With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Alex D’Orio

Position: Goaltender

Catches: Right

Age: 23

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 209 pounds

2021-22 AHL statistics: 22 games, 7-10-5 record, 2.91 goal against average, .894 save percentage, one shutout

2021-22 ECHL statistics: 11 games, 5-4-0 record, 4.02 goal against average, .865 save percentage, zero shutouts

Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $733,333. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

Acquired: Undrafted free agent signing, Sept. 13, 2017

Last season: Entering the 2021-22 campaign, Alex D’Orio seemed poised to capitalize after a progressive 2020-21 season.

After all, D’Orio had emerged as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ top goaltender, earned his first career recall to the NHL roster and dressed as the backup for one game.

With the Penguins’ other goaltending prospects still in the embryonic stages of their development, D’Orio seemed poised to further establish himself in the American Hockey League and solidify his credentials for potential recalls.

But it just didn’t happen.

First, fellow goaltending prospect Filip Lindberg was granted favored nations status by current management over D’Orio (who was signed by previous management). And with veteran Louis Domingue also in the picture, D’Orio was assigned to the Wheeling Nailers on Oct. 18.

After being moved back and forth between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling on Nov. 13 and 14, D’Orio was recalled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 29 in the wake of Lindberg’s season-ending ankle injury as well as an outbreak of covid-19 cases on the AHL roster (that eventually included D’Orio).

It wasn’t until Dec. 19 that D’Orio finally appeared in an AHL game and it wasn’t a strong debut as he allowed three goals on 12 shots and was pulled after the first period in an 8-3 road loss to the rival Hershey Bears.

In total, D’Orio failed to record a victory in his first six AHL games of the season (0-5-0) and did not wind up on the right side of the scoreboard until he made 21 saves on 22 shots in a 5-1 home win against the Toronto Marlies on Jan. 21.

That triumph sparked something of a hot streak for D’Orio, who won six of his next seven games (6-1-0), including an 18-save effort in a 4-0 road shutout of the Cleveland Monsters on Jan. 28.

After Domingue recovered from a right foot injury that he suffered while on the NHL roster and was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on March 7, management opted to keep goaltender Tommy Nappier on the AHL roster and assigned D’Orio back to Wheeling.

After an undisclosed injury sidelined D’Orio for two-plus weeks in late March and early April, he returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by April 16 (thanks to the trickle-up effect from Pittsburgh Penguins starting goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right foot injury).

When Pittsburgh Penguins backup goaltender Casey DeSmith suffered a groin injury in Game 1 of a first-round series with the New York Rangers, D’Orio — who, by this point, was the organization’s only remaining healthy goaltender on an active NHL contract — was recalled to the NHL roster for the second time in his career May 4 and served as the backup to Domingue for five postseason games.

The future: The writing on the wall is pretty clear for D’Orio.

First, he was signed by previous management and that was almost five years ago. In the past calendar year, current management has added the likes of Lindberg and fellow goaltending prospect Taylor Gauthier. And 2020 second-round pick Joel Blomqvist is a year closer to the NHL.

Second, D’Orio fell behind Nappier — who is signed to an AHL contract — on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s depth chart.

As an undrafted free agent, D’Orio was always going to face an uphill battle to reach the NHL. If he had an opportunity to do that in a sustained fashion with the Penguins, it appears to have passed.

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