In a surprise to nobody the Pittsburgh Penguins remain near the bottom of the league's prospect rankings per Corey Pronman.
Pittsburgh's added quality players in recent years.
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) August 21, 2023
But their low pipeline rating reflects just how hard it is to build a strong system incrementally, writes @coreypronman.
Examining the Penguins' prospect pool: https://t.co/GQE7gQABi1
The Penguins added a player I am high on in Brayden Yager, and their first-round pick from the prior season, Owen Pickering, took positive steps. But their low rating reflects just how hard it is to build a strong system incrementally. You need a lot of picks, and you need the picks you make to show progress year after year.
Overall, I don't really view their ranking in a negative light. This is where they should be. They are on the tail end of a 15 year run. There are squabbles to be had on how the first round picks have been used in some of the trades (ie Ryan Reaves), but overall a team like the Penguins should be borrowing from their prospect system to feed the now. It has been said many times already and deserves another mention, you only have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin once.
The rankings from Pronman are as follows: 1. Brayden Yager 2. Owen Pickering 3. Emil Pieniniemi
Pittsburgh jumped from 30th to 29th in this years ranking. Next year they will not have their first round pick because the rightfully used it on Erik Karlsson. Things aren't going to get significantly better for this ranking anytime soon and, who cares? The chips are being pushed to the middle of the table and the Penguins are going to try to play the hell out of the hand they have as they should.
The Penguins could try and climb to 25th in a ranking like this or have Erik Karlsson. Tough choice...
Thanks for reading!