With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 51 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from fourth-line center Noel Acciari to reserve winger Radim Zohorna.

This series is scheduled to be published every weekday leading into the second day of the NHL Draft on June 29.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)

Dillon Hamaliuk

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 23

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 205 pounds

2023-24 AHL statistics: Eight games, one point (zero goals, one assist)

2023-24 ECHL statistics: 36 games, 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists)

2023-24 ECHL postseason statistics: Nine games, three points (two goals, one assist)

Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $789,167. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

(Note: Hamaliuk is exempt from any assignments to a minor league affiliate.)

Acquired: Trade, Aug. 6, 2023

This season: Wherever life takes him, Dillon Hamaliuk will always have a place in Penguins history.

Just like Sheldon Kannegiesser, Tom Bladon, Wayne Van Dorp, Jeff Chychrun, Harry York, Nick Spaling, Tyler Biggs, Tobias Lindberg and Jesper Lindgren.

All of those players were throw-ins to multi-player transactions that brought franchise-altering stars such as Syl Apps, Jr., Paul Coffey, Alexei Kovalev or Phil Kessel to the Penguins.

Hamaliuk, a second-round pick (No. 54 overall) in 2019, was jettisoned by the San Jose Sharks in August as a cast-off to make the math work for that team in the blockbuster trade that landed All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh.

And based on his first season in the Penguins organization, it looks as though Hamaliuk’s tenure with the franchise will unfold just like the others on that list of throw-ins.

Fairly early into training camp — Sept. 25 — Hamaliuk was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and by Oct. 10, he was sent to Wheeling of the ECHL. He wound up spending the bulk of the 2023-24 season in the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

To be clear, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Hamaliuk as he enjoyed valuable playing time after injuries limited him to only six games with the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder in 2022-23.

With a fresh start and plenty of top assignments with the Wheeling Nailers, Hamaliuk emerged as an All-Star.

Opening the season on the left wing of the Nailers’ second and third lines, Hamaliuk paced the Nailers in their first 24 games of the season, scoring a team-best 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) before being recalled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Dec. 29.

???? DISADVANTAGE -> ADVANTAGE ????

Cédric Desruisseaux springs out of the box to set up Dillon Hamaliuk and give the Nailers a 3-2 lead! #ForgeTheFuture pic.twitter.com/5KfBStcthx

— x – Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) December 23, 2023

Selected for the ECHL’s All-Star Classic on Jan. 3, Hamaliuk bounced between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling a handful of times throughout the first three months of the calendar year. The bulk of his AHL service during 2023-24 saw him play in eight consecutive games — primarily in a bottom-six role — between Feb. 16 and March 2.

An undisclosed injury sidelined Hamaliuk for the next three weeks and he did not return to the ice until April 3 when he posted a goal and three assists for the Nailers in a 6-5 overtime road loss to the Indy Fuel.

???? IT’S HAMMER TIME ????

Dillon Hamaliuk ties it up at 2-2 to add to his point total on the period! #ForgeTheFuture pic.twitter.com/4pcTyyKJ9m

— x – Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) April 3, 2024

After helping the Nailers qualify for the postseason, Hamaliuk primarily manned the left wing of the second line as the Nailers beat the Fuel in the opening round then were swept by the Toledo Walleye in the Central Division final.

???? PLAYOFF HAMMER ????

Dillon Hamaliuk narrows the Indy lead to 4-2 on the Powerplay goal! #WhyNotUs pic.twitter.com/yP9RwDncU8

— x – Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) April 20, 2024

The future: There’s definitely a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty way to look at where Hamaliuk is in his career.

First, the fact that he played as much as he did and was as prolific as he was in 2023-24 can be viewed as a major step in the right direction after a lost 2022-23 season. He took the playing time he was afforded with Wheeling and gained a lot of traction.

At the same time, he was a relatively high draft pick who was discarded by his original team only to be sent to the ECHL by his new team. Granted, current Penguins management made it a point of emphasis to send players with NHL contracts to Wheeling to get them on the ice. But Hamaliuk rarely seemed to be a realistic option for the AHL roster unless injuries were a factor.

The Penguins will have to make a decision on Hamliuk and determine if he should be extended a qualifying offer or allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. There’s plenty of meat left on the bone for him to be a potential NHLer, even if just as a fourth-liner. He has some size and can skate and those are attributes NHL teams value when evaluating a player.

But for now, he looks like another throw-in.

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