Next up on our 2026 THN Top-20 Penguins' Prospects list is an intelligent, playmaking winger who climbed from 12 on last year's list all the way to the top-five this year.
It's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In years past, this has been a bit easier of an exercise, as there used to be a more clear-cut line between prospects with NHL upside and longshots. However, because of the work that general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and his staff have put in during the last several years, the line is blurring a whole lot more - and there is a substantially higher volume of talent in the system.
This time around, making a top-20 list was challenging. So, a few criteria were put into place: To make our list, prospects must be under the age of 26 and have played less than 50 NHL games. This excludes names such as Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander, Oliver Okuliar, and Alexander Alexeyev.
The No. 6 spot is occupied by scoring forward Will Horcoff, whose impressive first full season in the NCAA really put him on the map. Venturing into our top-five, we kick it off with a name many didn't really start paying due attention to until his impressive 2025-26 season.
No. 5: RW Mikhail Ilyin
If one seeks out Mikhail Ilyin highlights, mixtapes, and film, there is, of course, plenty of footage showing off his craftiness as a shooter. Ilyin has a sneaky deceptive release, can dangle defenders, and has enough zip on his shot to sneak it past professional-level goaltenders.
But if you're looking for the bread and butter of Ilyin's game and what defines him as a player, you'll probably notice that most of the film involves his playmaking and hockey sense. And, if you were able to catch any of Ilyin's short but impressive stint with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins this season, it's easy to see why we have him so high on this list.
After signing a three-year entry-level contract prior to the 2025-26 season, many assumed that Ilyin, now 21, would spend the season in North America. Instead, he returned on loan for a fourth season with the Severstal Cherepovets of the KHL, where he's been playing top-line minutes since he was a teenager in a league of men. He recorded 14 goals and 44 points in 68 regular season games as well as three goals and four points in five playoff games for Severstal before joining WBS at the end of the season.
And in the five regular season games and 15 playoff games - despite it being his first taste of North American professional hockey - he was one of the team's very best players.
He registered two assists in the five regular season games, and it's safe to say that was his "adjustment period." Because, come playoff time, he was noticeable just about every night. He ended the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs with two goals and nine points, which tied for second in team scoring. But even when he wasn't putting points on the board, he was affecting the game with his puck distribution skills, his high-IQ playmaking, his quick decision-making, his forechecking, and his ability to both create and expose space.
Ilyin knows what to do with the puck before the puck reaches his stick. His vision is near-unparalleled within the Penguins' system, and he showed it off on several of his assists during the playoffs.
Even if Ilyin's skating ability (in terms of footspeed) and goal-scoring ceiling is limited - and, again, it's worth stressing that he does have natural goal-scoring ability that could be expanded on in the North American pro game - his role as a play-driver, distributor, and creator has a pretty high ceiling. It's not unrealistic to envision Ilyin as the perfect complimentary winger in a top-six role, as his intelligence and playmaking ability have high-level potential. Even his defense is better than most people credit him for.
The 6-foot-3, 191-pound forward has the size, the reach, the smarts, and the ability to outsmart the opposition in all three zones. Ilyin's stock keeps rising, too, and his craftiness and talent is frequently acknowledged by his teammates.
"He's very poised, very smart," WBS defenseman Finn Harding told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's King Jemison in May. "He just waits for you to bite and then moves it the other way."
Forward Rutger McGroarty also told Jemison: "He makes plays that I don't even see when I'm watching from the bench."
There may still be some growing pains for Ilyin, who is probably going to begin next season in the AHL. Communication will be the main hurdle, as he hardly speaks any English, and with goaltender Sergei Murashov likely graduating to the NHL and defenseman Alexander Alexeyev returning to the KHL, he probably won't have too many resources as far as teammates to help ease that communication barrier. Something that simple could affect his on-ice adjustment in terms of playcalling and verbal cues.
However, everything else is already pretty well-adjusted, and it's clear that Ilyin already has the toolset of a seasoned professional. The crowded forward group for the Penguins will render him cracking the NHL roster out of camp unlikely, but it's not out of the question that he makes his debut sometime this year.
Ilyin may have been selected in the fifth round (142nd overall in 2023), but up to this point, he's looking like a late-round steal. If he can continue to progress and fully translate his playmaking ability to the NHL level, he is going to be a very good player for the Penguins in the years to come - and he'll be a name on everyone's radar.
The list so far:
- No. 20: D Chase Pietila
- No. 19: C Kale Dach
- No. 18: LW/C Ryan Miller
- No. 17: C Zam Plante
- No. 16: G Joel Blomqvist
- No. 15: C Markus Ruck
- No. 14: LW Tanner Howe
- No. 13: D Finn Harding
- No. 12: RW Avery Hayes
- No. 11: D Tomas Galvas
- No. 10: C Tristan Broz
- No. 9: RW Liam Ruck
- No. 8: D Owen Pickering
- No. 7: RW Ville Koivunen
- No. 6: LW/C Will Horcoff
- No. 5: RW Mikhail Ilyin
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