A former third-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Connor Dewar, re-signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a guy that scored ten points in 48 games with Toronto and Pittsburgh last season. Furthermore, Dewar is a versatile forward, capable of playing both centre and right wing. At 5’10″, he’s an undersized grindy winger who likes to go to the dirty areas and shut opposition down. Signing a one-year deal worth $1.1 million, he provides good depth going forward.
Early Playing Career
Dewar played 270 games with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL from 2015-2019. In that time, Dewar showed a valuable scoring touch, scoring 99 goals and 197 points. Dewar was drafted 92nd overall in the third round of the 2018 draft by the Minnesota Wild. Following his WHL stint, Dewar graduated to the AHL, where he once again provided valuable minutes to his club. As a Wild draft pick, Dewar spent 103 games with the Iowa Wild. He scored 59 points, including 26 goals. He did get a brief stint at the NHL level during this time, scoring just 2 goals and six points in 35 games with the big club in 2021-22.
NHL Playing Career
Once Dewar graduated to the NHL level, he began carving out a role as a solid bottom-six forward. Across 81 games with the Wild in 2022-23, he scored six goals and 18 points. He added snarl to his game as well, racking up 50 penalty minutes as a feisty forward. The Wild traded Dewar to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2024 Trade Deadline after he played another 57 games the next season. In his new role with the Leafs, Dewar produced five points across 17 regular-season games and just one assist in six playoff games.
Dewar would fall out of favour in Toronto in his next NHL season, playing just 31 games and scoring three assists. He was moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins alongside Conor Timmins for a fifth-round pick in 2025. His game looked revitalized in Pittsburgh, where he scored four goals and seven points in 17 games to close out the season. His late flurry of offence gives some hope for Dewar’s game, as he’s shown he can handle defensive assignments in a bottom-six role already. As Dewar signs with Penguins, they can expect a defensively responsible forward with some room to improve offensively.
Main Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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