So this definitely went under the radar because of the holiday and this player’s realitive anonymity.  The Penguins signed Chris Conner — a 25 year-old winger previously with Dallas — to a contract with terms yet to be released.

Thanks to Stephanie over at TSCSP for the tip.  Faceoff-Factor also has him as signed to the Penguins, along with Tony over at the Confluence.

He is one of those guys that, so far, has been pretty productive at the AHL level but has struggled to do so in the NHL.  He’s 5-8, 175 pounds — a speedy winger.  He’s a guy that welcomes scrapping along the boards and has the potential to grow offensively.

He earned $500,000 as a Dallas Star so I can’t imagine GM Ray Shero signed him for much more than that.

As you can tell by looking around the NHL, you have to be extremely skilled to make it as an undersized forward.  Most of the guys playing in the league that are smaller than 5-10 have outstanding skills, which allow them to play with the bigger boys.

The knock on Conner is that he has looked lost whenever he has been called up.  He needs to develop more in the minors before he gets a legitimate chance in the NHL.

Whether he gets that chance in Pittsburgh is another story.  The Penguins have had players similar to Conner in their system before — Chris Minard, Janne Pesonen — but the guys haven’t gotten a chance to show their stuff.

It’s a result of having such skilled, solid forwars on the team already.

Wilkes-Barre was once a place that young players salivated over because they knew they’d have a chance to prove themselves in the NHL quickly.  That was when the team was down.  Now those guys in Wilkes-Barre can’t get a chance up in the big league because there’s already more than enough talent.

When Conner has gotten a shot he has seemed to do a decent job.  He played a total of 28 games in the NHL last season, which is the most has has in a single season his entire career.

In that time he recorded 3 goals and 10 assists.  In his NHL career he has 21 points (7 G + 14 A) in 71 games.

His AHL stats were much more impressive: 16 G and 12 A in 30 games with the Peoria Rivermen.

His NHL and AHL stats are as follows …

2005-06  Iowa Stars                  AHL    15    2    3    5    0   7   1   1   2   2
2006-07  Iowa Stars                  AHL    48   19   18   37   24  12   2   5   7   2
2006-07  Dallas Stars                NHL    11    1    2    3    4  --  --  --  --  --
2007-08  Iowa Stars                  AHL    55   13   26   39   17  --  --  --  --  --
2007-08  Dallas Stars                NHL    22    3    2    5    6   1   0   0   0   0
2008-09  Dallas Stars                NHL    38    3   10   13   10  --  --  --  --  --
2008-09  Peoria Rivermen             AHL    30   16   12   28   10  --  --  --  --  --
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         NHL Totals                         71    7   14   21   20   1   0   0   0   0

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Chris | PPT

“IN SHERO WE TRUST”