Inside Scoop: 2025 Penguins Development Camp

Pictured above: 2024 second-round pick Harrison Brunicke, captain of Team Patrick.

After adding 13 players into the organization at the 2025 NHL Draft, the Penguins moved forward with the next step of the process at 2025 Development Camp. It began on Thursday (July 3) and ran through Monday (July 7).

“Obviously, when you're in our position, you're accruing picks and prospects – but you have to make good on them,” Pittsburgh’s President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said during the draft. “You have to draft good players. You have to do a great job in developing them. We'll turn them over after today to Tom Kostopoulos, and we'll get to work.”

Kostopoulos, Pittsburgh’s Director of Player Development, said they spoke with the 52 invitees about coachability, competitiveness, and work ethic over the last few days, which included on- and off-ice sessions.

"I think just the way the organization is trying to grow, bring in more prospects, it's more opportunity," Kostopoulos said. "Then the more staff, also, the more resources we have available to those players to be able to accommodate them has grown. So, it's fun getting to see players that our scouts are recommending and bringing into camp here, and getting to know them and showing them what we can offer as an organization and as a development group."

We added lots of content from camp right here, so it's all in one place.

--Michelle Crechiolo

DEVELOPMENT CAMP: SCRIMMAGES

Congratulations to Team Stevens, who lifted the Michel Briere Trophy after winning the 4-on-4 tournament to close out 2025 Development Camp.

“It was great. I think our team had a lot of chemistry on the ice, off the ice, so it was fun to go to battle with those guys and to get the win, too, was even better,” Bill Zonnon said.

Game 1: Stevens vs. Patrick

Mac Swanson, Pittsburgh’s seventh-round selection in 2024, opened the scoring for Team Stevens on a wraparound goal.

One of the biggest standout performances in Game One came from Zonnon, drafted 22^nd overall the weekend before last by Pittsburgh. Quinn Beauchesne, a fellow 2025 draft pick, found Zonnon alone in front to beat D’Aigle five-hole that gave Team Stevens a 3-0 lead.

When asked about the play, Zonnon had to laugh.

“[Beauchesne] has been waiting for this question,” said Zonnon, who sat next to Beauchesne in the locker room all this week. “It was good movement in the offensive zone, a lot of rotations and all that kind of stuff. I got the puck to him, I kind of snuck in front of the net, and he was able to find me.”

After an empty net goal from Nolan Renwick, Team Stevens defeated Team Patrick 4-0 and faced Team Johnston in the following game.

Game 2: Stevens vs. Johnston

Another one of Pittsburgh’s three first-round selections this past draft, Will Horcoff, scored the opening goal for Team Johnston. Horcoff, who comes in at 6-foot-5 and 203 pounds, powered to the net and beat goaltender Joshua Kotai in close.

Penguins Director of Player Development Tom Kostopoulos was particularly impressed with what he saw from both Horcoff and Zonnon during today’s game action.

“There's games and sequences where they really stood out,” Kostopoulos said. “I think Zonnon wanted the puck. He was available for the puck. He made plays happen. He was transporting it up the ice on a few occasions. I know he got one goal, maybe a couple there. It was nice to see.

“And then Horcoff, his size and I thought his skating looked good. He scored a couple of really powerful goals there, one where he took the puck to the back post and tucked it in beating the D, and the other a little change of speed, shaking off the defender in front of him for a big goal for his team.”

Team Stevens was able to break through in the final two minutes of regulation with goals from Ryan Miller and David Breazeale to defeat Team Johnston 3-1.

Game 3: Patrick vs. Johnston

After Horcoff gave Team Johnston a 3-2 lead with less than three minutes to go, Team Patrick captain Harrison Brunicke tied it with eight seconds remaining. He looking particularly dialed in at the end.

But the 11^th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Ben Kindel, scored a shootout goal to help his team advance to the final.

“You see the hockey sense, you see the playmaking ability... if you give a smart player more speed and strength, their game is only going to grow,” said Kostopoulos. “I think he’s a kid who’s willing to put in the work, and he knows what he has to do. It’s been fun to have him here.”

Final: Stevens vs. Patrick

Chase Pietila was able to get the first goal of the game for Team Patrick after he buried the loose rebound on a shot from Brayden Edwards. Soon after, 2025 sixth-round draft pick Carter Sanderson, extended his team’s lead to two with just under halfway left in regulation.

Team Stevens was able to quickly tie the game with goals from Miller and Iiro Hakkarainen to send the championship game into a shootout.

With two huge saves from Kotai and goals from Miller and Caden Taylor in the shootout, Team Stevens were able to complete the comeback and take home the Michel Briere Cup to cap off Development Week.

“He made an impact out there,” Kostopoulos said of Miller, a 2025 fifth-round draft pick. “Almost every shift he was on the ice, he was involved and on the puck. When players keep getting the puck, you can tell they're into the game. So, he was all over it. It was nice to see his compete level. I think there's a lot to work with. I think there's intelligence and puck skills, and he's not scared to get to the inside of the ice. So, it was fun watching him and good to see.”

Kostopoulos listed Team Stevens captain Joona Vaisanen (more on him in the Captains section) as another standout from this week.

"I think we all know and expected a lot, and he didn't disappoint," Kostopoulos said. "I thought he looked really good out there and captained his team to the win, so it was good."

--Brandon Karafilis

DEVELOPMENT CAMP: TEAMS

DEVELOPMENT CAMP: CAPTAINS

The Penguins designated three players to wear C’s at this year’s Development Camp. Here’s a quick look at each one.

Team Stevens: Joona Vaisanen

After spending the 2023-24 season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL, the 2024 sixth-round pick of the Penguins transitioned to the NCAA. The 20-year-old blueliner helped the Western Michigan Broncos with their first title in team history.

Jason Spezza: "Joona is a guy that we were really high on. Draft plus two guy that we saw a lot of potential in, great feel for the game, in a good spot at Western Michigan, where they teach the details really well. Pat does a good job teaching them how to defend. Joona defends really well, angling, skating forward. I think that really benefited him, and he's got a quiet confidence to him, and I think that showed. To be a part of a championship team and log the minutes he did, it was a great year for him. He’s a guy that's looking to push and taking on even a bigger role there with the club this year. But, great season. We like when our players are part of winning teams."

Team Patrick: Harrison Brunicke

It’s been quite the year for Brunicke since being selected 44^th overall in 2024. Before spending time in Europe with Team Canada, Brunicke made his professional debut with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League after another strong junior season with Kamloops of the Western Hockey League.

When Brunicke looks back, skating in four preseason games with Pittsburgh and coming close to being on the opening-night roster was the foundation for it all. Read more here.

Jason Spezza: "He will tell us how close he is (to the NHL) through training camp. I think Harrison knows the task at hand and that he had a great camp last year. Then in Wilkes, I think it was a great learning curve for him to come and have a little bit of the struggles early on there, the first few weekends. Then to see his game blossom, he was probably a guy that got hurt the most by us losing in the first round. His game was really coming on. He’s a guy that I think is really looking to push and take a step and make some noise in camp. But he'll be the one that dictates how ready he is."

Team Johnston: Daniel Laatsch

Pittsburgh drafted the 6-foot-5, 183-pound defenseman in the 7^th round in 2021. His fourth season of college hockey was limited to 22 games after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip to begin the calendar year. The 23-year-old signed a two-year entry-level contract with Pittsburgh in March.

Tom Kostopoulos: "He's full go. He's 100% healthy. He's excited to get back at it. It was a tough decision for him when to make that decision, but he's ready to go. He's excited to turn pro. Love the size, love the kid. Really great kid. He's ready to dive in and work. I think his reach and his stick detail is something special. And his willingness to kill penalties, block shots, defend in the corners, are some things that we really like."

--Michelle Crechiolo

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Many of the attendees are Penguins draft picks, and there are some undrafted kids in the mix, including 20-year-old forward Oliver Tulk from the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. He is reunited with his former teammates and Penguins prospects Ben Kindel (2025 first round) and Tanner Howe (2024 second round).

This past season, Tulk led the team in scoring with 100 points (38G-62A), with Kindel right behind him, totaling 99 points (35G-64A). Tulk plans on playing in the NCAA next season for the University of Wisconsin, but is still working towards his first professional contract. He hopes to leave a good impression on the Penguins, with a little help from his friends.

“Tanner’s been here for a year, and Ben is a first-rounder. He’s getting a lot of praise right now, and obviously everything he deserves,” said Tulk on joining his teammates at Development Camp. “It’s awesome to be around them and see what it’s like from their perspective.”

Another message from this management group is that everyone is on the same playing field, no matter what you’re signed to, no matter who you are. That is something Kindel, drafted 11th overall last weekend in Los Angeles, is taking to heart.

“(Pittsburgh’s Vice President of Player Personnel) Wes Clark has been giving me a lot of advice to just stay hungry and never look back,” said Kindel. “The draft is in the past now for me. I’m just looking forward to getting after it and having that mentality of more of an undrafted player and staying hungry.”

--Brandon Karafilis

FIRST LOOK: MELVIN FERNSTROM

The Penguins acquired the forward from Vancouver, a Canucks third-round pick in 2024, as part of the Marcus Pettersson-Drew O'Connor trade on Jan. 31. Fernstrom went on to record 11 points in the last 19 games with Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League, and won Rookie of the Year.

"It's something that not a lot of people get to have. It was really fun and exciting," said Fernstrom, who signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Penguins.

Dubas said when they spoke to Fernstrom ahead of his draft, he showed an understanding of what the development path was going to be like. He then executed on his goals of earning a spot in the SHL as a teenager and embrace his role as a highly competitive bottom-six forward.

"But there's a lot of offensive potential," Kostopoulos said. "I think his shot is elite. His ability to find space in the offensive zone is really high end for a kid that age. His coaches were really impressed with his ability to absorb information from the older players on his team. And although the team didn't do really well, they felt like he kept getting better and better. So to be put in with the big team and be able to produce, I think it was a really good season for him."

Hear from the 19-year-old below.

--Michelle Crechiolo

NOTABLE POSTS FROM @PensInsideScoop

NOTABLE POSTS FROM @penguins

In addition to learning how to be a pro, the prospects got a lot of team bonding and community time away from the rink. I need to start this section with my favorite video from development camp. PensTV producer Andrew McIntyre put together a hilarious edit of the guys playing paintball...

The prospects also spent time playing pickleball. I did have to laugh when someone asked Will Horcoff the similarities/differences between him and his dad, longtime NHLer Shawn Horcoff, and he immediately caught a stray. "I'm a way better pickleball player than him. He's going to hate that," Will said with a grin.

As a millennial, it pains me to even post this one...

And finally, I was chatting with Will Horcoff the other day about who reached out to him following the draft. He goes way back with Rutger McGroarty, who FaceTimed him in a moment our camera caught. Penguins 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering asked for the numbers of all three first-round picks and messaged them, which was a thoughtful gesture from the 21-year-old defenseman. And of course, Sidney Crosby made sure to send a note. I asked what he replied, and the response was gold. He was willing to share it below.

--Michelle Crechiolo

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

It’s truly delightful having Bones back in the fold for many reasons, including content like the video below. He was totally game to grab the mini mic - or ‘miniature microphone,’ if you will - and go down the roster from that time. Context for the Dales reference: we filmed this in the PR office with the door closed. Trevor walked by and saw Nick doing this, started cracking up, and filmed him on his phone. We tried recruiting him to take part, but he kept on going.

--Michelle Crechiolo

COACH'S CORNER

The Penguins recently announced the hiring of Mike Stothers to join Todd Nelson, Nick Bonino, Rich Clure, and Andy Chiodo on the coaching staff. That entire group is here in Pittsburgh for development camp, getting familiarized with both the prospects and each other.

"I knew that having a mix of experiences, a mix of different backgrounds, some different ideas – and also bring in people that have some core philosophies that are similar and they’re aligned – you want that. I like different," Muse said. "You go through the entire coaching staff now, there's a lot of different places that these coaches have come from, experiences that they have had in the game. So now, you bring that all in together. But I was really happy."

Muse talked more about the role each individual will play, along with a few other topics. Watch below.

--Michelle Crechiolo

WELCOME BACK, TODD NELSON

Before transitioning to coaching, new assistant coach Todd Nelson’s professional playing career began right here in Pittsburgh. He was in the same position as these prospects back in 1989 after the Penguins drafted him in the fourth round (79^th overall).

Nelson ended up playing one NHL game in black and gold, which came on Nov. 23, 1991 against the New York Islanders. The game ended up in a 2-2 tie.

“I was in Muskegon (the organization’s minor league affiliate at the time), having breakfast and all of a sudden, I got the call to come up,” Nelson said. “It was a fun dressing room to walk into with everybody who was here. Everybody knows (the stars that) played during that time. I got there around 4 PM and the first guy to walk over was Paul Coffey just saying ‘congratulations on your first game.’ The second one was Mario. … It was just a great experience.”

After 11 years of playing across the NHL, AHL and Europe, Nelson has accumulated 20 years of coaching experience. At the NHL level, Nelson briefly served as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and also had stops with the Dallas Stars (2018-22) and Atlanta Thrashers (2008-10), both as an assistant coach.

Nelson is one of just six coaches in AHL history to win three league championships. Two came with Hershey in 2023 and ’24, which is WBS’ rival. Nelson fully expected to remain there, then he got a call about two-and-a-half weeks ago from Washington, saying the Penguins wanted permission to chat with him.

After talking with Kyle Dubas and Dan Muse, they invited Nelson to come in and meet everyone in the organization.

“That’s what I did and as the day went on – just talking with Dan and Kyle (Dubas) – it just felt more intriguing to me. Then, they made me an offer,” said Nelson, who will run the forwards and the power play. “I talked to my wife about it. I’m (thinking) I spent quite a few years in the (AHL), had my degree of success there and I was up for the challenge (of) something new. Obviously, I liked what I heard, what we’re trying to do here. To work with some of the talent here, it’s going to be fantastic. So, I’m looking forward to the opportunity and very excited to get going.”

--Michelle Crechiolo

MEET MIKE STOTHERS

Mike Stothers is one of the most enjoyable interviews I have experienced in my 15 years with the Penguins. It began with a reporter asking how Stothers, a survivor of Stage 3 Melanoma of the Lymph Node, is feeling. “You look pretty good,” the reporter said.

“I only look pretty good?! That stings. Came in here feeling great! Guess I got some work to do yet,” Stothers quipped with a smile. He then thanked the reporter for asking after him, and said “I joke about it, but that's usually the best way to handle situations like that.”

Stothers, who will be involved with the defense and penalty kill, is absolutely thrilled to be back behind the bench after taking some time off. That energy was apparent. He didn’t know Kyle Dubas or Dan Muse before the Penguins reached out about the opportunity, but his reputation preceded him.

“Part of the research that Kyle and Jason (Spezza) and Dan did in looking into myself as a candidate for this position was they talked to former players and got their thoughts and ideas on how they were treated and we worked together and whatnot,” said Stothers, who was with Boko Imama in the Los Angeles Kings organization, and has a special relationship with him.

“So, it's not always X's and O's. It's communication, it's relationships. The reward for me as a coach is when you hear the feedback from, say, a Kyle or a Dan on what former players said about you – and perhaps they didn't ask the right guys, but luckily for me, they asked the right ones. So, that's basically what it is.”

More from Stothers below. It’s definitely worth a watch!

--Michelle Crechiolo

THE FLOWER CONNECTION

Penguins fourth-round draft pick Gabriel D’Aigle is from the same place as Marc-Andre Fleury, the beloved netminder drafted first overall by Pittsburgh in 2003. It’s called Sorel-Tracy, and was home to just over 35,000 people as of the 2021 census.

“He’s the most famous person from my whole town,” said D’Aigle, who always watched the Penguins because of Flower.

The first time they met was at an offseason skate with D’Aigle’s goalie coach. “Marc-Andre was so nice and just talked like a longtime friend,” D’Aigle said. They ended up training together for the last three summers.

“I learned a lot about him, especially from his attitude. Like, this guy is always smiley, always has fun, and competes really hard,” D’Aigle said. “It’s a great example, how to look at him, how his attitude is. So, that’s really nice.”

That was all particularly helpful for D’Aigle this past season, as he backstopped a Victoriaville Tigres team that finished last in the QMJHL.

“With Gabe, what I'd say he got thrust into a situation where he played a ton, played it basically every night on a bad team, and got faced with a lot of shots,” Penguins assistant GM Jason Spezza said. “I think now that we have him in the roost, we're going to try to really help him with his technical game. The athleticism and size is there, and now it's just kind of building his game up with some structure. I think the team will probably take a step next year, which will help him, and we'll just keep chipping away.”

--Michelle Crechiolo

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

When Ty Hanson was invited to attend 2025 Penguins Development Camp as a free agent, there was already a comfort level there with college teammate Zam Plante, a 2022 fifth-round draft pick.

“Having a familiar face when you're coming in makes things a little bit easier,” Hanson said. “It is just cool to see we are both doing it at this high level.”

Hanson and Plante go back much further than the University of Minnesota-Duluth. They grew up in the same hometown of Hermantown, Minnesota, and played youth and high school hockey together.

“I've known Zam ever since I can basically remember,” Hanson said. “Our dads (Greg Hanson and Derek Plante) played hockey together, so we have grown up together. We have been good friends throughout our whole life, so it’s a lot of fun going through this experience with him.”

While Plante didn’t take part in the on-ice sessions with the group due to injury, Hanson was pleased with how development camp went from that standpoint. He even scored a goal during the 4-on-4 tournament. Even though his team did not come out on top, it was still a great experience for Hanson.

“I learned a lot, both on and off the ice, with nutrition, strength in the gym, on the ice,” Hanson said. “Just being a sponge and getting everything they are offering.”

--Katelyn Foley