2025 Penguins Training Camp: Forwards Battle Breakdown & Roster Projections (2025)

More than 20 forwards will begin the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp practices beginning Thursday, and even more will be there for the experience or the long-shot chance they impress coaches and enter the fray for the 13 or 14 forward spots on the 2025-26 Penguins roster.

In fact, we’ve 21 on the list below, not counting former prospects (spoiler alert) Sam Poulin and Valtteri Puustinen.

Because of the glut on the blue line, too, the team will probably keep only 13 forwards. General manager Kyle Dubas has not been shy about adding bodies, though it is entirely debatable if Dubas has added enough talent to improve the team’s fortunes.

It’s also debatable if improvement was the ultimate goal.

Penguins Additions Free Agent Additions: Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Brett Murray (PTO), Avery Hayes (signed an NHL contract on March 13), Filip Hallander.

Penguins Subtractions: Emil Bemstrom, Matt Nieto.

That’s a lot more addition than subtraction. Other names often slip through the discussion, like Tommy Novak, because Novak only played two games for the Penguins before suffering what became a season-ending injury after the team acquired him in the Michael Bunting trade from Nashville.

The team has also added a couple of first-round draft picks who will put forth their best effort to make the team: Ben Kindel and Bill Zonnon.

With a glut of players and limited opportunity at the top of the lineup as Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust survived a summer of trade rumors, conjecture, and speculation, the bottom six could be the bottom 12.

Penguins Projections

The Guarantees

Sidney Crosby: No. 1 center. All-time great. Duh.

Evgeni Malkin: No. 2 center. All-time great. Perhaps wingers who convert more scoring chances will boost Malkin’s point total from last season. The numbers say that it is quite possible.

Rickard Rakell: Top-flight winger. 35 goals and 35 assists last season. Trade rumors continue to hang over the slick winger, and he seems unlikely to finish the season with the Penguins, but he also seemed unlikely to start this season with them.

Bryan Rust: Blood and guts scoring winger. Hit 30 goals last season and is a leader who understands what it means to keep working, keep learning to maximize skills.

All But Guaranteed

Rutger McGroarty: The 200-foot playing, solidly built winger wasn’t ready for his NHL ice time at the beginning of last season, but most of a campaign in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prepared him. McGroarty, 21, “thrived instead of survived” in his second stint. The organization’s hope is that he’s a future cornerstone.

Ville Koivunen: A slick winger who impressed in the final eight games of last season after steadily improving with WBS. Koivunen, 22, had seven assists in those eight games and could/should be a top-six winger this season.

Anthony Mantha: The Penguins dished out a $2.5 million contract to the former Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, and Calgary Flames winger. He’s got talent–that has never been questioned–but his results have been spotty. He’s recovered from knee surgery last season, but if he doesn’t make the team, lingering effects would be the reason.

Tommy Novak: What he brings to the Penguins is still a mystery, but his roster spot is all but secure as Dubas targeted him in the March trade. Novak isn’t a physical sort, but has offensive ability, either from the wing or the middle.

Blake Lizotte: A scrappy, speedy forward who kills penalties and does all of the dirty work.

In the Battle

Noel Acciari: The scrappy forward is slowing. He led the forwards in hits and blocked shots last season. He also provides center depth, but he will have to earn his place.

He seems likely to make the team, but good camps by others could render him a casualty at the altar of youth.

Kevin Hayes: The forward can be the third line center or fourth line winger. His offensive production has been subpar over the last few seasons, and the increasingly fast game does not benefit him. However, he is due over $3.5 million this season, and his versatility is an important asset.

Also has the potential to be a casualty of youth.

Justin Brazeau: The 27-year-old winger has a two-year, $1.5 million deal. It’s a show me deal, but despite his 6-foot-6, 227-pound size, he’s not a heavy player. He projects as a potential fourth-line scorer after scoring 20 points (10-10-20) in 57 games with the Boston Bruins last season. (Correction: We initially listed his contract as a one-year deal.)

Philip Tomasino: Dubas is running it back with Tomasino, 24, after an OK 2025-26. Tomasino scored in spurts, but does not engage in enough other aspects to offset his game when he’s not scoring. He had 23 points in 50 games last season. Tomasino is truly on the bubble, both with the Penguins and his career.

Danton Heinen: The nowhere man comes and goes, chips in some offense, but never seems to be an impactful player. He doesn’t seem to have a spot on the Penguins roster, but he can play every role on the wing. It isn’t easy to pin down his projection with a new coach, who may not be as interested in his game as the previous coach.

Connor Dewar: The feisty, small, speedy winger’s best chance to make the team is to prove he’s a better option in a fourth-line role. Dewar is 26 and has value as a bottom-of-the-lineup player, but could easily lose his spot to a younger player like Tristan Broz or Avery Hayes.

Avery Hayes: He has kicked down the door to opportunity at every level. An undrafted free agent, Hayes, 22, signed an AHL deal with the WBS Penguins. He was part of the roster platoon with veterans until last season, when his services became too good to take out of the lineup. Then, in March, he signed an NHL contract. He’s fast. Gritty. Determined. And has some offensive instincts. He may not make the team out of camp, but he’ll be in the NHL this season.

Tristan Broz: Another prospect who came into his own last season when the organization permanently moved him to center. Broz, 22, is a stocky player with silky hands and good skating. He’s trying to demonstrate defensive awareness and a complete game to make the show this season. The 2021 second-round pick will arrive this year, but the battle will be to make the team for opening night.

Filip Hallander: The former Penguins prospect left North America to return home to Sweden for a few seasons, in which he blossomed. Likely a winger, Hallander began to tap his offensive potential last season in the Swedish Elite League with 26 goals and 53 points in 51 games.

Hallander is the great wild card in the Penguins’ situation. With a good camp and preseason, he’s almost a lock to make the team, but coaches will not simply give him a job.

Joona Koppanen: An NHL depth player who looked solid in his late-season 15-game run. In July, Dubas touted the Penguins’ development department for helping Koppanen dramatically improve his skating. He’s likely snookered behind the gaggle of players and ticketed for WBS, but he’s versatile, has some offensive instincts, and size.

Koppanen, 27, could play for a lot of teams, though not necessarily in an impactful role.

Boko Imama: The hard-fisted forward is recovered from offseason shoulder surgery and provides something the Penguins don’t have: toughness. He can punch, but he also isn’t a bad hockey player.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard: He was squeezed out of the overcrowded group of up-and-coming Montreal Canadiens players. In 84 NHL games, the 26-year-old small forward has 31 points (17-14-31). He’s a spunky winger who might be the darling of camp, but falls just short of the roster as he did last year in Montreal.

Newbies

Bill Zonnon and Ben Kindel were first-round picks in June.

Zonnon is a strapping center who may or may not stick in the middle at the professional ranks and is already a good skater, though the organization thinks it can further improve his mechanics.

Kindel was good in Buffalo at the Prospects Challenge. His hockey IQ was obvious, but we don’t think his game and skating are quite ready for the show–though, in a good sign for the player and organization, his skating seemed to be notably improved since July.

Zonnon could be the training camp surprise simply because he is listed at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, but probably bigger than that. He’s unlikely to make the team, but we’re curious to see how close he is. He did not play in the Prospects Challenge due to injury.