The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list continues with a look at one of the top players selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2025 NHL Draft.
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 No. 25: Quinn Beauchense No. 24: Cruz Lucius No. 23: Travis Hayes No. 22: Brady Peddle No. 21: Finn Harding No. 20: Sam Poulin No. 19: Joona Vaisanen No. 18: Avery Hayes No. 17: Tanner
Howe No. 16: Tristan Broz No. 15: Emil Pieniniemi No. 14: Mikhail Ilyin No. 13: Peyton Kettles No. 12: Melvin Fernström No. 11: Arturs Silovs No. 10: Sergei Murashov No. 9: Philip Tomasino No. 8: Owen Pickering No. 7: Joel Blomqvist
#6: Bill Zonnon, RW/C
2024 Ranking: N/A
Age: 18 (Nov. 25, 2006)
Acquired Via: First-round pick (No. 22 overall) in 2025 NHL Draft
Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 185 pounds
The Pittsburgh Penguins had built a reputation over the last 20 years (and rightfully so) of putting all their chips in the center of the table in the name of winning championships.
As a result, the Penguins, as most of us know by now, have not had many first-round picks to develop talent over that span.
With general manager Kyle Dubas taking the helm of this rebuild, he began to stockpile draft picks and kept those valuable draft assets to rebuild what was a barren prospect cupboard.
Fast forward to now, and the Penguins’ prospect pool is on the rebound, with many players in the system that have real NHL upside.
And in June at the 2025 NHL Draft, the Penguins had something they haven’t had since the 1984 draft: three selections in the first round.
With the second of those three first-rounders, 22nd overall, Pittsburgh selected 18-year-old Bill Zonnon of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
In 2024-25, Zonnon completed his third season with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, also adding the alternate captain patch to his sweater and another feather in his cap as a young player.
He scored 28 goals and 55 assists, good for 83 points, which were career highs. He also ranked second on his team in points.
During the 2025 playoffs, the forward led Rouyn-Noranda and ranked 13th overall in the QMJHL with eight goals and 16 points in 13 games.
Over the past three seasons with Rouyn-Noranda from 2022-25, Zonnon tallied 62 goals, 118 assists, 180 points and was plus-29 in 195 QMJHL games. He has appeared in the playoffs all three years with the Huskies, registering 16 goals and 33 points in 32 career postseason games.
Looking ahead, he was traded to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, where he will play this year.
Before the draft, EliteProspects described Zonnon as something of a Swiss Army Knife player who is relied upon in all three zones, can flash offense, but also lay the body when needed.
Constantly supporting teammates in all three zones, Zonnon jumps to the aid of defencemen on the back wall, gets the puck back, offers timely passing options, and moves the puck quickly in transition, orchestrating clever passing plays and entries in the offensive zone. When no play is open, he falls back on his forechecking ability. Defenders retrieving the puck better hurry their play when facing Zonnon. If they take too long to pass, the forward comes barreling down on them, pinning them to the wall, freeing the puck with his stick, and moving to an open teammate. -EliteProspects 2025 NHL Draft Guide
The following description of Zonnon from January 2025 is one of the reasons Penguins fans can get excited about Zonnon’s potential.
Zonnon is a big and versatile forward who can play the wing or center. What stands out the most about Bill is his compete level. He’s relentless every shift on puck carriers and uses his size well to win board battles. Zonnon possesses a long and powerful skating stride, which allows him to be dominant in transition. Paired with a good skill level and a strong understanding of the game, it gives him a safe floor as a prospect. The only knock on Zonnon’s game would be his explosiveness and agility on his skates. Improvements would give him upside as a complementary top 9 forward in the NHL.
“He really thrived when he moved to center, was excellent at center, plays in all situations, plays against the other team’s best players, and as the year went on, just a level of competitiveness, especially in the playoffs for them,” Dubas said after drafting Zonnon. “He was really a driver for his team, and that was, for us, the most exciting part of him. So, the combination of size, competitiveness, the production, and then, stepping his game up as it went along.”
Pittsburgh’s Vice President of Player Personnel, Wes Clark, offered a rugged but equally complimentary view of Zonnon’s upside.
“(Zonnon) has a high work rate, highly competitive. Played center this year, has played wing in the past. Tremendous athletic upside. Got to know him a little bit there in Buffalo (at the Combine). You see the look in his eyes, he’s got that dawg mindset. So, the type of kid that helps you win hockey games.”
Zonnon’s family immigrated to Canada from Togo, Africa, and in doing so, taught Bill the importance of working hard when nothing is given to you and earning your spot through grit and determination, qualities that undoubtedly shine through on the ice.
“They came here with pretty much nothing, and they had to work from nothing to the point where they are now,” Zonnon said. “We have everything we need. So, being a kid and having them as mentors was huge, I’d say.”
More recently, Penguins fans and the top brass got an up-close-and-personal look at all the new players at the 2025 Development Camp last month, and Zonnon certainly left his mark.
“It was great. I think our team had a lot of chemistry on the ice, off the ice, so it was fun to go to battle with those guys and to get the win, too, was even better,” Zonnon said.
Zonnon got on the stat sheet in Game One of the development camp scrimmage series, putting a Quinn Beauchesne puck past goalie Gabriel D’Aigle to give Team Stevens a 3-0 lead.
Penguins Director of Player Development Tom Kostopoulos also singled out Zonnon when recapping the scrimmages.
“I think Zonnon wanted the puck. He was available for the puck. He made plays happen. He was transporting it up the ice on a few occasions. I know he got one goal, maybe a couple there. It was nice to see.”
Fans are almost too quick to anoint first-round picks as immediate stars in the making. When, in reality, especially because the 2o25 draft was seen as a weaker one, it will likely take two to three years before we know what we have on our hands with Zonnon, Ben Kindel, Will Horcoff, and others.
The generally accepted projection for Zonnon’s NHL ceiling is that of a middle-of-the-lineup forward, with a realistic potential to reach the top-six in certain scenarios. A second or third-line driver would be a pretty big win for a 22nd overall pick in a weaker draft class.
His versatility and hard‑working style have already earned him praise from Penguins leadership. It’s up to the player now to use his physical tools to refine his game as he looks to round out his junior career on the upswing.
