The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced the acquisition of defenseman Connor Clifton and the 39th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft from the Buffalo Sabres. In exchange, the Penguins sent Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau to Buffalo. The announcement was made by Kyle Dubas, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the Penguins.
With their newly acquired draft pick, the Penguins selected defenseman Peyton Kettles.
Connor Clifton, aged 30, is under contract through the 2025-26 season with an average annual value of $3.33 million. During the 2024-25 season with Buffalo, Clifton played in 73 games, recording one goal and 15 assists for a total of 16 points. Over his career, spanning parts of seven NHL seasons with both Buffalo and the Boston Bruins since 2019, he has accumulated 15 goals, 62 assists, and a total of 77 points across 384 games. His standout season was in 2022-23 with Boston when he achieved personal bests in goals (5), assists (18), and points (23) over 78 games.
Clifton has also participated in 46 playoff games during his career—all with Boston—where he contributed four goals and six assists.
Before joining the NHL ranks, Clifton started his professional journey with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League. He scored a total of 40 points over three seasons from 2017 to 2020.
In college hockey, Clifton played four seasons at Quinnipiac University from 2013 to 2017. As captain during his senior year, he notched up a total of 56 points over his collegiate career.
A native of Long Branch, New Jersey, Clifton was part of the United States National Development Program between 2011 and 2013. He represented Team USA at the World Under-18 Championship in 2013 where they won a silver medal.
Clifton was originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes as a fifth-round pick (133rd overall) in the NHL Draft back in 2013.
