Penguins draft brothers Ruck in consecutive days, adding twin pedigree with Markus in Round 2

Pittsburgh’s 2026 NHL Draft added a rare family twist when the Penguins selected Markus Ruck in the second round, 39th overall, following the team’s first-round pick of his twin brother, Liam Ruck, at 22nd overall a day earlier. The result is a “twin city” moment for the franchise and a personal split-the-difference win for two brothers whose careers have been intertwined off the ice as well as on it.

The framing around the two selections is straightforward: Markus and Liam are twins, but they did not take the same path through the draft. According to the report, Markus was born eight minutes earlier than Liam, and he accepted the idea that the bragging rights would be ceded after Liam went first. For the Penguins, it means the organization acquired two players evaluated through the same developmental lens, with one selection setting up the other.

On the production side, both brothers backed up their prospect profiles with strong WHL seasons. Markus Ruck led the WHL with 108 points last season, giving Pittsburgh a playmaking résumé to connect to their earlier evaluation of the Ruck name. Liam finished second in the WHL scoring race with 104 points, essentially placing the twins back-to-back in the same offensive conversation.

The report also ties Liam to a specific role, identifying him as a right wing. While the account does not specify Markus’s position in the information provided here, it does make clear that the Penguins were willing to invest consecutively in two high-output prospects from the same major junior environment. That matters because NHL teams do not simply draft for points; they draft for how those points are created and how they translate to the next level.

From a team-building perspective, drafting brothers back-to-back can be read as more than a novelty. Pittsburgh’s decision to take Markus in the second round after Liam’s first-round selection suggests the club viewed the two players as distinct enough to justify the order of operations, not as interchangeable prospects. It also reduces some of the uncertainty that comes with evaluating young talents separately, because the twins’ track record was produced in the same competitive setting.

The “what’s next” question now shifts toward how quickly each brother can adjust to professional development. The draft itself is only the beginning of an NHL prospect path, and the next stages typically involve training-camp evaluation, time with an affiliate, and feedback on the details that separate junior success from NHL impact. For Pittsburgh fans, the draw is watching whether the scoring momentum from the WHL reappears in a new context and whether the brothers can create a similar on-ice comfort once they are in the same organization.

For now, the most immediate storyline is the Penguins’ insistence on keeping the twin thread intact. Markus being taken 39th overall on Saturday, after Liam was chosen 22nd overall on Friday, gives Pittsburgh a two-day narrative and a set of young players who have already shared milestones in their development. The next step will be whether each brother’s skill set maps cleanly onto the Penguins’ needs and how their roles evolve as they move closer to the NHL level.