The amount of young talent in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization is filling up quickly. CapWages has 21 players on Pittsburgh’s reserve list for unsigned drafted players and the team has 22 others under contract that will be playing in the pro ranks next season. Once upon a time, finding 25 players to even rank was a tall task, now there are some decent enough names that won’t draw a mention at all for this year’s list considering that there are over 40 options between signed players and the reserve list. Today hopes to appease that with an honorable mention of five players on the cusp of making the list, all of whom show the potential to be ranked next year with favorable upcoming seasons.
Earlier in the week we kicked off Top 25 Under 25 season by looking at the players that won’t be a part of this year’s list due to aging out, being traded or otherwise leaving the organization. As a loose rule, we’re saying for now that 2019 draftees like Elmer Soderblom (who turned 25 earlier this summer) and Nick Robertson (who has his 25th birthday in September) are ineligible this year. 2020 draftees that are under the age of 25 currently, like Hendrix Lapierre and Joel Blomqvist meet the cut-off as fair game this year.
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The top 25 under 25 series was a staple within the SBN Hockey blogs a decade ago, around here it’s morphed into what I like to think about as a snapshot in time for value and importance within the organization. It’s not meant to be purely predictive of which player may be the best pro in three, five or seven years but show how the young players currently stack up against one another.
In many ways it’s an impossible task, and a very subjective one. How does one weigh a 24-year old that figures to have a short leash at making an NHL impact (like a Phil Tomasino or Sam Poulin last year) against a fresh-faced 18 year old that was just drafted and doesn’t figure to turn pro for several years? Not to mention everything in between. It’s certainly a balancing act where guaranteed contributions to the NHL level count for something, even with the real possibility of a short shelf life and some projections also have to be taken into account for expected/hoped for futures.
Since this is a value-based snapshot in time, another handy tool may be to consider a hypothetical trade. If you assume a trade is going to happen and the other side wants either prospect X or young player Y to finalize the deal, which asset would the organization be better off holding onto? The answer to that judgement can go a long way towards determining where the young players will slot in against each other for this list, though it isn’t a strict rule of thumb since some player profiles (puck moving defenseman) might have more trade value than organizational value than other spots (goalie, small winger). That consideration is at least some factor in aligning the rankings.
Deeper into the process once the proceedings get going, we’ll pull back the curtain and show a bit more of the informal tiers of prospects that give more structure to the groupings. This year, we have a few players at the top for expected NHL contributors with top of the lineup potential, followed by two broad tiers of mixed between ‘highly drafted further out players with upside’ and ‘mid-age prospects with something to prove’. Further down the line, the latter tiers include ‘far out longshots showing promise’ if you want to start getting that mindset early.
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For now, players who didn’t make this year’s top-25, in what could be considered the ‘others receiving votes’ section of the AP poll. Going back as recently as 2023, any of these players on the HM list today might have ranked as high as 12th, given the weakened state of the prospect pool back then. Flip back to 2022 and any of these names they have been as high as 10th. That’s not even an exaggeration, the pool is filling up and getting better (also true: it wasn’t very deep or good back then). These names are worth watching, knowing and hoping for the best. This will be alphabetical order.
Quinn Beauchesne
Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopolous raved about Beauchesne during this month’s development camp.
“I don’t know if another prospect in our organization grew as much as he did during the season last year,” Kostopoulos said. “It was great to see. You could see him mature as a leader, as an individual, and like, really take ownership of his career and his development. Really happy with him.”
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Beauchesne, a fifth round pick in 2025, was 25th in last year’s Pensburgh T25U25 list. An uneven start to his OHL year, in addition to the amount of young talent coming in during the last 12 months, has bumped him for this year but the young defender still has plenty of time to grow and continue to work his way back into the mix. The Pens brought Beauchesne on as an AHL amateur tryout after his OHL year ended, he made his pro debut for one game in Wilkes and got to see how professionals prepare and work. He’ll take that knowledge onto Boston College this fall to continue his progression.
“He’s got snarl to his game, he’ll stick up for his teammates, he’s got a nasty edge,” Kostopoulos said.
He can say that again, Beauchesne was suspended for two games in the OHL for a high slash to an opponent. He’s not very big (6’0”, 184 pounds) but plays an aggressive, fearless style and doesn’t back down from confrontations. He’s got a good motor, can skate well and play the puck a little bit – finishing his OHL season with 23 points in the last 29 games in a huge role after his so-so start to the year.
Atley Calvert
The Pens signed Atley Calvert, 22, to an NHL entry level contract this July, a nice reward for an over-achiever. Calvert went undrafted into the WHL, earned a spot and become the second highest scorer on a championship team for Moose Jaw by his final year there. After going undrafted in the NHL, Calvert signed a minor league contract with the Pens and split 2024-25 between the ECHL and AHL, playing more in Wheeling than in Wilkes. Last season was a breakout, Calvert stuck in the AHL and played 70 games, scoring 38 points (16 goals, 22 assists). Mostly a winger, he filled in admirably at center for 20 games when the team was short-staffed down the middle and needed help. In the Calder Cup Playoffs, Calvert chipped in another six points (3G+3A) in 15 games.
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Calvert earned that NHL contract through a lot of hard work and versatility. As mentioned above, he was willing and able to play center in a pinch. He’s a player with a great motor that will fight for the puck all over the ice and make a bigger impact than the boxcar stats will show by being hard on the puck and reliable to make the right play. Calvert’s the sort of ‘safe’ player in a good way that a coach can trust and will latch onto as a key player to be on the ice for an important d-zone start. Considering where he started from, Calvert’s over-shot significantly already. It’s worth watching here to see what he can do in the next couple of years as he continues to grow. He doesn’t have a super-high ceiling for the NHL, but players good on and off the puck are always valuable, and if nothing else Calvert will be a staple that helps Wilkes for the next couple of seasons.
Gabriel D’Aigle
It’s difficult enough to analyze goalies, so figuring out a netminder in the ultra-offensive QMJHL, on a bad team that gives up almost 40 shots a game and is bad enough to lose no matter who the goalie is? That’s about impossible. So it’s tough to know just what the Pens have in Gabriel D’Aigle, a third round pick from 2025, but they are excited for his future and talent.
“Just his excitement to be in the net, his attitude in the net, when you see him in practice, you see him on the ice, he’s a competitor,” Kostopoulos said in July. “He wants to stop pucks. He wants to get into the net. He did a really good job jumping in there in Wheeling. We’re excited about his potential, for sure.”
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Not turning 20 until November, D’Aigle is incredibly young for a pro goalie. Word from the organization seems to be guiding him to play pro next season, after signing his NHL ELC and getting some experience in the ECHL last season.
“It was good experience,” D’Aigle said. “Pro is different than junior. I play against men. It’s different. The game is faster, and the shots are heavier. I learned for the next season.”
One interesting wrinkle: D’Aigle played on a minor league ATO last season, and was given an ECHL qualifying offer by Wheeling. The Penguins have ended their affiliation with Wheeling, but due to that ECHL QO the Nailers retain D’Aigle’s ECHL rights for next season. The Pens’ new ECHL affiliate, Florida, would have to trade something to get them. How that situation unfolds could be interesting to watch and see if the Pens/Florida break something off for Wheeling to get D’Aigle for their organization, or if Pittsburgh just opts to keep D’Aigle in the AHL as a third goalie, or even send him back to the QMJHL as an over-age player and figure it out next season.
Either way, it’s a goalie, he’s 6’4” and extremely athletic, but extremely young. Let’s check back in 2-3 years and see what it’s looking like as far as his transition into the pro ranks.
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Kale Dach
A seventh round pick in 2025, Dach is a prospect on the rise. He will head to Penn State in 2026-27.
“Two-way guy that produced at a pretty good clip in a pretty good League [BCHL],” Vice President of Player Personnel Wes Clark said last summer. “So, our model was high on him at that point. We’ll see where that one goes as well.”
It went really well in the first year, Dach led the Calgary Hitmen (WHL) in goals (34) and points (75) in 2025-26. Dach is a smaller player at 5’10” 165 pounds and needs to continue to add strength as he develops, but he’s been an offensive-minded player with a knack of producing at the BCHL and WHL levels. He’s the perfect profile of a Clark/Kyle Dubas pet project as a smaller prospect with some upside with great hands, hockey IQ and responsible enough away from the puck to make a positive impact for his teams at the lower levels. Now he’ll step up a rung of competition again as he begins his NCAA career and looks to create a niche not too far from Pittsburgh over in State College starting this fall.
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Travis Hayes
A younger brother of Penguin Avery Hayes, Travis as a 2025 draftee from the fourth round. There are a lot of similarities between the two brothers; both are right handed forwards with about the same size profile (5’11 and 170ish pounds) with incredible motors and a touch of scoring ability. Despite the obvious commonalities, the Penguins see differences between the two.
“I don’t want to compare them other than they’re great kids,” Kostopoulos said this summer. “We love them. Their coaches love them both. Their teammates love them both. They work their tail(s) off. But on the ice, they’re different.
“Travis is a great kid. He gives you everything he has every shift. He’s been working on his shot and his puck skills. … He works really hard at this game. Will continue to do so and he’s coming on.”
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Avery Hayes made a huge jump at age-19, in his third year of OHL hockey in 2022, going from 29 points the season before up to 79 points. The league has changed to make an exact comparison, Travis has been a little more advanced by getting drafted and having an AHL ATO last spring with Wilkes, though he did not appear in any games. Unlike many in his draft class, Travis isn’t going the NCAA route and will head back to the OHL and presumably look to start his pro career in 2027-28. He’s got a long road ahead with a lot of minor league time likely, but if he can stay on the path his brother has already tread, the Pens might have a player with some sort of NHL future years down the line.
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