The Pittsburgh Penguins have a history of transforming overlooked players into full-time NHLers, some even capable of playing alongside their stars. This time of year, their model development team makes them an attractive destination for college free agents whose seasons have come to an end.

Drew O’Connor just became their latest development project.

Like Conor Sheary and Zach Aston-Reese before him, O’Connor put together a successful college career. He was named Ivy-League player of the year, nominated for the Hobey Baker, and twice, finished as the leading scorer of Dartmouth College with seasons of 17 and 21 goals. This last total earned him a top-five spot on the goal-scoring leaderboard.

But unlike those two forwards, O’Connor chose to cut his NCAA career short — the early NHL off