Anyone who’s been reading PenguinPoop over the summer knows that Kyle Dubas’ recent moves have left me flummoxed, to put it mildly. However, it does occur to me that our POHO/GM must be working to some sort of long-range plan. A plan that most likely involves a heaping helping of our current prospects.
With that in mind, I’ve attempted to pull together some sort of depth chart, say circa 2028-29. In order to do that, I’ve made some assumptions. First, our core three of Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin will have retired, which may or may not be the case for our captain. Second, Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust will have departed either by trade or free agency, along with Justin Brazeau, Connor Dewar, Sam Girard, Blake Lizotte, Tommy Novak and Elmer Söderblom and most of our present defense. Goalie Arturs Šilovs as well. Which seems to handshake with Dubas’ current MO (Ville Koivunen the exception) of eschewing long-term contracts.
Since there’s no way to predict what type of acquisitions Dubas might make in the interim, either through trades or free agency, my projected lineup is bereft of veterans, a totally unlikely scenario. Still, I thought it might be fun to see what our lineup might look like, vis-à-vis the kids. And it does serve to underscore the impressive depth of our prospect pool. Kind of reminiscent of the early 2000s, minus, of course, the likes of generational talents Sid and Geno.
Players are listed roughly in their perceived batting order on the depth chart, purely subjective of course. Projected ages are in parenthesis.
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Horcoff (21) | Kindel (21) | Chinakhov (27) |
| McGroarty (24) | Ruck, M. (20) | Ruck, L. (20) |
| Ilyin (23) | Zonnon (21) | Robertson, N. (26) |
| Howe (22) | Broz (25) | Koivunen (25) |
| Mbuyi (20) | Calvert (24) | Hayes, A. (25) |
| Charron (21) | Miller (21) | |
| Left Defense | Right Defense | Goalie |
| Pickering (24) | Brunicke (22) | Murashov (24) |
| Carlile (28) | Korczak (27) | Blomqvist (26) |
| Livanavage (24) | Pietila, C. (24) | D’Aigle (21) |
| Galvas (22) | Kettles (20) | Nikonovich (20) |
| Peddle (21) | Harding (23) | |
| Tretheway (21) | ||
| Beauchesne (21) |
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Hey Rick, great article.
A few comments from me.
If Koivunen doesn't hack it this year, I think he's out. Either via trade, or he does well enough to be in the top 6. At this point I think Rutger is probably gone by the time this roster assembles, if he is on the team he'll probably be third line. I like ilyn but I don't know if he makes it, at least not with the Penguins, I think he's good enough to make the league, I just don't think it will be with the Pens.
At this point we'd probably need players with some cap hit as well.
I think the first and second line shakes out like so:
Horcoff - M.Ruck - L.Ruck
Top 6 W - Kindel - Chinakov
(The Top 6 some late 20s to 30s player with cap)
Now those two lines are where I project those players to probably end up. The first year, two or even three of the Rucks they will probably be on the third line maybe second.
For Defense
Carlile - Brunickie
Livanavage - Korczak
Galvas - Kettles
And hopefully goaltending is the what it is currently, Murashov with one of Silovs/Blom who ever ends up better.
Rick,
I don’t know how credible it is, but I am hearing rumors to the effect that Horcoff will stay in college, unsigned, so that he can go FA and not come to the Penguins a la Cruz Lucius (who screwed himself up and needed to be traded anyway, because he misplayed his hand).
* If Horcoff stays he is the only young player who projects as a No. 1 Center, not a LW.
* Kindle is a middle 6 forward (probably better as a RW), regardless of what the Pens Org wants to say.
* The best we can hope for out of the Rucks is Rich and Ron Sutter, more than likely (watching their game films) they will be just a hair better than Chris and Peter Ferraro. They were only drafted as a novelty draft.
* Zonnon projects as a middle 6 LW not Center.
* Ilyin is more of a playmaker and needs a sniper on his line.
* McGroarty is an upgrade over Yager but that isn’t saying much. The best asset both he and Koivunen may have to this team is to get traded while they are still considered prospects that someone may want to take a chance on, rather than letting teams see how limited they are. (And I really wanted to see Koivunen succeed, but sometimes the truth hurts)
* Outside of Horcoff, Broz is the best Center prospect in the Organization, but you have him listed where he should be, bottom 6, but I would think he is more of a 3rd line Center.
* Howe and Hayes are intriguing bottom 6 forwards that bring grit – so of course they will be traded.
* Mbuyi is too small – trade him to Sullivan
* Charron should be a good AHL journeyman.
* Calvert already is a Journeyman AHL player
* Don’t really have an opinion of Miller yet.
* I’d like to see if Carlile could pull off a Wotherspoon, but I am not holding my breath.
* Pickering is still struggling and may never make it as an NHL defenseman.
* Livanavage and Galvas are way too tiny.
* Peddle, don’t know much about but wouldn’t be surprised to see him disappear
* I am interested in a player not on your list that played out his college career and pulled his first stint professionally, mainly in Wheeling but with a Cameo in WBS and didn’t look out of place in the AHL at all – Daniel Laatsch. That may or may not translate to NHL numbers, but I would rather see what he has than Livanavage, Gavlas and Peddle.
* Brunicke is probably going to be a decent NHL defenseman, but his ceiling may really be a 2nd pairing.
* Korczak is Really a 3rd pairing type.
* Harding is the most NHL ready at this point of the rest of the RHD.
* Kettles was injured last season, so I won’t say much about him other than he was one of the players I wanted the team to draft last year.
* Pietila and Thretheway may be nothing more than journeymen AHL ers.
* Beauchesne is interesting. I like what I have seen so far of him, but let’s just see where he goes from here.
Hey Other Rick,
I also heard from a creditable source (perhaps the same one as you) that Horcoff may not sign with the Pens. He's a Michigan kid, playing at the University of Michigan and his dad, former NHLer Shawn Horcoff, is the Red Wings' assistant GM. He's basically been running the show since Steve Yzerman got booted upstairs.
Who knows if the senior Horcoff will remain once the Wings select a new GM. But if he does, the source suggests Will could look to sign with Detroit.
IMHO, this would be a terrible setback for the Pens. Power forwards, especially ones with a scoring touch, don't grow on trees, and they're an especially rare commodity in the 'Burgh.
Rick
I forgot the Goalies,
* I am still hoping Blomqvist gets traded so he can be given a legitimate NHL career. He is the best Pgh has right now, but the team just will not let him grow. He may never reach his top end, stifled these past two seasons against inferior talent.
* Murashov is a good Goalie and as I said can grow into a something akin to MAF on the ice (not sure if any Goalie will ever match his presence in the community), so that will be a good thing.
* If I get my wish and Blomqvist gets traded, then Gauthier would be the best candidate to back up Murashov and he would do a yeoman's job. I get why you didn't list him, if Blomqvist doesn't get traded then Gauthier will.
* I would bet that NIkonivch has a higher ceiling than D'Aigle. Canadian goalies have been far behind European Goalies in development over these last several years but that is a discussion for another time.