The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top-25 Under 25 countdown list rolls on with a look at a prospect from Kyle Dubas’ first draft class with the Pittsburgh Penguins, defenseman Emil Pieniniemi.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

#14: Mikhail Ilyin, LW/RW

2024 Ranking: No. 11Age: 20 (Feb. 15, 2005)Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft (Round 5, Pick 142)

Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 181 pounds

Mikhail Ilyin is one of the more intriguing prospects that the Penguins have, and most importantly they now have him under contract.

Ilyin signed with Pittsburgh — though he is expected to be loaned back to the KHL for 2025-26.

Ilyin has seen a great role with Severstal, which isn’t always the case for young players in the KHL that often are relegated to extreme fringes of the lineup. He was able to improve his assists (23) and points (30) totals from last season as an extremely young player in the league. He’s one of a very select number of players to manage 50+ career KHL points as a teenager (having turned 20 in February of last season).

It’s easy and fun to see why on the highlights; Ilyin is a forward dripping with skill and a heady approach to the game. Everyone looks good on a highlight reel but Ilyin is a highlight reel creator. His playmaking ability and preference to pass is evident from his raw scoresheet and also reflected in most of the highlights. As you’ll see in the last one, even when falling and going out of the play he’s still got the wherewithal to keep at.

“He had took a bit of a step last year, which is great” Pens assistant GM Jason Spezza said at last month’s prospect camp. “He’s going to go back to the KHL again next year, but we have him under contract now so we anticipate the year following that he’ll come. I think with Mikhail just to get him here, and for him to kind of feel the environment is really important. So it’s great that he’s been able to make it and he’s playing pro over there, so I think he’ll learn from what he has here and then go over there and have another good year and get him over [here].”

Pittsburgh’s Director of Player Development Tom Kostopolous largely echoed Spezza’s comments at the same venue.

“It was great to get to know him and I think it was really good for him to be around the other players and the players were great with him. So you can see he makes some really head plays out there, just like a couple plays where he didn’t touch the puck and left it for someone and some really nice passes. The skating is the biggest area that needs to come. I think he can get stronger and really work on that skating. He has habits of slowing, plays down because he’s so intelligent and we want him to play a bit faster.“

Ilyin wasn’t completely satisfied with his season, as he relayed to the Tribune Review:

“It wasn’t a bad season,” Ilyin said. “But (there’s) always something to grow (on). I can see myself with something to grow and have a better season.”

Ilyin was also on board with Kostopolous’s assessment of where he needs to improve.

“My best (attribute) is I.Q,” Ilyin said. “I can see the ice. The (area) that I’ve got to definitely work on is speed. Skating.”

The pace of the game in the smaller North American rinks will definitely present a learning curve for Ilyin in the years to come. He got a sample of that earlier this summer, his first time in Pittsburgh and being able to participate in drills and scrimmages with his fellow Penguin prospects.

It was an eye opening experience, at times Ilyin was limited to the perimeter. There were occasions where the physicality and brand of hockey that is played on NHL rinks was new to him and wiped him out of plays.

But the puck skills were also there. Whether it was the subtle passes, or finishing a shot between his legs when he was too tight to the goal to do anything else — this is something of a daring player who has a lot of ability and also knows how to use it with the puck in the offensive zone.

For now, the waiting and patience will be in store for Ilyin and the Pens. He’ll be back in Russia again next season for one more year and able to take the lessons he’s learned and garner personal improvements with his speed and skating now that he’s seen firsthand what it’s going to take to compete.

From there, Ilyin should be coming to America for good full time for the 2026-27 season as a 21-year old. Like most players that young he will likely need some AHL seasoning to fully gain the experience necessary to challenge for an NHL job.

Ilyin could be a boom or bust type of prospect — he’s not likely to help out defensively or fill a lower line role in the NHL. But the Penguins don’t have many players in their system who could credibly be seen in the future as featuring on an NHL power play. Ilyin breaks the mold there, he has the skills and ability in the slower 5v4 setting to potentially be a player with a future as a point-producing specialist.

Therein lies the intrigue, it’s not too often that fifth round picks have legitimate high-end puck skills and real promise to potentially make the impact that Ilyin could offer. There’s a lot of work still to come and an awful lot needed to learn and grow in the years ahead, but this is certainly a prospect worth following in his journey here at the very beginning of it.