In the majority of cases, membership within the Pittsburgh Penguins bottom-six forwards last season eventually led to a ticket out of town.

Kasperi Kapanen, Brock McGinn and Teddy Blueger were gone by the March trade deadline, and Josh Archibald, Ryan Poehling, Nick Bonino and Danton Heinen were allowed to walk in unrestricted free agency.

Mikael Granlund, who was former general manager Ron Hextall’s solution to the group’s inefficiency before ultimately coming to embody it, was sent to the Sharks in early August as part of the blockbuster Erik Karlsson trade.

Of last season’s bottom six, Jeff Carter remains, with question marks lingering as to the nature of his role in 2023-24.

One player who was not lumped in with the aforementioned forward was Drew O’Connor, who showed promise on the fourth line and penalty kill en route to posting career-highs in games (46), goals (five) and points (11).

“It was the first time I had a long stretch of being in the lineup consistently at this level, so I was happy with how I played the second half of the season last year,” O’Connor said. “Just looking to build off of that this year.”

While new president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas had many more pressing matters to attend to upon taking over, in August he rewarded O’Connor with a two-year contract worth $925,000 annually.

The 25-year-old O’Connor enters his fourth season with the Penguins after joining the club as an undrafted free agent out of Dartmouth in 2020.

Last season, O’Connor averaged 9 minutes, 14 seconds of ice time.

Now, he aims to assume a more prominent role among the bottom six, which includes offseason acquisitions such as Lars Eller, Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari.

“I think for Drew to continue to establish himself as an NHL player, it’s important that he brings that north-south, straight-ahead game where he’s challenging defensemen with his wide speed, size and strength,” coach Mike Sullivan said.

“ … We’re excited about the possibility of Drew’s game and its evolution. I think he’s getting better with every year that he’s played with us.”

So far in training camp, O’Connor primarily has skated on a line centered by Eller with Rickard Rakell at right wing.

O’Connor has piqued the curiosity of Eller.

“I’d like to see what we can do with him,” Eller said. “I think he’s got a lot of qualities, and he seems like he’s very willing to learn — listening, communicating a lot. He’s an exciting player.”

O’Connor’s NHL career still is in the early stages, but the 34-year-old Eller, a proven penalty-killer who possesses a solid goal-scoring touch, could prove to be a valuable mentor.

“I’ve been skating with Lars a lot through the first few weeks here leading up to camp,” O’Connor said. “He’s been great. He has a great resume and has had an incredible career, so it’s been great to be on a line with and play with (him).”

As last season went on, O’Connor, who is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, demonstrated value on the penalty kill, logging 33 seconds of short-handed ice time per contest.

“He has all the attributes to be a really good penalty killer. He can skate, he’s got a long reach, he’s willing to block shots and he has aptitude for the game,” Sullivan said. “He’s grown a lot in that area, and his decision-making and awareness has really grown and gotten better. We’re excited to watch him throughout the course of training camp.”

At this point, nothing is guaranteed for O’Connor. But coming off his first extended taste of NHL action, O’Connor hopes to make a larger nightly impact.

“I just want to continue to grow my role on the team,” O’Connor said. “Find ways to increase my minutes and play more. I think, building off the defensive role role I had last year and continuing to build the offensive side of my game, there’s a bit more there that I can offer.

“I’d love to find ways to contribute offensively. And the penalty kill will hopefully be a big part of my game this year. So continuing to be good at that and just be solid wherever they ask me to play.”

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