What they’re saying: Penguins draft William Horcoff

Deep diving on the third Penguin first round pick of 2025

The Penguins made a trade in the 2025 NHL draft to bump down from 12th overall and collect two picks instead towards the end of the draft at 22 and 31. As the night wore on, they decided that staying at 31 wouldn’t cut it, so they packaged their second round pick (59th overall) with the 31st pick to move up to the 24th overall spot. The direction that the Pens went at 24 surprised many, it was the tall center Will Horcoff.

Let’s dig into what was said and how some various places around the internet rate Horcoff to get to know him and what to expect as he joins the Pittsburgh organization.

Corey Pronman, The Athletic

Analysis: Horcoff, the son of former NHLer Shawn Horcoff, was doing just OK to start the year at the U.S. NTDP. He left midseason to join Michigan, where his game took off from that point, making a real difference for his team at the college level as a U18 player. He’s a very skilled big man who can make small-man-type plays in tight areas. He sees the ice at a high level and has a creative offensive mind. Horcoff is also good enough in the hard areas and can play the body when he needs to. The issues in his game at the top level will all come down to pace. I’ve seen slower 6-foot-5 guys, but his first few steps are going to be a struggle in the NHL. The rest of his game is good enough, though, that I see a projected middle-six winger.

Pick grade: B

Thoughts on the pick: Horcoff had a great second half at Michigan, looking like he belonged in a top conference as a U18 player. He’s a huge and highly skilled playmaking forward with heavy feet. I like him at this spot, and think he can be a middle-six forward in the NHL.

ESPN

Scouting notes: The son of former NHLer Shawn Horcoff, Will projects as a defensively reliable third-line center with size, strength and strong off-puck instincts. At nearly 6-5, he’s a disruptive force in his own zone, using his range and physicality to pressure puck attackers and cause turnovers.

Offensively, he facilitates with smart passes and uses his size to play with contact and protect the puck. He’ll need to develop his skating from a speed and mobility perspective to grow offensively. If he adds a step with some explosiveness and fills out his frame, Horcoff could become a physically imposing, two-way pivot in a bottom-six NHL role who plays against secondary matchups.

How he fits: The Penguins traded up seven spots to make their third selection of the first round in Horcoff. The youngest player in college hockey this season was a steady riser in the back half of the campaign. A bit of a late bloomer, Horcoff has room to fill out his frame, and plays a quality two-way game. Horcoff drives the net and converts chances better than almost any other draft-eligible player, a scoring skill that will translate well to the NHL level.

He projects as a third-line center who uses physicality to separate players from pucks, protect pucks and drive to the middle of the ice. Horcoff will need a few years to develop in the NCAA, and if he can add some speed and explosiveness, there is more offensive potential as a power forward.

Bleacher Report-

24. Pittsburgh Penguins: William Horcoff, LW/C, University of Michigan (NCAA)

Strengths: Defensive details, playmaking/passing

Weaknesses: Skating, pace

B/R Rank: N/A (Outside top 32)

Pick Grade: C+ — Horcoff has the potential to be a good prospect but there’s too much skill left on the board.

Analysis: William Horcoff (yes, Shawn’s son) was the youngest player in NCAA hockey this season, having made the jump from the NTDP midseason. We had him projected as more of a second-rounder, but with the Pittsburgh Penguins trading up to get him, there must’ve been talk of another team wanting to snag him as well.

Horcoff has size for sure—he’s 6’5”—and he’s a great passer, preferring to distribute for teammates rather than shoot himself. He has real playmaking potential, able to fool opponents. His real separator, though, is his defensive ability. His reads are proactive rather than reactive, and he’s great at smothering opponents’ lanes. His limitations are his skating and his pace; college hockey is a great place for him to improve both of those, and he’ll likely spend a few more years with Michigan.

The Penguins will be hoping that Horcoff can take steps forward to overshoot what some of those models say. It’s hard to blame the models, since Horcoff joined Michigan late and then didn’t produce a ton during his first taste of college hockey.

Given Horcoff’s young age and since often taller players require a little more time to get used to their frames, perhaps the Pens will pay off. After all, teams really want to find the next Jordan Staal or Adam Lowry here, not a Jack McBain with a first round pick. Pittsburgh isn’t going to spend a second round pick to move up and select what they think is likely to be a lower line non-factor, they clearly saw enough to value Horcoff’s potential and upside in ways that other draft observers don’t see.

Jack Nesbitt’s future will be another area to track and inexorably linked to Horcoff. Nesbitt is the player that Philadelphia took at 12th overall — the draft spot where Pittsburgh sat coming into the night and ended up trading to the Flyers. Of course, the Pens also added the pick that became Bill Zonnon, so the Nesbitt/Horcoff equation is not a one-for-one value but it’s made more interesting still since Nesbitt is very similar in profile to Will Horcoff. Both are very tall developmental centers that could be an Adam Lowry type.

The fact that Nesbitt and Horcoff are so similar in size, position, role and with their abilities and how they play is going to make the inevitable comparisons over the years that much more interesting. How each one does and how each rival organization looks as these players matriculate up to the NHL level and seeing which one (or both or neither) end up reaching their full potential will be a nice little sideplot to track in the Pens/Flyers rivalry in these next few years ahead.