Horbach signs with Penguins, begins pro career after Wisconsin run

Jack Horbach’s path to the pro game is built less on flash than on usefulness, and that is exactly why Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took the swing. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins signed the former Wisconsin forward to a one-year AHL contract for the 2026-27 season, giving the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Naperville, Illinois, native his first shot in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization after four years with the Badgers.

This is not a move about headline scoring upside. Horbach finished his Wisconsin career with 16 goals and 39 points in 143 games, then wrapped his final season with three goals and eight points. The bigger selling points are the parts of the game that travel: he played forward and filled in on defense when needed, earned three Academic All-Big Ten selections, and picked up both the WHA-TV/Jim Santulli 7th-Man award and the Fenton Kelsey, Jr./Mike Richter Most Competitive Player award. He also scored three short-handed goals in college, which is the kind of detail that matters in the AHL when a coach is looking for trustworthy minutes in the bottom six and on the penalty kill.

Horbach’s Wisconsin exit came with one of the biggest swings of the Badgers’ season. On March 26, 2026, he broke a 1-1 tie at 9:47 of the third period in Wisconsin’s 5-1 win over Dartmouth, a result that delivered the program its first NCAA tournament victory since 2010. That win pushed the Badgers into their first regional final since 2010 before the run ended short of the Frozen Four. It was the kind of game that showcased his profile: not the most celebrated player on the ice, but one who can tilt a night with one timely goal.

For Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the appeal is obvious. The club had already clinched a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs by March 20, and playoff hockey tends to reward players who can absorb multiple roles without blinking. Horbach spent his college career with that exact kind of resume, first with the Madison Capitols and Lincoln Stars in the USHL, then at Wisconsin, where he built a reputation as a reliable utility forward. Horbach called the opportunity “It’s feels unbelievable,” and credited Wisconsin’s coaching staff, resources and work ethic for helping him get there. That is the language of a player who understands the job ahead: earn trust, win matchups, and make himself impossible to ignore in the middle of a lineup.