Dewar, Timmins Embracing "Great Opportunity" in Pittsburgh

During Friday’s practice with the Maple Leafs in Denver, Connor Dewar got high-sticked and left early for treatment.

As he was getting “glued up” by the staff, teammate Conor Timmins came into the locker room, right around when the trade deadline hit at 3 PM Eastern time.

“We were on the speakerphone with our GM, and (found out) we were traded,” Dewar said.

Toronto had just played in Vegas on Wednesday, which is when the Penguins first arrived before playing the Golden Knights yesterday evening. So, the two of them hoofed it back to Sin City, meeting their new team last night and practicing there this morning.

Before the session, officially got underway, Dewar and Timmins spent a decent amount of time side-by-side taking in their new surroundings.

“Obviously, I'm great friends with Dew and we played together last year in Toronto and this year. So, to have him here and just have a familiar face in the room, it's really nice,” Timmins said.

Timmins has another familiar face in Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas, dating back to their time together with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

Dubas drafted Timmins there back in 2014, when he was the junior club’s GM. Timmins went on to get drafted by the Avalanche in the second round (32^nd overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft before representing Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championship.

The 26-year-old defenseman is now in his sixth NHL season from 2019-25, split between Colorado, Arizona, Toronto and now Pittsburgh.

“He’s a good size (6-foot-3, 213 pounds), incredibly intelligent defenseman. Excellent puck mover,” Dubas said. “We traded for him my last year in Toronto. He’s continued to assert himself there. We think at his age and his capability to move the puck and defend, we still think there’s a lot of potential there.”

Timmins feels like he took some decent strides with his game this year, playing a lot of minutes – averaging 16:19 a night for a contending Maple Leafs team. He has a great relationship with Dubas, which should help him continue along that path.

“I think he values my game, and that's exciting for me as a player, to have someone believe in you like that,” Timmins said. “I'm just excited to prove him right out there.”

Meanwhile, Dewar has played parts of four NHL seasons with Toronto and the Minnesota Wild from 2021-25, recording 19 goals, 27 assists and 46 points in 221 career NHL games. He has also spent parts of four seasons in the AHL with the Iowa Wild and Toronto Marlies, recording 61 points (27G-34A) in 104 career AHL games.

Dubas’ conversations with Head Coach Mike Sullivan about Dewar center around the forward’s energy and competitiveness. He reminds Dubas of Boko Imama in that sense, though they’re different types of players.

“He can come in and bring a certain life and spirit to the group,” Dubas said. “As we continue to work our way through this, it’s important to have those types of people here. Connor’s much younger. He’s under team control with his status. We’ll give him a good run. We’re excited about him.”

Dubas called the next few weeks a great opportunity for the new additions to assert themselves and get into a good spot for next season, with both players looking forward to the opportunity – and to play alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby, of course.

“Yeah, of course that’s the first thing that comes to mind. I think my phone probably blew up more about that than anything about myself. So, it’s exciting,” Dewar said with a grin. “It’s a franchise that’s been successful and has a track record of developing players. So, it’s a great opportunity."