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.

For No. 12, we put the spotlight on Mikhail Ilyin, a prospect who – if they're not already doing so – fans should certainly be keeping an eye on.

#12: F Mikhail Ilyin

It's easy to get mesmerized from time to time when watching Ilyin play hockey.

He can dance. He can dangle. He can outsmart and outthink his largely older competition in the KHL, and he uses those playmaking smarts to his advantage.

Selected in the fifth round (142nd overall) by the Penguins in 2023, Ilyin, 20, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins this summer. But he will return to the Severstal Cherepovets of the KHL next season, where he has shown some flashes of brilliance in his three seasons.

Top-20 Penguins' Prospects 2025: Forward Looks To Capitalize On Second-Chance OpportunityHeading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.

Last season, Ilyin registered seven goals and 30 points in 64 games, and he saw a lot of time on Severstal's top line with Daniil Aimurzin and Kirill Pilipenko. This followed a 12-goal, 29-point campaign in 2023-24. Even if that production doesn't jump out, the fact that Ilyin was a teenager playing on the top line – and on one of the KHL's best lines – says a lot about the kind of potential and maturity that's present in his game.

Ilyin has been working on his skating, and it's something that is still going to require notable improvement before he can hope to become a regular at the NHL level. But his ability to think the game at a high level makes up for a bit of that deficit.

Mikhail Ilyin with the sneaky goal off the goalie’s back. A play that represents his ability on the ice.
1 goal and 1 assist for him in his 2nd preseason game! pic.twitter.com/kWs5Ti6Xt5

— Pens Prospects (@pensprospects_) August 22, 2025

His passing is calculated and precise, and even if his footspeed isn't the greatest, he is able to use his frame to work his way around opponents and his poise to skate smoothly. There is not much panic in Ilyin's game, and hopefully – at another year older – his production begins to catch up to the level of his playmaking.

There is a lot of potential and intrigue to Ilyin's game, which makes him an exciting prospect. He already has a lot of the details in his game down to a tee, so if he can put it all together, he could very well make an impact in the Penguins' future middle-six.

The list so far:

– No. 13 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: First-Round Pick Has Middle-Six UpsideHeading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.