Trio of Penguins prospects emerge as early season Hobey Baker Award favorites in the NCAA

The Pittsburgh Penguins came into the 2025-26 season expecting to focus on the future and continue rebuilding.

However, so far the team has for exceeded expectations causing many fans and media members to put the future on the back burner.

Still the Penguins future continues to look incredibly bright as NCAA prospects Will Horcoff, Zam Plante, and Cruz Lucius have all been on fire to begin the season.

Early in the NCAA season, Horcoff, Plante, and Lucius have all been key contributors for their respective teams.

Each of them finds themselves near the top of the NCAA scoring list.

Horcoff in particular in the eyes of many fans and analysts has been the best player in college hockey this season.

Horcoff once again dominated this past weekend scoring against Penn State and 2026 projected first-overall pick Gavin McKenna capturing the NCAA lead in goals.

Horcoff currently has 18 points in 14 games including an astounding 13 goals already this season.

Lucius who was acquired as part of the Jake Guentzel deal with Carolina has been the driving force behind Arizona State being one of the best teams in the NCAA.

Lucius has 15 points in 12 games and so far has been able to stay healthy which in past seasons has been his biggest roadblock to success during his NCAA career.

Finally, Zam Plante has taken the biggest step forward of any Penguins prospect this season after having a solid but unspectacular NCAA season as a Freshman last year.

Now, with Minnesota-Duluth, Plante has already eclipsed his point total from last season racking up 22 points and looking like a much more dangerous offensive threat.

This breakout season from Plante has sent him on a fast track to becoming one of the most interesting prospects in the Penguins system.

At just 5'10» the path for Plante to become an NHLer is still long as a late round NHL draft pick but he certainly has done enough to earn an NHL contract from the Penguins once the season concludes.

As the NCAA season continues, it will be fascinating to see how many Penguins prospects end up being nominated for the Hobey Baker Award once the list is announced.