Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years - and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft - top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News - Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
We go back-to-back with goaltenders for No. 8, as prospect Joel Blomqvist came in at No. 9. This next young netminder may be new to the Penguins' organization, but Arturs Silovs certainly has some upside.
#8: G Arturs Silovs
It's definitely fair to question whether or not Silovs - acquired in July from the Vancouver Canucks - should still be considered a prospect by certain standards. Technically, he has not met the 25-game NHL rookie requirement, as he has appeared in only 19 regular season games and has been up and down between the NHL and AHL for the past three seasons.
But Silovs is still young and unproven enough at 24 to be held to the same standards as Blomqvist, who has appeared in 15 NHL games and is just one year his junior. And he definitely has upside.
Silovs's defining NHL moment was a 10-game playoff run in 2023-24 that helped lead the Canucks past the Nashville Predators in the first round and brought them to seven games in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers, who eventually went on to the Stanley Cup Final and lost to the Florida Panthers. In those playoffs, Silovs went 5-5 with an .898 save percentage.
Penguins Facing Uncertain Goalie Split Entering 2025-26 SeasonOnce again, the Pittsburgh Penguins face goaltending questions heading into a season.
Even though those numbers don't jump out by any means, he did put together some solid performances, including a shutout. He was also only 23 years old with only nine regular season games under his belt at the time, which made it all the more impressive that he was able to step in and give the Canucks a chance.
The 6-foot-4, 203-pound Latvian netminder has a lot of untapped potential. And that really showed itself during the Abbotsford Canucks' Calder Cup run last season - which was, certainly, the best run of Silovs's professional career to date.
En route to an AHL championship last season, Silovs was remarkable. He posted a 16-7 record to go along with an astounding .931 save percentage and five playoff shutouts, and those five shutouts put him just one shy of the AHL record for a singular playoff run by a goaltender.
BREAKING: Abbotsford Canucks Win 2025 Calder Cup After a magical playoff run filled with standout performances, the Abbotsford Canucks have officially won the 2025 Calder Cup. This is Abbotsford’s first Calder Cup win in franchise history and their first time making it out of the second round since their inaugural season in 2021. They clinched the Calder Cup after a 3–2 Game 6 win against the Charlotte Checkers in the Calder Cup Finals. The last time the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate made it to the Calder Cup Finals was when the Utica Comets did so in 2015.
He showed off his athleticism, quickness, range, and potential in that run, and it almost solidified his standing as Latvia's top goaltender for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
To put it plainly, the Penguins may have landed on a gold mine here. Silovs very much has the chance to supplant Tristan Jarry as the go-to guy in Pittsburgh this season, so - given the Penguins' goaltending depth behind him in Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov - this season will be critical in terms of his future in Pittsburgh and in the NHL.
The list so far:
- No. 9: G Joel Blomqvist
- No. 10: F Tristan Broz
- No. 11: F Will Horcoff
- No. 12: F Mikhail Ilyin
- No. 13 F Filip Hallander
- No. 14: F Bill Zonnon
- No. 15: F Melvin Fernstrom
- No. 16: D Emil Pieniniemi
- No. 17: F Avery Hayes
- No. 18: F Cruz Lucius
- No. 19: D Finn Harding
- No. 20: D Peyton Kettles
Top-20 Penguins' Prospects 2025: Goaltender Entering 'Make-It-Or-Break-It' SeasonHeading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
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