Penguins trade down, then up in 2025 NHL Draft to land 3 forwards

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins hadn’t picked three times in the first round of the NHL Draft since 1984.

Mario Lemieux was selected No. 1 overall. Doug Bodger was taken at No. 9, ahead of Roger Belanger at No. 16.

Lemieux, alone, makes that hard to match. But Friday, when the Penguins came away with three forwards in the first round after multiple trades, serves the same purpose.

Pittsburgh aims to lean on young talent to carve a patient path to the Stanley Cup.

“At some point, we're going to have to make the call to go into this mode, to try to build, to transition to that next era of the team, contending again,” Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said. “We know what people say about the prospect pool and the class, and how long of a road people think it's going to be. But we are down there, and every ounce of our focus is about getting the team back to contention as urgently as possible.

“So, I know that can, at times, confuse. But we don't sit down and say it's going to be X-amount of years. (It’s) what can we do to help bring the team back to contention as quickly as possible and then execute and try to get us there?”

At the start of the week, the Penguins were guaranteed one first-round pick at No. 11. On Tuesday, they officially acquired No. 12 from the New York Rangers, completing a trade that sent forward J.T. Miller to New York from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31.

There was an attempt to move into the top 10, Dubas said, but Pittsburgh stuck at No. 11 to select Benjamin Kindel. The 12th pick was then traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Nos. 22 and 31.

Bill Zonnon was taken at No. 22 before the Penguins moved up to select Will Horcoff, their third 18-year-old forward of the first round, at No. 24 by trading picks No. 31 and 59 to the Los Angeles Kings.

“We didn’t come in thinking we were going to come out with three forwards,” Dubas said. “I think what we came to was that we felt by moving out of the 12th pick, it would give us a chance to potentially add two more high-end players that we had rated high on our list.”

It continues what Dubas has done since being hired by the Penguins on June 1, 2023.

Forwards Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen are high-end prospects originally from outside the organization. McGroarty, 21, was acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets on Aug. 28, 2024, after Koivunen, 22, was traded to Pittsburgh as part of a trade that sent Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, 2024.

Owen Pickering, a 21-year-old defenseman drafted No. 21 overall in 2022, also headlines a retooled prospect pool along with defenseman Harrison Brunicke and forward Tanner Howe. Brunicke and Howe, two 19-year-olds, were selected in the second round, at No. 44 and 46, in 2024.

Kindel, Zonnon and Horcoff are that next wave, Dubas said.

“I think you're trying to find that balance between having a lot and having quality,” Dubas said. “And we have to deliver. ... Obviously, when you're in our position, you're accruing picks and prospects. But you have to make good on them. You have to draft good players. You have to do a great job in developing them.”

The present is also worth noting. Centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and defenseman Kris Letang, are set to become the first trio of teammates in the history of major North American pro sports to play 20 seasons together. They’ve won the Stanley Cup three times (2009, 2016, 2017).

Letang was on stage with his son, Alex, to announce the first two of Pittsburgh’s three picks Friday before Alex welcomed Horcoff on his own.

“I knew Kris a little bit,” said Zonnon, a Montreal native. “We have the same agent and, obviously, he speaks French. As soon as I got on the stage, I thanked him for everything.”

Crosby is a particular focus. The Pittsburgh captain will be 38 on Aug. 7 and is signed through 2026-27 on a two-year, $17.4 million contract ($8.7 million average annual value) signed Sept. 16, 2024.

It would be an honor to play with him, Kindel said.

"Obviously, they have a player such as Sidney Crosby and a lot of other great players that have been here for a long time,” Kindel said. “But I think, like, looking up to a guy like Sid for his passion for the game, his loyalty to the Penguins, and his hockey sense and the way he plays the game the right way. So, I really admire all those things about him."

Dubas has said the goal is to contend with Crosby around. To that end, nothing has changed.

“There's no change at all to anything from our perspective,” Dubas said. “Everything that we're doing is about bringing the team back to being a contending team and our hope is to sure do that while Sid is a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's really all I can offer.”