The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed restricted free agent forward Drew O’Connor to a two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $925,000.
This transaction allows both parties to avoid an arbitration hearing that was scheduled for Friday.
Last season, O’Connor, 25, broke through as a full-time NHLer and inhabited a regular role among the team’s group of bottom-six forwards. In 46 games, the left-handed O’Connor (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) scored 11 points (five goals, six assists) while averaging 9 minutes, 49 seconds of ice time.
An undrafted free agent signing out of Dartmouth in 2020, O’Connor is capable of playing center or wing and is entering his fourth professional season.
Following this transaction, the Penguins are projected to be $3,216,842 over the NHL’s salary cap ceiling of $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season, according to Cap Friendly. On July 1, Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas indicated the team will be compliant by the start of the regular season based on internal plans he declined to share.
(Note: NHL teams are allowed to exceed the salary cap ceiling during the offseason.)
With O’Connor re-signed, two players who finished the 2022-23 season under an NHL contract with the Penguins remain unsigned: forward Danton Heinen and defensemen Peter DiLiberatore. Defensemen Colin Swoyer signed with the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Wednesday.
