Penguins A to Z: Drew O'Connor has the look of an NHL power forward

While the NHL is on hold because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.

Player: Drew O’Connor

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 21

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 200 pounds

2019-20 NCAA statistics: 30 games, 32 points (21 goals, 11 assists)

Contract: Two-year entry-level contract with salary cap hit of $925,000 scheduled to begin in 2020-21. Pending restricted free agent in 2022.

Acquired: Undrafted free-agent signing, March 10, 2020

This season: A lot of this has come as a surprise, even to O’Connor himself.

After graduating high school three years ago, O’Connor had doubts he could earn a college scholarship.

Today, he has an NHL contract.

Thanks to a growth spurt that saw him surge from a compact 5-foot-9 to a stout 6-foot-3, O’Connor earned a scholarship from Dartmouth and in two years developed into the Big Green’s “best player on the ice every game we played this season,” according to former Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy, a volunteer assistant coach for Dartmouth this past season.

O’Connor’s dominant sophomore season saw him finish with the fifth-most goals in the NCAA during the 2019-20 campaign and be recognized as the Ivy League Co-Player of the Year along with Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda.

(Video courtesy Dartmouth University)

Even with his ample size, O’Connor can move well on the ice. Blessed with a long reach as well as an ability to finish, O’Connor also has the ability to play left wing or center and was a contributor on Dartmouth’s power play and penalty kill.

All of that led to the Penguins furiously pursuing and ultimately landing one of the top undrafted NCAA free agents on the market.

Had the remainder of the AHL’s season not been paused in mid-March and ultimately canceled, O’Connor was set to play some games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after signing an amateur tryout contract with that team.

The future: Whenever the AHL’s on-ice operations resume, O’Connor will be in line to get a prominent assignment as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton could potentially lose the services of pending unrestricted free-agent forwards such as Riley Barber, Thomas Di Pauli, Adam Johnson, Kevin Roy and Phil Varone. A top-six role with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton appears to open for O’Connor to claim.

Having dealt away so many high-end draft picks and prospects over the past decade-plus in the name of winning the Stanley Cup, the Penguins need to fill out their prospect pool with NCAA free agents such as O’Connor. It’s a path current Penguins forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Conor Sheary have taken.

If O’Connor takes that same route, he could be a top-six power forward in the NHL.

Follow the Penguins all season long.