This morning, the Pittsburgh Penguins finalized their development camp roster. A group of over 30 players will take to the ice in three teams at the team’s practice facility up in Cranberry.

Development camp starts today and runs through Friday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Four days of skating, practice, and goaltending sessions all lead up to the prospect tournament at the FedEx rink at noon on Friday.

Headlining this year’s camp roster are identical twin forwards Liam and Marcus Ruck, Pittsburgh’s first two selections in this past weekend’s NHL Entry Draft. The Western Hockey League stars, taken 22nd and 39th overall, respectively, are two of the five members of this year’s draft class who will take the ice in Cranberry this week.

Joining them are Czech defenseman Tomas Galvas (taken 54th overall), Canadian forward Pierce Mbuyi (taken 86th overall), and Canadian defenseman Parker Von Richter (taken 111th overall), three new members of Pittsburgh’s expanding prospect pool.

Goaltender Matvei Nikonovich, the team’s final selection at 160th overall, is the only recent draftee to not be in town this week. The Belarusian goaltender, who played in the Russian MHL this season, won’t be able to make it stateside for camp.

Though his absence could be something as simple as logistic issues, it’s not uncommon for players drafted from that region to not come to development camp. Three years ago, when the Penguins drafted Mikhail Ilyin in the fifth round out of Russia, Ilyin did not appear at that summer’s camp. Ilyin did not appear in 2024’s development camp, either, but did skate with the team last year.

Liam Ruck is not the only first-round pick to stop by Cranberry this week. Will Horcoff, one of Pittsburgh’s three first-rounders last year at 24th overall, is back for his second time at development camp after a standout year at the University of Michigan. Fifth Avenue Sports named Horcoff the best player from the 2025 class at last year’s camp. Unfortunately, Horcoff is injured and might have to sit out all of camp.

Horcoff, who was taken 24th overall last year, is the highest selection from last year to skate this week. But the 2025 class is represented in double-digits, including 11 players who made their first appearance at camp last year.

Among that list is seventh-round pick Kale Dach, who is coming off scoring 1.19 points per game in his first season in the Western Hockey League. Ryan Miller, a fifth-round pick, is riding high as well after a 65-game, 75-point season in the WHL with Portland.

In net, 2025 third-rounder Gabriel D’Aigle was the only goaltender named to the team’s initial 21-man roster. D’Aigle, made the jump to pro hockey late last year, playing his first three professional games for Wheeling in the ECHL.

Several of the team’s prior draft classes are represented here as well. Mac Swanson, a seventh-round pick from 2024, is back for more after a strong season at the University of North Dakota. Swanson has had positive showing in back-to-back development camps in 2024 and 2025, and hopefully he gets into some action as he works his way back from injury.

Zam Plante, a fifth-rounder from 2022, is also coming. Plante is back on the ice after a 20-goal, 50-point season through 40 games at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Plante was on last year’s development camp roster, but was injured and couldn’t participate.

Melvin Fernström, who was originally acquired as part of the Marcus Pettersson trade back in February of last year, is also coming back. The Swedish forward made an appearance last year, but now has some American Hockey League experience to his name and is one of the few participants with a contract to his name, if he can recover from injury in time.

Most development camps roster players with little to no professional experience to their name, and almost no roster features someone who has sported an NHL uniform before. But skating along the blue line at this year’s camp is defenseman Jake Livanavage, who signed as a college free agent with the Penguins last April and made his NHL debut in the team’s regular season finale. He led all skaters in ice time with 25:14 in a 7-5 loss in St. Louis.

The remainder of this year’s summer roster is filled out with non-roster invitees and free agents. One of those is defenseman Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen, the son of Manon Rhéaume, the first and only woman to ever play in the NHL.

Though development camp is just a few days in the summer, the five-day excursion up to Cranberry can be pivotal in the long road to the NHL.

Last season, 18-year-old forward and 11th overall pick in the draft, Ben Kindel, took the league by surprise when he broke into the NHL just months after his draft. To see anyone, aside from the first and maybe second overall pick in any given draft, play in the show their first season post-draft is almost unheard of. Kindel’s path to doing just that started at development camp.

So when you watch these players skate this week (or read the coverage Fifth Avenue Sports will have on tournament day), sure, you might be seeing some players you’ll never see again. But, you could also be watching the next NHLer whose wearing a Penguins uniform come September.

A full roster for camp can be found here.