When the Penguins sold high on Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor right before the trade deadline, they acquired an interesting young prospect in Melvin Fernstrom. Well, Fernstrom has finally inked his rookie deal with the Penguins.
It was announced on Friday night and is a standard rookie deal and Fernstrom has already been impressive in the SHL, and he even took part in the 2024 World Juniors which is a good step in his development.
The Penguins have signed forward Melvin Fernstrom to a three-year, entry-level contract.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 13, 2025
Details: https://t.co/zrVQJj4TRj pic.twitter.com/W4GgPPFyvy
If Fernstrom can really work on his mechanics, he can develop well and play into the future of the Penguins
When teams acquire a prospect of Fernstrom's type, all the skills and tools are not going to be there right away. Fernstrom still has things to work on like his skating and his speed and agility and such.
But with the proper development as he gets older and faces tougher competition, all of that will grow for him and get easier and really help the Penguins in the future.
The Penguins do not have a lot of quality young guys in their prospect pool right now, but they are hoping that Fernstrom turns out to be one of those as he ages a bit and works on his skillset.
Fernstrom's ceiling is a second-line player and floor is a fourth-liner
Obviously right now, Kyle Dubas and crew do not know what they have in Fernstrom as he is still really young and has to develop a bit.
But if the cards are really played right, he can be as high as a second-line player for the Penguins in the future or he can be a fourth-line contributor.
Recently the Penguins have not been great at developing prospects, but as the team will draft a ton over the next few years, hopefully that gets easier.