Washington Capitals‘ undrafted rookie left wing Liam O’Brien(20) was a training camp invite that scored himself a three-year entry level deal through hard-nosed, persistent play and found himself on the opening night roster.
He stayed with the parent club for the first couple of months of the 2014/2015 season, skating 13 games, earning his first NHL goal and an assist to go along with 3 fighting majors before he was reassigned to affiliate Hershey Bears.
The 6’1″ 211 lbs. unassuming tough guy makes his living as a fourth line energy forward and although he only notched 4 goals and 4 assists through 45 AHL games, he is credited for dropping the gloves on 13 occasions for 121 penalty minutes.
He took a similar stance through his final three years of QMJHL mostly with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, where he average a good 150 minutes each season in the box.
Never quite a player that put up huge points in juniors, he was able to connect for 20 goals and 15 assists in 66 games in his final year of junior hockey and although he’s mostly a pugilist as a pro something has awoken a scoring touch now that the postseason has started.
The 20-year old has struck for a pair of goals and assists in 4 first round Calder Cup Playoffs games and has a nice 4-game point streak building.