Pittsburgh Review

The Pittsburgh Penguins have secured the services of defenseman Daniel Laatsch with a two-year entry-level contract. The announcement was made by Kyle Dubas, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the team.

Laatsch's contract is set to commence in the 2025-26 season and will extend through the 2026-27 campaign. Currently, at 23 years old, Laatsch has been serving as an alternate captain for the University of Wisconsin Badgers during the 2024-25 season. In this period, he has played 22 games, scoring two goals and providing three assists.

Over his four-year college career from 2021 to 2025, Laatsch participated in 126 games, accumulating six goals and twenty assists. His standout season was in 2023-24 when he contributed significantly to Wisconsin's successful run in the NCAA tournament with a record of 26 wins, twelve losses, and two ties overall. During that season, he achieved personal bests with two goals, nine assists, and a plus-17 rating.

Before his collegiate journey, Laatsch played for the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League during the 2020-21 season where he scored nineteen points. He also spent two seasons with the US National Team Development Program from 2018 to 2020.

Laatsch was initially picked by Pittsburgh as their seventh-round selection (215th overall) in the NHL Draft of 2021.