The Top 25 countdown continues with Tristan Broz, who could be hoping to finally see an extended look in the NHL this season after health issues derailed plans to bring him up over the last two years.
Catch up on the previous entries for this year:
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Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
#25: Chase Pietila
#24: Ryan Miller
#23: Finn Harding
#22: Peyton Kettles
#21: Zam Plante
#21: Brady Peddle
#20: Melvin Fernstrom
#19: Tanner Howe
#18: Tomas Galvas
#17: Pierce Mbuyi
#16: Jake Livanavage
#15: Owen Pickering
#14: Tristan Broz, C
2025 Ranking: #16
Age: 23 (October 10, 2002)
Acquired Via: 2021 NHL Draft, 2nd round, 58th overall
Height/Weight: 6’0″, 204 lbs
Broz was previously presented during the 2024-25 season from making his NHL debut— despite injuries that opened a potential spot for him in the lineup— by a diagnosis of mononucleosis that sidelined him for a month and a half.
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He ultimately made his NHL debut during the 2025-26 campaign during a Nov. 26 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Broz played 11 and a half minutes and registered two shots on goal in that game. He was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after a few days and, later in the season, once more saw injuries get in the way of a potential NHL call-up.
Broz was just heating up when the injury bug bit last winter. He had just recorded 10 points (four goals, six assists) in a five-game span, during which he was also named to the AHL All-Star roster, when he suffered an injury that sidelined him for the end of January.
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He briefly returned before suffering another injury that again sidelined him, this time for 15 games.
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That second injury came at an unlucky moment for both Broz and the Penguins. Sidney Crosby, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Rickard Rakell were all injured around that time, creating a potential spot in the roster for Broz.
“I could say, pretty definitively I think, that if he hadn’t gotten injured on Saturday in Cleveland, he would have been up and playing,” Kyle Dubas said about Broz at his trade deadline press conference March 6.
Broz didn’t end up making another NHL appearance last season, although he did return in time to help the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on their conference finals run.
Broz upped his production during the AHL postseason, which he finished having recorded 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 15 games.
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He was still overall down on his season-long performance this season when interviewed after the WBS Penguins’ playoff elimination by the Toronto Marlies (h/t Pittsburgh Hockey Now).
“I think I honestly fell way short of the expectations that I had for myself, for a myriad of different reasons,” Broz said in June.
He added, “I think there’s obviously a lot more work to be done, and I think I got closer to taking it to the place that I want to go, but like I said, obviously wasn’t quite what we needed to have happen.”
The Penguins raised some questions about Broz’s future role with the team by signing Tommy Novak to a three-year deal running through the 2029-30 season.
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With Crosby, Novak, Ben Kindel and Blake Lizotte projected to fill up the Penguins’ center depth chart, Broz may need to wait for another injury need to get his next shot at the NHL.
Staying healthy for if that moment comes could be key to Broz’s hopes at getting another shot at the Penguins’ roster next season. Until then, he’ll likely be expected to play as a center option for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton alongside David Gustafsson, acquired in the trade for Jack St. Ivany, and 2025 first-round pick Bill Zonnon.
