Sign of Success

Connor Dewar grew up in The Pas (pronounced PAH), Manitoba. It’s a tiny town with just over 5,500 residents and winters that “are like, eight months long,” by Dewar’s estimation, located about six hours north of Winnipeg.

“Going there was like going to a city. It was always a cool trip, to go there,” Dewar said.

On long drives from The Pas to other parts of the province, Dewar would occasionally see signs honoring NHL players that had come from similarly small communities. “I always thought that was pretty cool,” he said.

And Dewar was honored with one of his own this summer in The Pas.

“I think it can impact some kids and provide some hope and give them something to inspire to,” Dewar said.

It’s been a road trip filled with memories and connections for Dewar, starting with Thursday’s game against the Wild. They originally drafted Dewar in the third round (92^nd overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft, and did a fantastic in-depth piece about his roots a couple of years ago in their Becoming Wild series.

Dewar returns to Winnipeg each summer, as his parents now reside just outside the city. This summer was much more productive compared to the previous one, as Dewar had offseason shoulder surgery after the 2023-24 campaign, split between Minnesota and Toronto, who acquired him at the deadline.

“I was healthy this summer, right? The summer before, I didn’t get to train at all,” Dewar said. “It was nice to not be in a sling and be able to lift weights and feel strong and to be excited for a hockey season, not feeling like you're behind the eight ball and chasing it early.”

The mental effect of a surgery like that, said Dewar, was more profound that you might think.

“It’s a long recovery... it's kind of daunting,” Dewar said. “I was 24 at the time of the surgery, so you’re still pretty young, you expect to play a long period and not really have any major injuries like that.”

He returned to game action around this time last year, appearing in 31 games with the Maple Leafs before Kyle Dubas orchestrated a trade to bring Dewar in.

“Highly competitive, great teammate, can come in and bring a certain life and spirit to the group,” Pittsburgh’s President of Hockey Operations and GM said at the time. “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.”

The Penguins ended up re-signing Dewar to a one-year contract shortly after his 26^th birthday.

“Just felt like a clean slate here. I enjoyed my time here at the end of the season last year, and I thought I played well. So, happy to come back,” he said.

After picking up four goals in 17 games down the stretch last season, Dewar has three goals in the first 12 games of this one, primarily playing as strong fourth line with Noel Acciari and Blake Lizotte.

“It’s kind of funny how it is. Like, I have a couple breakaways I don’t score on. The one in Florida is kind of a flutterer and it goes in. But that’s just the way hockey is,” Dewar said. “It's nice to be contributing and helping the team win and have success.”

The Jets didn’t return to Winnipeg until Dewar was around 12 years old, which meant Minnesota was actually the closest NHL team to The Pas at just under 13 hours. He’s grateful that his friends and family have a much shorter drive to watch him play on Saturday afternoon.

“There’ll probably be maybe 15 people I have to get tickets for,” Dewar said. “Then I know just a lot of people from back home got their own tickets, and maybe not even told me that they're going, So, I honestly don't know. There could be as many as 50 people from around town.”