Dubas Explains Penguins First Round Picks, Trade Attempts

Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas offered a simple, “Yes.”

When asked if reports were true that the Penguins pushed to trade upward in the 2025 NHL Draft, the general manager simply confirmed it and noted that no teams moved out of the first round despite his and other teams’ attempts to pry loose one of those coveted spots. Indeed, it seems moving up would have cost the Penguins both of their scheduled first-round picks.

So, instead of one player, the Penguins landed three.

Dubas’s maneuvering gains the prospect-poor Penguins three first-round picks following their surprise selection of Ben Kindel with the 11th overall pick. Then, Dubas quickly traded down for two more first-rounders.

Selecting Kindel was only the first raised eyebrow, as moments later, the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers executed a trade which gave Philadelphia the 12th overall pick but the Penguins picks 22 and 31. Dubas later packaged his second-round pick (59th overall from the Washington Capitals in the Anthony Beauvillier trade) to move back up to 24th overall.

Then the Penguins added size, though not necessarily by intent.

At No. 22, the Penguins selected forward Bill Zonnon, and then at 24 selected Will Horcoff. Zannon was the only pick that jibed with his rankings, as the scouting services and amateur scouting outlets generally ranked Horcoff in the early to mid-second round.

Read More: Penguins Get Strong Center with 22nd Pick: Forward Bill Zonnon

However, Dubas didn’t hesitate. It seems Kindel was high on their board, and when the top four centers were off the board by No. 10 (The Anaheim Ducks selected the last of the big names, Roger McQueen, directly before the Penguins).

While Dubas’s cell phone might have been hot to the touch after so much usage, trying to move up and then moving down, and of course, the obligatory conversations about moving some of the Penguins veterans, the picks caught many by surprise. The smallish Kindel (5-foot-10, 176 pounds) was generally rated as a later first-round pick, but Penguins vice president of player personnel Wes Clark had been watching Kindel.

“I think right from the beginning of the year, he was a player that our area scouts and then Wes had really keyed in on as someone that they had a lot of belief in. So I had watched him play, and he just continued to get better and better,” said Dubas. “We understand he’s not the biggest guy, but you look at the production and you look at the intelligence and his skill set. What we came to in the last couple of days as we met here was if we passed on him, we had intel that he wasn’t going to go much further beyond 11, we just didn’t want to look back on and say, ‘geez, why did we pass on this guy that had 99 points and then stepped up his game in the playoffs?'”

Clark has a solid track record of finding talent, such as Matthew Knies and Fraser Minten, later in the first and second rounds, as the director of player personnel for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now the VP of such decisions for the Penguins, Clark seemed to be the driving force behind the pick.

“It had all the makings of one of these prototypical ones that we were going to kick ourselves about (if we didn’t select him). So Wes was certain about it for months that Ben should be in that mix and would be a great pick,” said Dubas.

Big game players were a theme for the Penguins on Friday, as their second first-round pick also had an impressive playoff run in the QMJHL playoffs.

Zannon might seem to be the most NHL-ready of the group. In fact, the big forward played primarily center this season after spending the last couple of junior seasons on the wings. And when Rouyn-Noranda Huskies coaches moved him to the middle, his game blossomed.

Oh, and he’s also a big body. At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Zonnon figures to continue filling out, but he already exerts strength on the ice and even at the NHL Scouting Combine, where he impressed onlookers by doing more pull-ups than anyone.

Zonnon is a left-handed center who has more work to do but has already impressed some scouts as a potential hard-nosed center with offensive pop. Scouts noted his strength on the walls, intense forecheck, and his ability in the defensive zone, yet he also scored 28 goals with 83 points in 58 games.

“His production speaks for itself, but I think the thing that was most exciting to us was that he really thrived when he moved to center. He was excellent at center, plays in all situations, and plays against the other team’s best players,” Dubas said. “As the year went on, the level of competitiveness, especially in the playoffs, was really a driver for his team, and that was for us the most exciting part of it. The combination of size, competitiveness, and production, and then stepping his game up as it went along.”

Zonnon is a human interest story after his parents came to Montreal from Togo to go to school. Zonnon grew up in Montreal and couldn’t help but fall in love with the Montreal Canadiens, but also looked up to P.K. Subban.

Speed and physicality are a rare combination, and the Penguins may have gotten a steal with Zonnon as he continues to develop. At worst, Zonnon could be a heavy bottom-six winger, but at best, he could make waves as a strong middle-six center.

The Penguins’ final pick of the first round was again a controversial pick, but one in which the Penguins selected a big body with some defensive awareness. Will Horcoff is the son of long-time NHL player Shawn Horcoff. Regardless of the draftniks’ grades, the Penguins brass felt they might not have a chance to snag Horcoff at 31, but Dubas also admitted they didn’t project value with the 59th overall pick, so it was an easy trade up.

Horcoff is 6-foot-5, 203 pounds, and was immediately imposing on the stage. The Penguins added some beef, albeit raw beef, with their later picks in the first round.

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

“We felt that 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. But not picking until 59 (on Day 2), we thought there’s very little chance we’re going to get somebody that we really had rated high at 59,” Dubas said. “What we did was select Bill (at 22), and then we just felt like if we didn’t move up and get Will Horcoff, we were going to be reaching a little bit at the later pick.”

Horcoff might be a big forward, but he is still raw. He played just 18 games with the University of Michigan after his time with the US National Team last season. Horcoff was a member of the Team USA U-18 team and had four points (2-2-4) in seven games at the U-18 World Juniors.

The Penguins have three third-round picks to begin Day 2 of the NHL Draft, and when asked if the Penguins planned to use all three, Dubas could only laugh. No, it doesn’t seem the Penguins are done wheeling and dealing, or at least trying.