in the system and minors right now, that could be a welcome happenstance indeed.