Zam Plante, captain of Team Rutherford, was MVP of the day.
“I thought he stood out probably more than anyone today, with just his creativity, his hockey sense,” said Tom Kostopoulos, Penguins Director of Player Development. “And then he can finish, he can make plays.”
Kostopoulos then offered this fun tidbit about the 2022 fifth-round pick, who had 20 goals and 51 points in 40 games last season with Minnesota-Duluth while playing with his younger brother Max, who won the Hobey Baker Award:
“One of the interesting and cool things about development camp is we get to know these kids off the ice too, so we put them in little competitions all throughout the week. He won the cornhole tournament. We’re at a bowling alley, he won’t sit down from the bowling. We do trivia, he’s all over the answers. Seems like anything we play, he’s involved in, and guys gravitate to him, and he just seems to like competing and winning.”
Plante had some real chemistry with 2026 fourth-round pick Pierce Mbyugi, as they connected on several plays. “Yeah, he’s a little sniper. He’s fun to play with,” Plante said.