PensBurgh Top 25 Under 25: No. 6 Vasily Ponomarev

The most ready NHL piece acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade is about to show what he can offer to the Pens next season

The Jake Guentzel trade netted the Penguins Michael Bunting and four assets that appear on the Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 in our countdown of the best young players in the organization. Cruz Lucius and Harrison Brunicke (the draft pick in 2024) have already made the list and now a third, Vasily Ponomarev, checks in this year at number six.

Graduates and departed players from last year’s list
The best of the rest
#25: Raivis Ansons
#24: Kirill Tankov
#23: Isaac Belliveau
#22: Taylor Gauthier
#21: Chase Pietila
#20: Emil Jarventie
#19: Kalle Kangas
#18: Joona Vaisanen
#17: Filip Kral
#16: Mac Swanson
#15: Jonathan Gruden
#14: Cruz Lucius
#13: Emil Pieniniemi
#12: John Ludvig
#11: Mikhail Ilyin
#10: Harrison Brunicke
#9: Tristan Broz
#8: Sam Poulin
#7: Tanner Howe

#6: Vasily Ponomarev, C
2023 Ranking: N/A
Age: 22 (Mar. 13, 2002)
Acquired Via: Trade with Carolina, March 2024
Height/Weight: 5’10”, 181 pounds

Elite prospects resume

The trade the Penguins made with Carolina for Jake Guentzel was made with the future in mind, but the good thing about Vasily Ponomarev is that he was seen as nearly a finished product that would be the first piece to make an impact in Pittsburgh.

“I would expect that at some point here down the stretch, [Ponomarev] will get a good run with us,” GM Kyle Dubas said back in March. “And then, we expect him to challenge — I don’t think anything’s guaranteed — but we expect him to challenge for being on the roster going into next year.”

Unfortunately, a serious high ankle sprain suffered shortly after the Pens acquired Ponomarev had other ideas to derail the initial plans made about seeing Ponomarev make a quick Pittsburgh debut.

The timing on that was regrettable, 2023-24 was a memorable and successful season for the youngster. In January, at the age of 21, Ponomarev got into his first NHL game and scored a goal and registered an assist against Washington in his very first game.

After one more game the next night, the Hurricanes returned him to the AHL.

Ponomarev is thought of to have a lower ceiling but have a shot to be a good bottom-six player. That might make the assumption being that he doesn’t have a lot of skill in his game, but that wouldn’t be right. This OT goal comes from late in the 2022-23 season but illustrates well that this isn’t some plugger working his way up the ranks.

A drill from this summer showed him on the ice and working on his hand skills.

Ponomarev’s high motor and good ol’ fashioned sticktoitiveness near the net helps him stand up and speaks to what could make him a middle-six type of player.

“He’s a guy that gets second and third opportunities because he stays on the puck,” former WB/S coach J.D. Forrest told the Trib in March. “It hits him in the shin pad, and it goes to his stick. Someone tries to take it, and he takes it right back…He’s got a pretty good skill set to go along with it. That’s what we notice the most with him the most right now. He just sticks to the play, sticks to it, sticks to it. He’s pretty brave in those areas.”

Despite being Russian, it was the Pens’ other center that Ponomarev focused on emulating for practical reasons.

“My favorite player was Sidney Crosby,” Ponomarev said. “Some guys are asking why it’s not [Evgeni Malkin]. He’s a different-sized player compared to me. You can’t play the same kind of [way Malkin] is playing. It’s like the Moneyball movie, [some teams] can’t build their team like a rich team. That’s like me. I can’t play like [Malkin]. I have to compare myself [to] a guy that’s my height and weight.”

Ponomarev at 5’10 and 180ish pounds is a lot more Crosby-ish in build than the wiry 6’3” Malkin.

But what comes in the immediate will be a challenge in numbers for Ponomarev to stand out. Pittsburgh added a bevy of bottom-six candidates this summer in Kevin Hayes, Blake Lizotte, Cody Glass and Anthony Beauvillier. The Pens are stacked with options at center with Lars Eller joining Crosby and Malkin on the center depth chart, plus Lizotte and Hayes as natural centers before the next wave of Ponomarev and Sam Poulin challenging for spots.

The micro-competition against Poulin is shaping up to be a key organizational battle. Ponomarev, a year younger than Poulin, has outscored the former first round pick by a wide margin (76-35) in the AHL over the last two seasons. Both have had off ice matters to attend to, a pre-season knee injury last year bracketed the ankle at the end of the year for Ponomarev. Both could end up as the top two centers in Wilkes to start 2024-25.

As ever, staying available will be crucial. Ponomarev’s ankle injury was believed to a factor heading into the off-season. How much that may have hindered his training remains to be seen. Given the numbers involved, Ponomarev looks headed to Wilkes to start 2024-25. That doesn’t mean he will be there for long. The Pens loved to give AHL forwards a shot at NHL games last year, of which players like Vinny Hinostroza (14 NHL games), Jonathan Gruden (13) got some looks, as did further down the depth chart from players like Joona Koppanen (4), Poulin (3) and Marc Johnstone (1) getting some opportunities.

Overall, eight forwards that began the year in Wilkes played NHL games for Pittsburgh. And that doesn’t count tryout Jesse Puljujarvi. Ponomarev may not make the NHL right away but if he can remain healthy, he should be in line to make his Pittsburgh debut at some point in 2024-25. From there, it’ll be up to him to show he is a player that can stick around for a while.

Ponomarev won’t be replacing Jake Guentzel all on his own, but that shouldn’t be expected. As it is, he’s got a shot over the next few years to develop into a solid piece of an organization that is looking to get younger and build back up.