Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Top-20 Penguins' Prospects 2026, No. 6: Scoring Winger's Dominant NCAA Season Only The Beginning

Kelsey Surmacz

Updated Aug 21, 2026, 06:13

featured

Next up on our 2026 THN Top-20 Penguins' Prospects list is a sniping winger who, if he can build out a more all-around game and continue to score goals at a torrid pace, could be a long-term top-six solution for the Penguins in the future.

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.

moreVideos

Right wing Ville Koivunen came in at No. 7 on our list, and he has a chance to prove this season that he can live up to the eight-year contract he signed. At No. 6, we dive into a great season by one of Pittsburgh's three first-round picks in 2025, and he's a guy whose value is on the rise.

No. 6: LW/C Will Horcoff

Depending on the prospect list you read, some have Horcoff even higher than sixth. He's 6-foot-5, he's a legitimate goal-scorer, he blew his first full season at the University of Michigan out of the water, he suited up for Team USA at the World Junior Championship, and there is a ton of raw talent.

Horcoff being at No. 6 on this list isn't a knock on him. It's more so about the fact that the Penguins, for the first time in quite a while, actually have some legitimate talent in their system. There are a few areas of the game where Horcoff needs to blossom in order to really solidify himself as one of the very top prospects in the organization.

But, yeah, about that goal-scoring... let's revisit that.

It's worth noting that the 19-year-old forward - who was deployed on the wing for Michigan last season - did sustain a shoulder injury during the second half, which, coincidentally, was when his production faded a bit down the stretch.

It's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

thehockeynews.comTop-20 Penguins' Prospects 2026, No. 7: Winger Must Prove Himself Worthy Of Organizational CommitmentIt's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

"Faded" as his performance might have been, it does not take away from the outstanding work he put in during the 2025-26 campaign. Horcoff finished the NCAA season with 25 goals and 39 points in 40 games, and during the first half of the season - when he was still 18 years old, mind you - he was scoring at a tick below a goal-per-game pace. As in, he had 17 goals and 28 points in 20 games at one point, which is exactly half the season.

Had he scored at that pace in the second half, he would have finished with 34 goals and 56 points in 40 games, which would have given him the goal-scoring crown by a margin of five and placed him third in scoring. Notwithstanding, only Hayden Stavroff of Dartmouth finished the NCAA season with more goals than Horcoff.

All of that itself is impressive enough, but to be a freshman and 18 for half the season accomplishing that against big, abrasive NCAA competition? That's nothing to scoff at. And his freshman production speaks to how dangerous an offensive weapon he can be.

Horcoff's shot is flat-out lethal, as it's both heavy and accurate. He's a sniper from the danger areas, and he pairs very well with playmaking centers because he knows how to expose those areas. His defensive work is actually pretty solid, too, and he's a threat on the power play. He also plays a physical game and knows how to use his frame to his advantage.

The one major area of deficiency in his game, though, is that he doesn't drive play a whole lot on his own. He isn't a great player in transition, and he doesn't carry the puck into the zone with nearly enough regularity. Right now, as dangerous as he is on the wing, he's still relatively reliant on teammates to help drive his production.

This isn't necessarily an inherent issue when players score goals with the regularity and the ease that Horcoff does. However, it does bring into question how translatable his game is to the NHL level.

If he isn't scoring at this rate, what else does he bring? That is going to be the fundamental challenge for Horcoff as he navigates his development is to develop an offensive game that isn't so heavily reliant on pucks going in the net for him and on linemates like Michael Hage doing most of the play-driving.

On Tuesday, a prominent prospect writer placed the Pittsburgh Penguins right in the middle of the pack of some prospect pool rankings - and the list certainly has some surprises.

thehockeynews.comPenguins Slot At 16 In Latest Prospect Pool RankingsOn Tuesday, a prominent prospect writer placed the Pittsburgh Penguins right in the middle of the pack of some prospect pool rankings - and the list certainly has some surprises.

But, at the end of the day, a whole lot of pucks do go in the net for him, and if that part of his game does indeed translate, it renders a whole lot of other things moot. Still, the Penguins' development staff is interested to see where Horcoff takes his game next season as a sophomore at Michigan.

"I think he can find the net. He's a big guy who likes to score and had a lot of chemistry with his linemates and took off there," Penguins' director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said during development camp. "I think, at times, he lost his rhythm a little bit, but that's something that he knows, he understands, and he's working on, just to build that consistency and just be able to play. And, if the puck's not going into the net, to have a 'B' game.

"So, it's all things he's building in his game and working on. He's a very intelligent kid and player, so we're excited about him."

Horcoff may be a few seasons away from the NHL, but it will be interesting to see how his second full NCAA season goes. If he continues to build out a more all-around game, he could very well be a legitimate top-six contributor for the Penguins going forward.