The NHL Entry Draft system is an unforgiving one. The rules state that, if you’re from North America, you are only eligible to be drafted if you are under the age of 21. Unlike in the NBA, NFL, or even MLB, where players can choose to enter the draft whenever they’re ready, there’s no room for late bloomers in the NHL’s draft system.

That leaves behind dozens of talented players who might not be on the radars of NHL teams at a young age due to a lack of opportunity, being undersized, or a multitude of other reasons. Those types of players are often on display in college hockey, where the competition is tougher, older, and more physical.

As such, a lot of players who wind up excelling in college wind up signing deals after their collegiate careers, with some breaking through into being key NHL contributors, such as former St. Cloud State goaltender Charlie Lindgren, former Minnesota-Duluth forward Alex Iafallo, and former UMass forward Frank Vatrano.

JJ Wiebusch is aiming to be the next great college forward to get to the next level. On a team with a first-round pick, two All-Americans, and the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, Wiebusch leads the team in goals and points as they enter the most pivotal two-week stretch of the season.

As a freshman last season, Wiebusch scored 14 goals and had 33 points in 40 games, often coming up clutch for the team in the biggest moments. That performance earned him an invite to the New York Rangers developmental camp in the offseason, but he returned to Penn State for his sophomore year, where he’s taken a remarkable leap.

Through ten games, Wiebusch leads all of college hockey with 11 goals and is second with 18 total points. He leads the nation in power-play goals for one of its best units and has been a weapon on the most dangerous line in America, always seeming to be in the crease, threatening for another goal.

“He has a knack,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said about him after he broke a program record by scoring four goals in the loss to Clarkson on October 9. “His hand skills are excellent, he has a knack for finishing, he has a knack for getting open. He just has a knack.”

“It’s a lot of fun”, Gavin McKenna said during Monday’s media availability when asked about what it’s been like to play with Wiebusch. “I keep telling him that he makes it look so easy when he scores these goals, and when you’re leading the nation in goals, I think you’re a special player.”

The two linked up on a highlight reel goal on Thursday against Ohio State, where McKenna fooled everyone with a sharp pass to the crease instead of a one-timer.

A very, very special pass and a patient finish!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/IRy7Z0qsJS

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 31, 2025

If you ask Wiebusch, however, he’ll tell you that his success in the early going has been a result of the playmaking abilities of his linemates Charlie Cerrato and Matt DiMarsico, the “Behind-the-Back Boys”, and the chemistry that they’ve carried over from being paired together much of last season.

“It’s the guys I’m playing with, I’m just trying to get to the open area,” Wiebusch said on Monday. “I think we just worked on the small details of the game. Like I said, it’s 90 percent the guys I’m playing with, they make my life super easy.”

That other ten percent, however, he attributes to his preparation and work in the offseason, where he got himself in great shape and played roller hockey back home in Wisconsin, joking that he had to dial in his diet due to eating too many mozzarella sticks after his roller hockey games.

“I don’t skate a lot in the summer. I play a lot of roller hockey in a little league in Madison, some people played Division III, some Division I, some still play lower end professional hockey, but I worked a lot in the gym this summer, got my diet right, and I think the biggest thing was that I just needed to refocus on me and my game over the summer.”

The nation has certainly noticed. With the season barely a month underway, Wiebusch has already been named a Big Ten First and Second Star of the Week, named National Co-Forward of the Month for October by the Hockey Commissioners Association, and joined four of his teammates (including both linemates) on Thursday on the U.S. Collegiate Selects team for the Spengler Cup in December.

The Nittany Lions are entering the meat and potatoes of conference play, with their next two series coming against the top two teams in the nation. In the midst of a two-week road trip that sees them go from sweeping then-No. 17 Ohio State to visiting a hostile Munn Ice Arena to play No. 1 Michigan State, the team will suddenly have to weather the absence of All-American Aiden Fink, who will be out for the foreseeable future with an upper-body injury.

Fink’s presence has been irreplaceable on the power play, but Wiebusch, the nation’s leader in power play goals, is confident that the team has enough to overcome Fink’s injury, especially in that department.

“100%. Finker’s a huge loss right now, and he’s one of our best players, but I think we’ll be fine. We just have to keep sticking to our game and stick to what was working,” Wiebusch said. The Nittany Lions did score a season-high three power play goals on Friday, the game after Fink’s injury.

Heading into Michigan State is a whole different beast than what the team has experienced so far. While everyone has been complimentary of the road environments in Tempe and Columbus, this will be the biggest weekend of the year thus far for the Nittany Lions.

“It’s going to be a blast,” said Wiebusch. “Last year was a blast when we swept them [in East Lansing]. We just have to stick to our game and keep a level head.”

The biggest challenge that Penn State’s dynamic offense will face? One of the best goalies in college hockey, Trey Augustine. While Arsenii Sergeev successfully outdueled him last year, it’ll still be an extreme challenge to get many pucks past him.

“Make his life hell,” Wiebusch said about Augustine. “That’s what we have to do this weekend.”