Penguins A to Z: Colin Swoyer's future will likely unfold elsewhere

With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28 and 29.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)

Colin Swoyer

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Right

Age: 25

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 180 pounds

2022-23 AHL statistics: 36 games, 11 points (one goal, 10 assists)

2022-23 ECHL statistics: Six games, one point (zero goals, one assist)

Contract: Signed to a one-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $842,500. Pending restricted free agent this offseason.

(Note: Swoyer was exempt from waivers for any transactions involving a minor league affiliate. He is eligible for arbitration.)

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, March 28, 2022

Last season: Right-handed defensemen tend to get more opportunities at all levels of hockey than their left-handed brethren.

For a variety of reasons, there just aren’t nearly as many starboarders as port-siders on the blue line.

So they’re rare and when you get one, you tend to try to hang on to them.

The Penguins got one in the spring of 2022 when they signed Colin Swoyer following his senior season at Michigan Tech.

He wasn’t just some random right-hander they gobbled up though. There was a history between Swoyer and former Penguins assistant general manager Chris Pryor dating back to Swoyer’s junior career with the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Chicago Fury.

After a solid 2021-22 campaign in which he posted 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in 36 games with Michigan Tech, he signed with the Penguins.

Whatever previous Penguins management saw in Swoyer did not translate to the professional level, at least in no great abundance.

Assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 2, he spent the majority of his first professional campaign at the American Hockey League level but didn’t see much action early on.

Appearing in only four of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first 19 games of the season, Swoyer was assigned to the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL on Dec. 3. Getting some valuable playing time with the Nailers, Swoyer primarily skated on the second or third pairings.

Recalled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Dec. 15, Swoyer spent the rest of the season with the AHL Penguins.

While he was scratched from the lineup with regularity — he did not play in 18 of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s final 50 games — Swoyer appeared to gain some traction in that all of his offense at the AHL level was generated after being recalled from Wheeling, including his only professional goal to date which came during a power-play opportunity in a 4-2 road loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Feb. 3.

The future: It’s hard to see the Penguins, under current management, hanging on to Swoyer.

He was something of a project of previous management and didn’t really offer much reason for the new regime to keep him. Even as a right-hander, he had trouble staying in the lineup for a poor Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that didn’t exactly suffer from a surplus of starboard defensemen. And at 25, he’s closer to his ceiling than most prospects.

The deadline to extend qualifying offers to pending restricted free agents is Thursday and it’s unlikely Swoyer will receive one.

If he has an NHL future, it will likely unfold elsewhere.

Follow the Penguins all season long.