There are some exciting developments down on the farm for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With more talent in the system than they’ve had in recent memory, the Penguins have several prospects of interest to keep an eye on. Today, we will take a look at how some of the organization’s top forward prospects are faring this season.
Rutger McGroarty
Perhaps the one prospect everyone is monitoring closely is Rutger McGroarty, who GM and POHO Kyle Dubas brought in over the summer for Brayden Yager in a top prospect swap with the Winnipeg Jets.
After starting the season at the NHL level and registering no points in three games, the Nebraska native was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) – Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate – and got off to a slow start with just one goal and three points in his first 12 AHL games.
However, things are looking up since then. In his last 16 games, he has registered four goals and 11 points, including two game-winning goals. His hockey IQ, 200-foot game and versatility, physicality, and playmaking ability are also evident when watching games as opposed to strictly highlight reels.
All in all, things are trending in an upward direction for the 20-year-old right wing, who was drafted 14th overall in 2022 by the Jets.
Vasily Ponomarev
Vasily Ponomarev – who was part of the prospect package acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Jake Guentzel trade last spring – was injured to start the season and also saw three NHL games with no points. Like McGroarty, he got off to a bit of a slow start in the AHL this season as well, registering just a goal and three points in his first eight AHL games.
Since then? The 22-year-old Russian forward has been one of WBS’s best players in all zones. He has five goals and 15 points in his last 13 games, which includes two shorthanded goals and a power-play goal as part of a hat-trick effort against Hartford on Dec. 7.
Ponomarev is a versatile player who is deployed in all situations – on the power play, penalty kill, starts in all three zones, and both sides of six-on-five – and he has an ability to extend shifts and use his motor to make things happen along the walls.
He’s been thriving while centering a second line of McGroarty and Avery Hayes with a goal and five assists in his last three games. That versatility – as well as his production – will give him a leg-up on other players if and when the NHL Penguins need to call on someone.
Ville Koivunen
At just 21 years old, Ville Koivunen – also part of the Guentzel trade – is having an impressive season in WBS. The Finnish forward has 10 goals and 27 points in 30 games this season – including a hat trick and four points in WBS’s most recent game, which was a 6-3 win over the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday:
Koivunen saw some time alongside Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell in training camp, and his development is probably more advanced at this point than what the organization expected. He was named the best prospect dealt at the deadline last season, and he has been showing his ability not just as a finisher, but as a skilled, deceptive playmaker with good hands and excellent vision.
He has spent a large portion of the season playing on the top line with Emil Bemstrom and either Tristan Broz or Boris Katchouk. If Koivunen’s numbers continue to climb – he has six goals and 12 points in his last nine games – and he continues to advance his development ahead of schedule, don’t be surprised to see him as a late-season call-up for the NHL club.
Tristan Broz
It is worth noting that Tristan Broz – the Penguins’ second-round draft pick (58th overall) in 2021 – has missed the past three games with an illness. But the centerman is tied for second with Katchouk for the team lead in goals, which trails only Bemstrom’s 13. Overall, he has 19 points in 27 games on the season, including four goals in his last four games.
Broz is scoring goals in a lot of different ways, using his lethal shot at times but also getting rewarded for his play at the net-front. He has proven to be productive and reliable at pretty much all levels of hockey, and although he looks to be a pretty promising prospect, the Penguins will not want to fast-track him to the NHL – especially since he may need a bit more time to round out his all-around game as a center.
However – similarly to Koivunen – Broz, 22, seems to have developed a bit quicker at the AHL level than some had expected, especially in the goal-scoring department. Both he and Koivunen are developing as goal-scorers, and although it’s pertinent not to rush the development of those kinds of players with top-six ceilings, they are continuing to prove why that their transition to professional hockey has been a pretty seamless one.
Tanner Howe
Tanner Howe, Pittsburgh’s 46th overall pick in 2024, is fresh off of a one-goal performance – which was a shorthanded tally against Team Czechia – over five games for a disappointing Team Canada at the World Junior Championship.
The first 7 minutes couldn’t have gone much worse for Team Canada, but tied now through Tanner Howe.
1-1 with a lot of penalty still to kill.
If Canada wins, does it replace the disappointment of losing to 🇱🇻 and 🇺🇸 in the group?
— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) January 3, 2025
Otherwise, he was involved in a major trade at the Junior level this season, going from the Regina Pats – where he was formerly the team captain – to the Calgary Hitmen. In 16 games between those two teams this season, he has registered nine goals and 16 points and has shown some ability with his skating and shot.
It will be a few years before Howe is seen at the NHL level, but there is some early promise. In his WHL career so far, he has put up 101 goals and 249 points in 223 games.
