Penguins A to Z: Corey Andonovski is still learning
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With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28 and 29.
(Note: Contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Corey Andonovski
Position: Right winger
Shoots: Right
Age: 24
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 195 pounds
2022-23 AHL statistics: 62 games, 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists)
Contract: In the first year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $925,000. Pending restricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. Andonovski is exempt from waivers for any transactions between the NHL and AHL rosters.
Acquired: Undrafted free agent signing, March 10, 2022
Last season: One of former Penguins general manager Ron Hextall’s stated goals from early in his tenure in that position was to be aggressive in the undrafted free agent market. And for good reason.
His predecessors, Jim Rutherford and Ray Shero, often left the cupboard bare with regard to prospects having traded away a number of high-end future assets, particularly first-round picks, in the name of “winning now.” That approach paid off handsomely through the franchise’s three most recent Stanley Cup championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
But the bill eventually came due and manifested itself in a pretty threadbare collection of prospects.
Coming out of Princeton, Andonovski was one of the better undrafted free agents available in the spring of 2022, and the Penguins were able to land his services.
After getting his toes wet with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the end of the 2021-22 season with five games on an amateur tryout contract, Andonovski opened his first full professional campaign by collecting five points (three goals, two assists) in his first eight games of the season at the AHL level while primarily being deployed in a bottom-six role.
He was unable to sustain that modest pace and was eventually a healthy scratch for a handful of games in late November.
From the start of December through mid-February, Andonovski was a mainstay in the lineup and even got some time on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s second line when injuries and other players being recalled to the NHL roster created opportunity.
After missing three games between Feb. 15 and 19 because of an undisclosed injury, Andonovski was a regular in a somewhat depleted lineup for the remainder of the season but had a 15-game skid without a point between Feb. 24 and March 31.
The future: Andonovski still is learning the professional game. At the NCAA level, he was bullish power forward who was usually one of the strongest guys on the ice.
In the AHL, he certainly hasn’t been a shrinking violet. He was second on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this past season with 66 penalty minutes. But with some fairly mundane dimensions, he wasn’t a physically imposing force.
As expected, Andonovski endured some growing pains. As he enters the final year of his entry-level contract, he’ll need to take a significant step forward to show he can remain in the mix as part of the Penguins’ future, even if his ceiling is as a bottom-six forward who finds the bulk of his offense near the cage.