Getting us underway on this year’s Top 25 Under 25 countdown is rising defenseman Chase Pietila who just completed his first full professional season as a member of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League.
Catch up on the previous entries for this year:
Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
#25: Chase Pietila, D
2025 Ranking: NR
Age: 22 (March 3, 2004)
Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft. 4th Round, No. 111 overall.
Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 187 pounds
Following two seasons of collegiate hockey at Michigan Tech, Chase Pietila signed his entry level
contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in March 2025 and got his first taste of professional hockey with 12 games played between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Wheeling Nailers at the end of the 2024-25 season.
After getting his feet wet in the professional game, Pietila entered the 2025-26 season looking to further establish himself and continue his development. Like many prospects, he joined the Penguins for the start of training camp before ultimately being reassigned to the AHL where he spent the entire season, developing into a solid blue line option for the Baby Pens as they made a deep playoff run all the way to the Eastern Conference Final.
Pietila began the season on the WBS second defensive pairing, but was moved up and down the lineup throughout the season to fill injury holes and experiment to see where he best fit. He saw action on both the left side and right side of the blue line, but his more regular place was on the right which is where he played in all 14 postseason contests for the Baby Pens.
Offense was not the name of the game for Pietila this season, but he did manage to contribute some, scoring twice and totaling 14 assists in the regular season. He added an additional goal and assist in the Calder Cup playoffs.
Where Pietila did excel was in the physical nature of the game. He was second on the team in penalty minutes with 85 and posted five fighting majors, equaling Boko Imama for most among the Baby Penguins.
Per Trib Live:
To be certain, he had a strong — if hardly spectacular — first professional season. But there’s still plenty of refinement needed if he is to reach the NHL.
Pietila plays a by-the-book game rooted in defense, penalty killing and toughness. Any offense he provides is a bonus.
He is headed in the right direction, even if it will take him some time to get to his desired destination.
While Pietila did not particiapte in the Penguins recent development camp earlier this month, his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Kirk MacDonald was in attendance and spoke on several of his players, including Pietila who MacDonald praised for his defensive game.
Per Trib Live:
“I can kind of say the same thing,” MacDonald said. “I think they (Pietila and Harding) were top-five in the league in plus/minus (as rookies). … He competes really hard. Defends well. Penalty kills. He provides some offense, but I think he knows for him to take the next step, he’s got to continue to defend hard and consistently do that. When you can have guys like that, first-year guys, that you can lean on consistently every night on the back end, it’s great not only for our team but the organization.”
As MacDonald said in the quote above, Pietila posted a huge plus/minus this season of +27, among the best in the AHL. MacDonald was also clearly impressed by the defensive side of Pietila’s game and hopes he can continue to develop in those areas as his career progresses.
Solid defense with the occasional contributions on offense seem to be the best route for Pietila to take if he hopes to crack the NHL roster at some point in his future. Right now, the right side of the Penguins blue line is clogged with the likes of Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, in addition to fellow prospect Harrison Brunicke.
It’s unlikely Pietila finds his way to Pittsburgh in 2026-27 with where he stands on the Penguins depth chart, but another season in the AHL where he can log a ton of ice time and play in high leverage situations will help continue his development and give him his best chance to break into the NHL down the road when the path ahead becomes a little more clear cut.
