Where the Penguins’ top 25 young players are finishing up the 2024-25 season

An easy way to keep tabs on where the youngsters are now that a lot of player movement is going on at the end of the various seasons

This is one of the more exciting times of the calendar all around the sport of hockey. Junior seasons have had their playoffs begin, the Frozen Four is underway in the NCAA. The NHL and AHL teams are going down the stretch of their respective seasons. Player movement picks up at this time of year too with younger players joining the pro ranks.

To help keep up with all the activity and excitement, let’s check in quickly with last year’s rankings of the top 25 young players in the Penguins’ organization to talk about where they are at as the 2024-25 season finishes up.

The NHL Pittsburgh Penguins are going no where fast, but the AHL Wilkes-Barre Penguins have qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs. The ECHL Wheeling Nailers are right behind them in terms of an impending clinch of a playoff spot. Wheeling sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and should be locking up their ticket to the postseason shortly.

HM: Finn Harding: Brampton (OHL): the former seventh round pick has earned a place on prospect tracking radar. He has signed a contract with the Pens and is now in the first round of the OHL playoffs with Brampton. If/when they are eliminated it’ll be interesting to see if Harding gets ATO’d to join up with either Wheeling or Wilkes.

#25: Raivis Ansons: Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Hasn’t played since early December and only appeared in nine games this season due to injury.

#24: Kirill Tankov: Split time with St. Petersburg/Avangard (KHL) and VHL…Tankov might be done for the year, the KHL is in the playoffs but he has not appeared in any games and has mostly been unable to make an impact at that level where young players often receive extremely limited roles and even games.

#23: Isaac Belliveau: Wheeling (ECHL)…WBS finally getting back towards healthy on their blueline bumped Belliveau back to the Cheese Toast league. He’s been an impact player at the ECHL level but hasn’t gained much traction in the AHL.

#22: Taylor Gauthier: Wheeling (ECHL)..Gauthier quietly has slightly better ECHL stats than even the great stats Sergei Murashov has put up there this season. Gauthier something of a forgotten prospect but has proven to be a very, very good minor league goalie, particularly from Wheeling. There’s a big block of goalies preventing his upward mobility at this time, but that has been to the Nailers’ benefit to keep a star-caliber player in that league.

#21: Chase Pietila: Wheeling (ECHL)…There ended up being little room in Wilkes for Pietila to see the ice, so he’s been shuffled to the Wheel. There Pietila gets to be reunited with brother Logan (the two played at Michigan Tech together as well).

#20: Emil Jarventie: Tappara (SM-Liiga)…Has only played a handful of games due to injury, I think he might be done for the year.

#19: Kalle Kangas: HPK (SM-Liiga)…Appeared in three playoff games for his Finnish team, they are now eliminated so Kangas is wrapped up for the season.

#18: Joona Vaisanen Western Michigan (NCHC)..The top seeded Broncos survived a 2OT game against Western Minnesota earlier in the week so Vaisanen in a Frozen Four game today against UMass (6:30pm eastern on ESPNU and ESPN+ if you’re interested!)

#17: Filip Kral Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Back from injury and a decent-sized piece of the AHL team for this stretch run.

#16: Mac Swanson North Dakota (NCHC)…Season has concluded.

#15: Jonathan Gruden TRADED. Gruden is now with the NJ Devils’ organization (AHL Utica). They’re in last place so unfortunately it looks like his season will be ending soon.

#14: Cruz Lucius Arizona St (NCHC)…Season has concluded.

#13: Emil Pieniniemi: Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)…After putting up 60 points in 60 OHL regular season games, Pieniniemi was held without a point in Kingston’s Game 1 win over Sudbury. Kingston was in third place in their conference, they should be hoping for a fairly deep playoff run so it looks now in doubt whether or not Pieniniemi gets any meaningful pro playing time this spring, his immediate future could be helping his OHL team go deep.

#12: John Ludvig – claimed by Colorado…Was waived and is now playing for AHL Colorado Eagles.

#11: Mikhail Ilyin Cherepovets Severstal (KHL)…Has one assist in two playoff games, Ilyin’s team is down 0-2 in the KHL first round series against the higher seeded Spartak Moscow so it might be a short trip but good to see Ilyin continuing to be an important player in his lineup.

#10: Harrison Brunicke Wilkes-Barre (AHL): Now that his WHL season is over, Brunicke has been assigned to Wilkes for the stretch run. Exciting times for him to take a step up in competition and continue his journey in the pros, hopefully for a while this spring. (As a reminder, Brunicke will have to play in the NHL or WHL next regular season again).

#9: Tristan Broz Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Broz is playing in a significant role in the AHL these days, lining up as WBS’s first line center last game and he stepped up with two assists in the win over Hartford in that role. Broz should be a key piece for the AHL club down the stretch.

#8: Sam Poulin Wilkes-Barre (AHL): Poulin has been red hot with 13 points (5G+8A) in his last eight AHL games. He’s run hot and cold at times, it’s nice to see that Poulin is one of the top players at the AHL level in this moment, that would go a long way to helping Wilkes with playoff positioning and the postseason itself.

#7: Tanner Howe Calgary (WHL)…Howe recorded two assists in last night’s 4-2 win over Saskatoon in the first game of the WHL playoffs. The first one was a vintage Howe play with a shorthanded effort leading to the goal. Howe’s third seeded Calgary Hitmen are on the upswing as one of the more dangerous clubs in the WHL playoffs, they might be going on a run that could prevent his pro prospects for this spring.

#6: Vasily Ponomarev Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Dubas mentioned wanting to see impending restricted free agents prospects in Pittsburgh soon, which Ponomarev is, but he’s still in Wilkes doing his thing for the time being.

#5: Ville Koivunen Pittsburgh (NHL)…The future is now for Koivunen to get a taste of NHL action and for the Pens to see what a season’s worth of development has done for his readiness. Koivunen leaves the AHL with 55 points (6th in scoring) and the league’s top rookie scorer.

#4 Sergei Musharov Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Murashov is 11-0 in the AHL this season and you can’t do any better than that. Joel Blomqvist’s recent injury opened a door for Murashov to play and he’s doing his part to play his way into the AHL crease more and more with every winning appearance. WBS will have an envious but interesting situation in net for the playoffs as far as which goalie plays at what time but at this rate Murashov is putting his name in the conversation.

#3: Owen Pickering Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…The 21-year old continues to play a regular role on the AHL blueline.

#2: Joel Blomqvist Wilkes-Barre (AHL)…Blomqvist hasn’t played a game since March 2nd (with Pittsburgh) and has been seen occasionally at the NHL Pens practice rink for medical purposes. AHL coach Kirk MacDonald shrugged off injury severity questions weeks ago, it’s unknown if that was a smokescreen or just when Blomqvist will be available to play again.

#1: Rutger McGroarty: Pittsburgh (NHL)…McGroarty came on big time in the AHL in the past few months and has turned that into a reward of being brought back to the NHL for the first time since the first few games of the season.