The undrafted prospect recorded 30 points in 63 games last season during his second full campaign in the AHL.
The Penguins have re-signed forward Corey Andonovski to a one-year, $775,00 contract.
Andonovski is still looking to make his NHL debut after leading all Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forwards with 23 assists in 62 games during his second full season in the AHL.
The Penguins have re-signed forward Corey Andonovski to a one-year contract. The two-way contract will run through the 2024-25 season and carries an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 5, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/WXTwVda3xf pic.twitter.com/NmQuk6XOpV
Andonovski was called up by the Penguins in October but was likely never intended to play. He was a healthy scratch in his lone appearance on the NHL roster.
The 25-year-old forward slid in and out of the WBS Penguins’ roster early last season after he scored just one empty-net goal in the first 29 games.
He became a fixture on the AHL roster later in the season as a bottom-six power forward and penalty killer, however. He ended the campaign with seven goals and a team-high 99 penalty minutes.
“When he plays to (his) strengths, he’s really aggressive,” WBS Penguins head coach JD Forrest said in March, per Tony Androckitis of The Citizen’s Voice. “He’s been contributing a lot to our penalty kill, as well, just with his reads and winning some wall battles and loose puck battles... I think that’s given us a lot of faith in him to put him in tough situations when we know we need to make a harder play.”
Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune Review described Andonovski as a player who “can be viewed safely as a favorite of the Hextall regime,” but who impressed the Dubas administration as he became a WBS roster regular during the second half of the 2023-24 season. The one-year RFA extension seems to back that report.
Andonovski seems to have secured a roster spot in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but he doesn’t seem to have come close to a true NHL call-up in 2023-24, and it’s not clear if that will change this fall with fringe roster players like Sam Poulin seemingly closer to earning roster spots.
His physicality, as well as his developing skills as a penalty-killer, could still make him a potential choice for a call-up if injuries thin the Penguins roster this fall.
