2023-24 Season in Review: Drew O’Connor

O’Connor hit career highs in goals, assists and points as he became a key part of the Penguins’ penalty kill— and eventually their top line— in 2023-24.

Vitals

Player: Drew O’Connor
Born: June 9, 1998 (age 25)
Height: 6’ 3”
Weight: 200 pounds
Hometown: Chatham, New Jersey
Shoots: Left
Draft: Signed as a free agent out of Dartmouth on March 10, 2020
2023-24 Statistics: 79 games played, 16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points

Contract Status: O’Connor has one season remaining at a cap hit of $925,00 after his two-year arbitration signing last August.

Monthly Splits

via Yahoo!

The split gets clearer when you slice the season in two halves:

• October through January, 46 games: six goals, nine assists, 15 points (0.32 points per game)
• February through April, 33 games: 10 goals, eight assists, 18 points (0.55 points per game)

Story of the Season

O’Connor spent the first part of the season flanking Lars Eller opposite Radim Zohorna on the third line, or skating opposite Reilly Smith or Bryan Rust on Evgeni Malkin’s wing.

Then Guentzel was traded on March 7.

After that O’Connor played almost the entire rest of the season on Crosby’s line. After the trade, O’Connor went from averaging 15 minutes per night to almost 18 minutes, while recording seven goals and 12 points in 19 games.

He became a key part of the Penguins’ push for the final playoff spot in the Metro at the end of the season, with goals in three straight games against the Maple Leafs, Red Wings and Bruins during the critical stretch.

O’Connor ended the season having recorded career highs with 16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points and 79 games played.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 17 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 51.37% (10th)
Goals For%: 53.85% (5th)
xGF%: 50.42% (13th)
Scoring Chance %: 50.19% (13th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 52.75% (12th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 8.60% (10th)
On-ice save%: .918% (7th)
Goals/60: 0.73 (9th)
Assist/60: 0.9 (10th)
Points/60: 1.64 (9th)

It’s hard to isolate O’Connor’s influence on 5v5 on-ice numbers given his switching between linemates throughout the season.

Here’s a glimpse at the expected goal differences between different O’Connor line combinations (with min. 100 minutes played together) per MoneyPuck:

• O’Connor - Crosby - Rust: 190.6 minutes, 23 games, 54.3% XGF
• O’Connor - Malkin - Smith: 132.9 minutes, 19 games, 50.4% XGF
• Zohorna - Eller - O’Connor: 122.4 minutes, 19 games, 57.5% XGF

Here’s how O’Connor compares among other Penguins players at 4v5 (among nine skaters who skated a minimum of 80 minutes on the penalty kill:)

Corsi For%: 14.78% (2nd)
Shots For%: 21.88% (2nd)
4v5 on-ice shooting%: 10.71% (2nd)
On-ice save%: .870% (6th)

O’Connor spent more than 129 minutes on the PK at 4v5, second only to Lars Eller among Pens forwards.

Charts n’at

Via HockeyViz and JFresh Hockey

The chart below tracks O’Connor’s progression through the Penguins lineup this season and shows the jump in offensive zone time that coincided with him joining Rust and Crosby on the top line:

At 6-foot-3, O’Connor is one of the taller forwards on the Pens’ roster. He put that to use this season with an increased net-front presence:

The chart below shows how much of an asset O’Connor was on the PK this season.

That skating speed ranking is also no joke. NHL Edge reports that O’Connor hit speed bursts of over 20 miles per hour 72 times during the season, putting him in the 97th percentile of all NHL skaters.

It also reflects that O’Connor was not the difference-maker Guentzel was on the top line.

Here you can see how much O’Connors offensive contributions were bolstered by the strength of his teammates— and how he, like many Penguins, struggled with finishing.

Highlights

O’Connor’s career-high 16 goals included a short-side beauty against the Philadelphia Flyers:

As well as a laser snap shot against the Columbus Blue Jackets:

O’Connor came up big when every point mattered at the end of the regular season, including with a shorthanded tally against the Bruins:

As well the opening goal in a must-win game against the Detroit Red Wings:

Ideal 2024-25

O’Connor recently spoke with team reporter Michelle Crechiolo about his plans for this offseason:

“I feel good about the progress I’ve made from last season, and even the previous season, up to this point. So, individually, I think that I made some big steps this year, and I’m excited to continue to reach my potential. I think there’s another level to my game, and I’m looking to continue to grow and take another step next season.”

“Finding ways to kind of score goals there, and continuing to work on puck protection and making plays off the rush. I think that it was something I got better at throughout the year, but I think there’s still kind of more room for growth there. Just finding opportunities to make plays, buy time for myself when I’m skating in the zone off the rush, and look to make those plays when they’re there.”

He also told Crechiolo about how playing on Crosby’s wing influenced his game last season:

“It’s a pretty special experience playing with a guy like that. I think I learned a lot playing with him for that little while. He was so helpful for me, helped me with things that I needed to work on, helped me with the timing of things and kind of how to play with him.”

The 2023-24 season was the best of O’Connor’s NHL career so far, and there’s plenty of reason to hope the forward is going to reach another level during his age-26 season.

His speed, size and netfront presence could set him up for another personal-best campaign in 2024-25, especially if he continues to get top-six playing time.

Bottom line

O’Connor played a key role on the Penguins’ penalty kill and ended his first full NHL season as a top-line winger.

Even if that’s a position the Penguins could potentially upgrade this offseason, O’Connor will likely remain a regular roster option in 2024-25, especially thanks to his abilities on the penalty kill and his relatively affordable cap hit of less than $1 million.