Follow me on twitter
Corey Pronman is one of the best writers as it pertains to hockey prospects. Each year he compiles a list of the top 100 prospects in the NHL. That list is up on
ESPN Insider behind a paywall. It is behind a paywall because it can be, he does great work.
Here are the parameters of his list
The criteria for a player to be no longer eligible for this list are: more than 25 games played in any one regular season or 50 career NHL regular-season games. For example, Mikhail Grigorenko is eligible, but Beau Bennett and Brett Connolly are not.
The Penguins have three players in the top 100 prospects . They are Kasperi Kapanen, Derrick Pouliot, and Scott Harrington.
Kapanen is ranked 15th overall which isn't too shabby. The Penguins haven't had a legitimate forward prospect in a few years and it appears that Kapanen has a high probability of success at the NHL level.
The forwards ahead of Kapanen are Jonathan Drouin, Sam Bennett, William Nylander, Sam Reinhart, Nikolaj Ehlers, Kevin Fiala, Leon Draisaitl, Michael Dal Colle, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Filip Forsbert, Teuvo Teravainen and Curtis Lazar
Derrick Pouliot is ranked 29th overall and is the 8th ranked defenseman on the list. Aaron Ekblad, Haydn Fleury, Brandon Gormley, Josh Morrissey, Griffin Reinhart, NIkita Zadorov and Darnell Nurse are ahead of Pouliot on this list.
The real surprise for me was seeing Scott Harrington so high on the list. For a guy who plays a nondescript basic brand of hockey it is easy to go unnoticed for lists like this. Harrington was ranked 54th overall and is the 11th best defenseman on the list.
Pronman puts a lot of work into what he does and for him to place Harrington on the cusp of the top half of his list is a very good sign. If a guy like Harrington pans out to give Pittsburgh quality minutes it provides them more options moving forward. General managers love options, it allows them to make decisions from a position of strength.
With a guy like Harrington just about ready for NHL action and Rob Scuderi still filling a roster spot, it makes for a pretty big season for Brian Dumoulin and Simon Despres.
Kris Letang, Derrick Pouliot, Olli Maatta, and most likely Christian Ehrhoff (rumors of contract extension come January) will be major players on the Penguins defense corp for the foreseeable future. This leaves only a little wiggle room for other young defensemen to make the team. It is a very good problem to have.
Training camp will be fun, most eyes will be on Kapanen but don't sleep on the battles for those precious defense spots.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»