The Pittsburgh Penguins have been swimming in the doldrums of the prospect rankings for a number of years now. It is an understandable place to be. I would argue it is exactly where they should be because they were a win now team and using futures was an appropriate strategy. Now that they have exited the window of competing for a Stanley Cup it is time to build the futures back up. It will be a slow process. There seems to be some improvement.

Back in 2021 Corey Pronman had the Penguins as the 31st ranked prospect pool. In 2022 it was 30th overall. Last year it was 29th. This year, the Penguins jump up three spots instead of the incremental one. They are now 26th ranked. Still not an ideal place to be, although moving in the proper direction. I think we will see another jump of a few slots next season considering the change in approach Kyle Dubas has executed in the past few months from the Guentzel trade to the other trades where he took on suspect players in exchange for draft picks.

Pipeline #26: Pittsburgh https://t.co/8Lo7RNtS22

— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) August 26, 2024

Now, first thing is that I think this article was written prior to the big prospect trade where the Penguins and Jets flipped Rutger McGroarty and Brayden Yager. I think the names just got flopped instead of a full re-write of the situation. I only bring this up because it has Owen Pickering as the Penguins top prospect and I think McGroarty holds that spot now due to his NHL timeline being sooner than Yager.

Here are the top five prospects per Pronman:

1. Owen Pickering
2. Rutger McGroarty
3. Harrison Brunicke
4. Tristan Broz
5. Tanner Howe

This list is of course subjective from Pronman. We can quibble about Joel Blomqvist not being in the top five and how he slots other prospects, but the fact of the matter is this group looks as good as it has in a long time. We are entering a time period where it will start to get better and gain traction. The focal point will be to either use these players as assets to acquire other prospects/young NHL players like the McGroarty/Yager trade or they will be investing time and energy into their development.

The change in direction the Penguins have taken is starting to be reflected in rankings like these and the team will continue to rise up the ranks in the coming years, as planned.

Thanks for reading!

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