The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect pipeline had become dry and rusty since the team last won the Stanley Cup in 2017.

A line of draft picks in the front door and out the back door created nearly a decade of veteran-laden teams with the oldest average age in the league with nary a hint of youth.

Despite a team full of young faces and prospects who made good on their potential for the back-to-back Stanley Cup runs, afterward general manager Jim Rutherford traded away most first-round picks and made mistakes with others. While former GM Ron Hextall didn’t trade away a first-round pick in his brief two-year tenure, he was hamstrung by Rutherford trading the 2021 pick for Jason Zucker, and Kyle Dubas packaged the 2024 pick for Erik Karlsson.

However, beginning with trading away Jake Guentzel at the 2024 NHL trade deadline and pocketing a league-high number of picks ever since, the Penguins pipeline is again moving, though slowly, through the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

In the meantime, Dubas and the Penguins are still trying to add youth and revitalize a team that has not won a playoff series since Round One of 2018.

Worst Penguins Drafts & Picks

5. Emil Pieniniemi

Typically, a third-round pick shouldn’t invite too much scrutiny if the player doesn’t make it far in the professional ranks. However, some of the 2023 public scouting reports on Pieniniemi were nothing short of scathing, placing him in the sixth or seventh round.

Indeed, Pieniniemi’s skating was lacking and his game could disappear into the ether. The team could have gambled on a more talented player.

T4. 2017, the Entire Class

Statistically, the worst draft class in Penguins history. Imagine an entire draft class with more than a handful of picks and none make the NHL. The Penguins draft woes and rusty prospects pipeline has indeed undergone such a calamitous draft since the team last won the Stanley Cup in 2017. Worse, most played professionally only sparingly in North America, before leaving hockey or going overseas.

The team’s top pick in the draft was second-rounder Zachary Lauzon. Rutherford traded out of the first-round and down to the St. Louis Blues 51st overall pick for enforcer Ryan Reaves but terrible luck befell Lauzon, who suffered severe concussion symptions and he never played professional hockey.

Third-round pick defenseman Clayton Phillips arrived in Development Camp with a little bit of an attitude. He elongated his collegiate career when transferred from Minnesota to Penn State, but played only one game for WBS on a tryout contract and never signed. He played two seasons for different ECHL teams on independent contracts before leaving hockey.

Fifth-rounder Jan Drozg played parts of three seasons with WBS before heading to the KHL. Fellow fifth-rounder Linus Ohlund played one full season for WBS before heading to the Swedish league. Sixth round pick Antti Palojarvi never played in the Penguins organization and left hockey a few seasons later while in the Finnish minor league. And seventh-rounder Will Reilly enjoyed a couple of seasons of part time work in the AHL.

An entire draft class, no NHL games. It’s a record of futility which can be matched but never broken.

2. Brayden Yager

Technically, the 2023 Draft was Kyle Dubas’s, but because he had just left the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Penguins job, Toronto placed an embargo on Dubas participating in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The Penguins under scouting director Nick Pryor selected Yager with the 14th overall pick in 2023. However, just a year later, Dubas fixed the pick by trading Yager to Winnipeg for Rutger McGroarty, the 2022 14th overall pick.

Yeager, a center, spent two seasons in junior hockey after being drafted, turning pro at 20.

However, the picks after Yager read like a who’s who of top prospects and players already establishing themselves in the NHL. From highly touted defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellika (Detroit) to Charlie Strammel (Minnesota), and Matthew Wood (Nashville), who scored 17 goals in 71 games this season, there are numerous players of significance.

PHN traveled to Saginaw, Michigan for the 2024 Memorial Cup with Yager’s Moose Jaw Warriors, but came away disappointed as Yager had adequate offensive statistics, but very little impact in the offensive zone. Indeed, after he turned pro in 2025-26, he posted just 30 points (10-20-30) in 68 AHL games.

He might develop into a defensive center for the bottom lines, but at 6-foot, 170 pounds, he doesn’t have the heft to play physically and his wicked wrister has not translated well against top competition or yet in the pros.

1. Sam Poulin

With full respect to the struggles and effort Poulin has put into his professional hockey career, the Penguins had the 19th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft but it didn’t work out for either party. Unfortunately, 11 of the next 13 picks after Poulin played significantly more games in the NHL, including Simon Holmstrom (Islanders) Connor McMichael (Capitals), Bobby Brink (Flyers) and Shane Pinto (Ottawa).

The heavy center turned winger back to center just didn’t click in the Penguins speed system.

After four-plus seasons in WBS, Dubas included Poulin in the Tristan Jarry trade in December, ending his Penguins tenure. He played 15 NHL games, registering two assists.

Tags: Penguins Prospects Pittsburgh Penguins Sam Poulin

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