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: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)

Josh Archibald

Position: Right winger

Shoots: Right

Age: 30

Height: 5-foot-10

Weight: 176 pounds

2022-23 NHL statistics: 62 games, 12 points (six goals, six assists)

Contract: Signed to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $900,000. Pending unrestricted free agent this offseason

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 13, 2022

Last season: Ron Hextall was almost giddy to break the news.

The former Penguins general manager was speaking with media in Cranberry to address the big news that day, namely that he had re-signed pending unrestricted free agent forward Evgeni Malkin.

But there was another player who had rejoined the Penguins.

Josh Archibald.

A sixth-round pick (No. 174 overall) in 2011, Archibald had a few cups of coffee with the Penguins in the mid-2010s before embarking on a five-year odyssey with the Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers.

Establishing himself as a fourth-line banger-and-crasher/you-know-what disturber, Archibald returned to the Penguins and was positioned to give them something they needed desperately.

A physical presence with an edge.

And Archibald largely offered just that through the first two months of the season.

Through his first 30 games, Archibald led the Penguins in penalties drawn (14) and hits (109) despite averaging 10:15 of ice time, the second lowest-figure on the roster at the time.

Archibald also chipped in six points (four goals, two assists) to that point of the season.

An undisclosed injury suffered Dec. 18 wound up sidelining Archibald for the next 19 games and deprived the Penguins of one of their scant sources of physical play.

Archibald was back in the lineup by Feb. 7 and Hextall had expressed hope his return would provide some energy to a team that was beginning to take on water with regard to its playoff aspirations.

But Archibald wasn’t nearly as noticeable in the metrics that would typically be affixed to “energy” players such as him. In contrast to his figures before his injury, he drew only four penalties and recorded 86 hits in his final 32 games of the season.

Throughout the season, Archibald was a regular presence on the penalty kill, averaging 1:43 of short-handed ice time per contest. That said, the Penguins’ penalty kill was mostly unremarkable with a success rate of only 79.1%.

The future: The motivation to bring in Archibald was sound in that he could provide a physical element to a roster that doesn’t have a surplus of that attribute. And considering his familiarity with the organization as well as a pair of 12-goal seasons on his resume, he seemed like a more than viable addition to a lineup that likes to play aggressively.

But ultimately, Archibald was largely another anonymous figure within a group of ineffective bottom-six forwards who just didn’t contribute much of note.

Archibald provided what the Penguins needed in his return, just not enough of it.

Re-signing him wouldn’t be an outrageous maneuver for the Penguins’ next general manager. Archibald is competent and, more importantly, cheap. But what he offers can be easily replaced.

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