Vitals
Player: Connor Clifton
Born: April 28, 1995 (31 years old)
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 196 pounds
Hometown: Matawan, New Jersey
Shoots: Right
Draft: 2013, Phoenix Coyotes (Fifth round, No. 133 overall)
2025-26 Statistics: 2 goals, 4 assists for 6 points in 50 regular-season games (o points in 3 playoff games)
Contract Status: Pending unrestricted free agent (Played last season on an expiring two-year, $3.33 million AAV contract)
Monthly Splits
via Yahoo!
Clifton was a regular healthy scratch throughout his first season
in Pittsburgh. He saw more playing time down the stretch of the campaign and appeared in half of the Penguins’ postseason contests.
Story of the Season
The Penguins acquired Clifton as part of a trade with the Buffalo Sabres in June 2025.
The Sabres acquired Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau while sending over a second-round pick as part of the trade.
That was a typical trade for Kyle Dubas, who is no stranger to helping a team get rid of a contract they don’t want to keep paying in exchange for a draft pick. (The Penguins used the pick on defenseman Peyton Kettles).
It also gave the Penguins a type of player they didn’t have a lot of the season prior: someone willing to regularly drop the gloves. Clifton, whose prior list of fighting partners included assistant Penguins general manager Jason Spezza, fit the bill.
Clifton provided that physicality when he was called upon, although he moved in and out of the lineup during his first season in Pittsburgh.
He was playing alongside Ryan Graves during a series of healthy scratches over the winter before he settled into a more consistent role alongside Ryan Shea down the stretch.
Clifton played the first three games of the Penguins’ first-round series against the Flyers before he was pulled from the lineup as part of a series of changes head coach Dan Muse made in an attempt to avoid a sweep. His last game this season was during the Game 3 loss that dropped the Pens to 0-3 in the series.
Regular season 5v5 advanced stats
Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 11 defensemen on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.
Corsi For%: 48.33 (8th)
Goals For%: 53.45 (6th)
xGF%: 55.15 (2nd)
Scoring Chance%: 51.36 (5th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 55.94 (3rd)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 10.3 (7th)
On-ice save%: .912 (3rd)
Goals/60: 0.16 (5th)
Assists/60: 0.33 (10th)
Points/60: 0.49 (10th)
Clifton may not having been one of the top offensive drivers from the Penguins’ blue line, but he was one of the defensive unit’s more physical players. He led the Penguins with 180 hits and tied for third with 53 penalty minutes despite playing just 50 games with the team.
Charts n’at
WAR has time for Clifton’s impacts. Nestled in a sheltered third pairing role he had a good season by this design. Some of his individual moments or lapses can limit how often he plays, but overall he did a pretty nice job on the whole this season.
Clifton’s going to stay home on the right side of the ice, a good idea considering he needs to mind his positioning. Overall the zone time is not a great indication of where he spent his time, often when the Pens got trapped in the zone, No. 75 was on the ice and some of his puck moving limitations could contribute to that time piling up.
Considering he only played 50 games, the skating results aren’t bad. Clifton has the wheels to get around the ice, no one is going to confuse him for being an explosive, dynamic player but he certainly has the power and speed to function at an NHL level with his legs at this point of his career.
Highlights
Clifton scored his first goal as a Penguins on Jan. 17 in a shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Plenty of his highlights involve dropping the gloves after hits against some of the Penguins’ stars:
Clifton’s personality was also regularly featured on the Penguins’ social media channels this season.
Questions to ponder
Does Clifton fit Dubas’ timeline as to what he wants the Penguins roster to look like next season?
The short answer is: Probably not. Clifton turned 31 in April, and Dubas is likely looking for this roster to get younger this summer around the aging core. Clifton could be one of the unrestricted free agents set to leave Pittsburgh in free agency this summer.
Ideal 2026-27
Clifton can provide a physical presence and some jump to a lineup, especially when he’s playing relatively limited minutes on a bottom defense pairing. He could hope to end up in that kind of sheltered situation wherever he ends up playing next season.
Bottom line
Clifton added some physicality when he was in the Penguins’ lineup this season. Dubas might look to target some players willing to lay hits and drop the gloves this summer should Clifton head elsewhere for his age-31 season.
Final Grade
B
Clifton wasn’t defensively solid enough to earn a permanent spot in the Penguins’ lineup last season, but he was also one of the Penguins’ more physical players and brought a spark to some games where the team needed one.
What grade do you think Clifton earned in his first season with the Penguins? Feel free to weigh in in the comments.
