Penguins Update: What’s Happened to Drew O’Connor (and Can He Be Fixed)?

As our Penguins cruise into the holiday break on the hockey equivalent of Santa’s sleigh (a 9-3-1 hot streak), I decided to take a gander at our individual production. I was scanning our scoring list on Hockey Reference when a name brought me to a screeching halt.

Drew O’Connor.

It wasn’t all that long ago (the summer of 2023 to be exact) that I posted an article comparing O’Connor to another rangy forward, Buffalo’s Tage Thompson. Before you shout me down or label me a fool or worse, there was some validity to my comparison.

A first-round pick of the Blues (26^th overall in ’16), Thompson didn’t blossom into a super-scorer right away. On the contrary, over his first 145 big-league games, roughly the equivalent of two seasons, he managed just 18 goals and 35 points. As recently as the ’19-20 season he was splitting time between the NHL and AHL.

Then…BOOM.

Almost overnight Thompson emerged as a lethal goal-scorer, potting 38 goals in ’21-22 and a career-best 47 the following season.

Okay, so I didn’t quite envision O’Connor scaling those lofty heights. But his early career arc was eerily similar to Thompson’s. Given Drew’s collegiate and minor-league track record as a point-per-game producer, I figured 20 goals and perhaps even 25 wasn’t out of the question. Especially after last season, when he finished with a flourish to tally 10 goals and 18 points over his last 30 games, boosting his season totals to 16 goals and 33 points.

Highly respectable boxcars for a player still emerging.

Even more encouraging was the fact that O’Connor seemed to figure things out. Basically keeping the game simple and playing north-south hockey while using his excellent size (6’4” 209) and speed to full advantage.

It certainly didn’t hurt to spend a significant chunk of time on Sidney Crosby’s wing. However, as witnessed by his solid metrics, the growth in O’Connor’s game seemed both palpable and genuine. Reinforced by a hot start to the current campaign (three goals in his first six games).

Then his output just stopped. Dried up quicker than a puddle in Death Valley. Thirty games and counting without a whiff of a goal.

During that stretch, he’s bounced from line to line and manned all three forward slots. The good news is, no matter where or how Mike Sullivan deploys him, DOC hustles and gives an honest effort. Although he only has four assists during our hot streak, he’s a plus-1 during that span, a testament to the fact that he’s putting in the work. But right now he just seems snake-bitten, much as Rickard Rakell was at the start of last season.

Rakell recently stated in an interview that his slump got into his head. It isn’t hard to imagine the same holding true for O’Connor.

On a personal level, the timing couldn’t be worse. Especially since the 26-year-old native of Chatham, New Jersey, is eligible for free agency this summer.

It’s disappointing from a team standpoint as well. We could sorely use a player with Drew’s attributes…provided of course that he produces at a semi-consistent clip. Too, his struggles are likely to keep a lid on his potential trade value come the deadline.

Maybe that’s a good thing. I have a nagging sense that if DOC goes to another team, he just might find his game. Our loss would definitely be someone else’s gain.

There’s always hope Drew shakes off whatever malaise is afflicting him. Maybe he just needs a lucky bounce or two and a couple of pucks to go in to restore his flagging confidence.

Something to hope for heading into the New Year.