Five years makes for a natural fitting point to check in on things, and five years ago is already 2020 — if you can believe that.
To get your mind right, back in those days there wasn’t much to Pittsburgh’s prospect pool as the team chased banners. Jim Rutherford traded all the first round picks from 2015-2020, aside from 2019’s selection of Sam Poulin. (Which, in hindsight, he might as well have traded for a boost..). The Pens were lean, The Athletic ranked them 30th out of a then 31 NHL teams, though that lens put a cap on players at 22-years old or younger and naturally the Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 continues up a few years further.