With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason for a third consecutive year without a playoff appearance , TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 55 individuals signed to an NHL contract – including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons - with the organization.

Starting with Noel Acciari and going on through to Philip Tomasino (regrettably, there is no Z on the payroll), every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.

This series is scheduled to be published Mondays through Saturdays leading up until June 23, four days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)

Noel Acciari

Position: Center

Shoots: Right

Age: 33

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 209 pounds

2024-25 NHL statistics: 79 games, 12 points (five goals, seven assists), 13:46 of average ice time per game

Contract: In the second year of a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2026

(This contract contains a modified no-trade clause that allows Acciari to submit an eight-team no-trade list.)

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 1, 2023

Last season: Noel Acciari is something of a survivor in a hockey sense.

And he has to be given the hardscrabble fashion he goes about his business as a fourth-line defensive forward.

Undrafted out of Providence College, Acciari got to the NHL and lasted in the league the hard way by blocking shots, throwing hits and winning faceoffs.

That’s how he arrived to the Penguins in the summer of 2023 when president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas opened the vault and splurged on several free agents in hopes of hot-shotting the team back to being a contender for the Stanley Cup.

The bottom-six forwards were an area of focus for Dubas as he signed Acciari as well as Lars Eller and Matt Nieto.

Almost two years later, Eller is back with the Washington Capitals while Nieto’s career trending in a bad direction following surgeries to each knee.

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Acciari is the last of that group who still appears to have a future with the team.

Within the parameters of his role, Acciari had a satisfactory season. Listed as a center, he actually only opened 20 contests in that station and largely inhabited the right ring spot on the fourth line, opening 59 games in that role. Despite that deployment, he was third on the team in faceoffs taken – behind top centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin – with 598, winning 53.7% of those draws.

Acciari was also prolific in terms of hits as he led the team with 180. He also set an unofficial franchise record among forwards for blocked shots with 100. (The NHL did not begin tabulating blocked shots until the 2005-06 season.)

In terms of five-on-five play, Acciari was second in the NHL in defensive zone starts (295) according to Natural Stat Trick. And with the penalty kill, he led all Penguins forwards with an average of 2:24 of short-handed ice time per contest.

Offense, as one might suspect, was limited for Acciari. Of his five goals, they primarily came within a few covalent bonds of the crease.

After missing 27 games in 2023-24 due to various injuries, Acciari nearly played in all 82 games this season before a hip ailment forced him to shut things down with three contests remaining on the schedule.

The future: Nothing is impossible but it’s hard to see Acciari being on the move this upcoming offseason.

Finding a way to shed a 30-something bottom-six forward with a seven-figure salary cap hit would largely be congruent with a franchise turning to youth. But to the consternation of some media and fans, Acciari is highly valued – and more importantly, trusted – by management, coaches and teammates, particularly on defense.

Acciari has plenty of limitations, especially on offense. But he does his job in the eyes of those who matter.

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