The signing spree continues, this time with the Pittsburgh Penguins inking Dane Birks to a two-year entry-level contract. Birks’ season finished when Michigan Tech was eliminated from the NCAA tournament, but now he’ll get to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on an amateur tryout for the rest of the year. His contract, which is the standard ELC for a player of his age, will begin in 2018-19.
Birks, 22, was selected in the sixth round way back in 2013, but actually lost an entire year of development after being declared ineligible as a freshman due to academic reasons. Though that development has been slow, he finally found some of the offensive touch that he was expected to bring, scoring 18 points this season for the Huskies, easily his college career-high.
He’s still a long way from the NHL, but capable two-way right-shot defensemen that bring some size and puck-moving ability are hard to come by. If he can take another few steps in the minor leagues, perhaps Pittsburgh has found another late round college gem to backfill their roster.