2025 Penguins Draft Class: Grading the Steals & Reaches

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas seemed rather pleased with his first-round picks, even trading up for their third pick of the first round.

Fans, scouting services, and consensus rankings disagreed.

Comparatively, the New York Islanders’ rebuild seemed to take about 24 hours as they traded away No. 1 defenseman Noah Dobson Friday, selected Matthew Schaefer first overall, then used the 16th and 17th overall picks acquired in the Dobson trade to select feisty and talented winger Victor Eklund, and physical defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson.

It was a home run for the Penguins’ Metro Division rivals. Conversely, the Penguins did … OK. Maybe?

Penguins Overall Grade: C.

The Reaches

Ben Kindel: First round, 11th overall

The team selected Ben Kindel with the 11th pick because Dubas had intel that he wouldn’t last to No. 21. After the top centers were off the board, it seems Dubas leaned on vice president of player personnel Wes Clark, who had been closely following and pushing Kindel’s name into the conversation.

However, of the top 12 scouts/scouting services and rankings, he was ranked better than 20th by only three, and no higher than 17th.

Does that really matter? Not really, but Kindel’s size (5-foot-10, 176 pounds) and NHL-readiness are concerns. He’s probably a couple of years away. At least. In all probability, he will not be part of the immediate rebuild. With any luck, he’ll reach Pittsburgh before rent prices graduate from rising to ridiculous.

Read More: Penguins’ Draft Guru Wes Clark Breaks Down Top Picks, Strategy

Make no mistake, Clark has a great track record, so he gets some measure of the benefit of the doubt. However, Kindel will need to prove everyone right, or this pick will echo amongst the fan base for a long time.

“His extreme characteristic is his intelligence. His hockey sense relative to this class is elite,” said Clark. “(He scored) 99 points (this season). He understands the game at a super high level. We have just big belief in Ben in terms of the upside. He influences the game on both sides of the puck.”

If he’s as good as Clark believes, there will be a lot of people who conveniently forget their snap reaction. However, fairly or not, Kindel will be judged against the players who could have been selected instead. Hindsight will offer no in between here.

Grade A or F.

Will Horcoff: First round, 24th overall.

Clark touted Horcoff’s talent and progression this season as the reason they made the pick. It might work out for the Penguins because Horcoff has something which cannot be taught or bought: size.

However, they selected a player who some had a deep second-round grade, and who would have almost certainly been available with the 31st overall pick. He’s raw and has not proven much. In 18 games with Michigan, Horcoff had 10 points, including scoring four goals.

Read More: Penguins Trade UP, Select Big Will Horcoft at No. 24; Full Analysis

One would expect more accomplishment for a 24th overall pick. It cost the Penguins the 59th overall pick to move up, because, ironically, the Penguins felt they would have to reach at 59.

Grade: D

Peyton Kettles: 2nd round, 39th overall.

It isn’t often that a television analyst openly pans a pick, but that happened Saturday on ESPN when the Penguins selected the 6-foot-6, 194-pound Kettles.

“I mean, he’s a seventh defenseman,” said Sam Cosentino with a reluctant dismissal.

Yet the Penguins took the projected third-rounder early in the second. Kettles has size, though it’s debatable if he’s physical, despite his assertion that he prefers a physical game. Predominantly, scouts saw him as a shutdown defender with good size, but sometimes a pedestrian game.

Like Kindel, the player might work out well, but the pick was a big reach regardless.

Grade: F

The Steals & Intrigues

Bill Zonnon; First round, 22nd overall

There was good news. There is no question that the Penguins may have gotten a steal at No. 22 when they reached just a little to select forward Bill Zonnon of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Zonnon isn’t necessarily big, at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, but he’s strong on the wall and a horse with the puck.

The encouraging thing about Zonnon’s negatives is that they are easily fixable. His hockey sense is quite good, and his speed is good–in a straight line. Zonnon needs to work on his edges and lateral skating. He’ll also need some time on the practice sheets with Nick Bonino to work on face-offs, too, but the Penguins got an underrated, strapping center who can score.

You might note that one thing the Penguins brass often mentions when they evaluate prospects is playoff performance. Zonnon had 16 points, including eight goals in 13 playoff games. Beyond the points, reports indicated Zonnon was a monster during Rouyn-Noranda’s playoff run, and the Penguins could certainly use a few of those.

Grade: A

Gabriel D’Aigle: Third round, 84th overall.

With one of their three third-round picks, the Penguins snagged the big, athletic goalie who spent summers working out with Marc-Andre Fleury. The pair is from the same hometown and kept in touch after their workouts.

The 6-foot-4, 212-pound goalie played on a bad team, but observers report he was the difference between losing badly and being competitive. The advanced stats show that he faced a large number of high-danger scoring chances but made a higher-than-average number of saves.

Clark humorously referred to organizational goaltending coach Jon Elkin as “Sir Jon Elkin,” and said Penguins director of goaltending had D’Aigle at the top of his list.

It’s impossible to predict a goaltender’s progression, but the Penguins have an attractive lump of clay that can move well and covers a lot of net.

Grade: A

Charlie Trethewey: 3rd round, 73rd overall.

He slipped from a first-round grade to be a third-round pick, but he could make the jump to the NHL sooner rather than later. He’s got the build at 6-foot-2, 201 pounds. His skating is dynamic. He loves to play physical, but can also move the puck well.

The drawbacks are his transition game and the penalty minutes that follow undisciplined physicality. Perhaps maturity and playing college hockey will help.

The Penguins got a solidly built defenseman who can skate with a third-round pick. Perhaps he will need to strip his game down if he can’t put the pieces together, but it’s a great starting point.

This could be a Kris Letang-type pick. Letang was also a third-rounder with a lot of skills, but took a few years to get to the NHL lineup, and even then, he struggled. Those shortcomings are forgotten in light of his subsequent success, but they were real.

Trethewey gives off similar vibes that he has all the tools in the toolkit. He will attend Boston University next season, and when PHN asked specifically what he wanted to work on at the next level, he gave a confident answer.

“I would say there’s not really one thing I need to work on right now. It’s kind of just fine-tuning a lot of things in my game and just trying to get to the next level,” Trethewey said.

Hey, his Pittsburgh roots don’t hurt, either.

Grade: A

Entire Penguins Draft Class: