(TNS) —For the expansive list of new Pittsburgh Penguins prospects at their recent development camp, there was a lot to be learned.

They got to meet their coaches, the staff and each other. They were able to learn their way around the UPMC Lemieux practice complex in Cranberry and put on a Pens jersey for the first time.

For first-round pick Bill Zonnon, though, one thing he didn’t need was a history lesson.

“It was the first thing I thought about when I got drafted,” Zonnon said as camp wrapped up Monday. “The history of the organization. All the great players that have come through the organization, and the buzz around the organization. Everyone knows who the Penguins are and the standards that they have. As a kid watching them play, I never thought I’d be here. So it’s definitely an honor for me to be here. One thing for sure is I’ll work as hard as I can.”

Perhaps unintentionally, Zonnon touched on an important topic among Penguins fans of late. How does the franchise reset those high standards Zonnon mentioned?

That other team in town, which plays in the biggest building on the North Shore, likes to talk about “standards” too. They haven’t lived up to them lately. In recent years, the Penguins have fallen into that same trap.

In fact, their plummet has been more severe than the Steelers’. No playoff berths since 2022. No playoff round victories since 2018.

In the past, when the Penguins etched that history Zonnon mentioned, they did so with dynamic star players who arrived in the NHL immediately and with much fanfare.

Mario Lemieux scored on his first shift in October of 1984 after being drafted in June. Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal all debuted with the Penguins at 18 and stayed for years. Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang arrived at 19. Evgeni Malkin showed up at 20 and would’ve been here earlier than that had it not been for a transfer dispute from Russia and the NHL lockout.

The next wave of the Penguins’ future isn’t built quite like that. With the exception of Letang, all those players were drafted in the top 5. Ben Kindel was the highest drafted player at the Penguins camp this year as the No. 11 overall selection last month. Some of the most important pieces of the Penguins’ current core — such as Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Sergei Murashov and Harrison Brunicke — have all had a brief taste of NHL life, or have at least been exposed to pro hockey.

“It’s great to see how (the early 2000s Penguins) did it. A lot of guys who stuck around for a long time and played over 20 years here and won a bunch of Cups. We are trying to follow in those footsteps,” Kindel said. “It’s an honor to have those expectations and privileges. I’m excited to push myself to be the best player I can become. The other draft picks and prospects here are doing the same thing. Hopefully, we are all going to reach our potential.”

Those players hope to change the Penguins’ fortunes over time with sheer numbers throughout every level of the organization.

“We still have a ton of work to put in. Getting drafted is just the first step,” fellow first-rounder Will Horcoff said. “We have a long way to go. The Penguins drafted three hard-working players (in the first round) and a ton of other guys later on. I’m excited about what we could be in the future.”

How much later on remains to be seen and how patient the organization and the fanbase can be with their development sounds easy to discuss now. It may be more difficult to sit through if wins continue to be rare at the NHL level.

Navigating those waters will be general manager Kyle Dubas’ job to figure out. For his sake, Zonnon and company better be just as good at writing the future as they are at learning about the past.