Development camp: Undersized Swanson aims to 'shut up' doubters

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Mac Swanson might have been the steal of the Penguins' 2024 draft class.

Swanson, an 18-year-old forward, scored 77 points (26 goals, 51 assists) in 55 games last season with the USHL's Fargo Force. Swanson was a key piece in the Force's last two playoff runs, losing in the final in 2023 and then winning it all this past season, taking home the playoff MVP award along with the championship. He led the league in assists and plus/minus, was a first-team All-Star, USHL Forward of the Year, and USHL Player of the Year.

And the Penguins got him in the seventh round, 207th overall. 

The catch? He's just small -- 5 foot 8 and 167 pounds.

"He's just a really exciting hockey player to watch," director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor said of Swanson at the draft. "He's small, but he's competitive. He's highly, highly skilled and highly intelligent. We were excited to get him, especially where we got him."

Fargo Force

Mac Swanson

Swanson told me at the Penguins' development camp at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex this week that he wasn't quite sure whether he'd be drafted, but he was "hopeful." And he had an inkling that the Penguins were interested in him, having heard during the year that Penguins management was asking another forward prospect of theirs -- Swanson's Fargo teammate Zam Plante -- about Swanson. Plante, who lived with Swanson during the last two seasons in Fargo, was hopeful that his endorsement of Swanson would help convince the Penguins to pick him in the draft.

"He's awesome," Plante told me with a big grin of Swanson at development camp. "He's so smart. He's not a very big player, not a very fast player, but he's so much smarter. Every pass lands flat. He's a fun kid, loves hockey. We'd stay at the rink all day. So I'm so happy for him to be here. It's exciting."

The Penguins didn't send anyone out to meet with Swanson himself in-person during the season. They didn't need to, they had one embedded within his team. Penguins player development coach Matt Cullen is part-owner of the Force, and is frequently on the ice with the team as a sort of skills coach. Swanson said that Cullen also would do individual video work with him off the ice during the year.

"Anytime you have a guy that's played 1,500 games and won three Stanley Cups, you listen to everything he says," Swanson said of that relationship.

Cullen gave his endorsement of Swanson to the Penguins, with Pryor telling me Cullen is a "big fan" of Swanson.

Swanson, a left-handed shot who can play both center and wing, calls himself a "pass-first forward."

"I describe myself as a playmaker," he added. "I can contribute up and down the lineup."

Check out some of those helpers from this past season:

Swanson said he watches a lot of Mats Zuccarello (5 foot 8, 181) and Jaden Schwartz (5 foot 10, 185 pounds) -- two forwards on the smaller side who have managed to still put together long careers in the NHL.

Swanson said he's hopeful he has a "couple more years of growing left" in him -- but he said his parents aren't exactly huge either. His mom is only 5 foot 4, and his dad is 5 foot 11. He'll likely remain undersized, but he doesn't necessarily think that's as big of a detriment as others might believe.

"It drives me," Swanson said of being smaller. "You hear people doubt you all the time, so you try to shut them up a little bit. It's definitely not a bad thing, there are things you can utilize being a smaller guy. I don't mind it."

If Swanson's going to make it at the pro levels as a smaller forward, though, he's obviously going to need skating to be one of his bigger strengths. He knows that, and he's working on it.

"Skating is a big one," he said of his focuses. "Skating is a huge one. Also strength, not being the biggest guy, I'm going to have to get a little stronger to play at the next level."

The "next level" for Swanson now is college hockey. He'll be playing for the University of North Dakota next season, saying he "fell in love with the city, the campus and the rink" when he went on his visit to Grand Forks.

Swanson's a couple years off from turning pro, let alone pushing for an NHL spot. He has time to get faster and add size. Any seventh-round pick is inherently going to be somewhat of a gamble, but Swanson at least seems like someone who could be a high-ceiling, high-reward late pick if he puts those pieces together.