After Corey Pronman dropped his new rankings of each prospect pool for every NHL club, there is a clear issue for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Although he should be commended for his effort, Kyle Dubas has put forth a turn around for a once dire prospect pool. Their developing talent has vastly improved since Dubas took over, but the Penguins remain stuck in the middle of the pack.
One of the biggest concerns going forward for Pittsburgh's hockey club will be stumbling upon star players to replace Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Those types of players don't grow on trees, and that is one factor as to why Pronman has the Penguins prospect pool ranked 16th in the NHL. They sit right in the middle of the league, and their future remains somewhat bleak.
"The Pittsburgh Penguins have done an excellent job restocking what was once a very thin system." Pronman continued his assessment, "It’s a very respectable pipeline that will provide much-needed youth and compete as Pittsburgh eventually turns away from its old core of players."
Time will only tell how Kyle Dubas' current approach of trying to retool on the fly and keeping his stars happy by attempting to compete for a playoff spot works out. It appears they might just remain in the mushy middle for a while longer as they appease the conclusion of the Crosby era. They don't seem content with being a bottom dweller in the standings, but it could be hurting them long-term.
Pittsburgh Penguins prospect rankings show the true underlying problem for the team
In reality, tearing an aging team down to the studs isn't as foolproof as some might hope to believe. That train of thought normally leads to many years of suffering. Sometimes a team lucks out and lands a stretch of drafts where you get a significant group of stars like the Penguins did with Crosby, Letang, Malkin, and others.
Right now, their prospect pool lacks stars, and it could cost them sooner or later.
Pronman was rather high on some of the Penguins developing players like Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel, and Harrison Burnicke. All three made the top of the list in his article during his individual breakdown of those prospects in the organization. All three should be NHL regulars and potentially land significant roles. The issue remains that none of them appear ready to become a star player.
You can call out some of Pronman's observations and his listing of the Penguins top prospects. He doesn't even mention Sergei Murashov, who will likely be the starting netminder for the team going into the season. Not even including him on the list until number 17 is mind boggling. It's fair to argue that Murashov could be considered the top prospect for the Penguins going into training camp.
At the end of the day, this ranking only exposes the underlying issue for the team. Since they are trying to ice a competitive team, they won't get anywhere close to a star prospect when the draft arrives unless they luck out with the lottery system. Pittsburgh will enjoy watching Sidney Crosby hit the ice once again, but once he leaves, there is no clear star to replace him anytime soon.
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