Ahead of tonight’s game in Anaheim, the Penguins announced that top prospect Rutger McGroarty has been recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The move comes with Pittsburgh already carrying an extra forward, so it’s not immediately obvious what prompted the call-up or whether McGroarty will actually dress. For now, the trip at least puts him back in the mix after he was sent down a week ago, as NHL chances have remained hard to come by.
McGroarty has kept producing in the AHL. He leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring with 12 points in nine games, a continuation of the kind of offense he showed last season when he finished above a point per game.
The former University of Michigan standout had made it clear he was looking for a quicker path to the NHL after not wanting to settle in with the club that drafted him 14th overall in 2022. That wasn’t really a shot at Winnipeg itself so much as a reflection of his desire for a more immediate opportunity.
He was dealt to the Penguins in August 2024 for Brayden Yager, arriving as Pittsburgh’s top forward prospect with the idea that he could step in quickly and potentially skate alongside Sidney Crosby.
The 22-year-old has flashed plenty in the minors, but that production still hasn’t translated at the NHL level. At 6-foot-2 and a left shot, McGroarty has yet to fully put the package together and show the top-six ceiling many see in him rather than a more middle-six role.
His skating has been a major factor in the quiet offense so far, with nine points in 34 NHL games. In his two games last month, he averaged 13:40 of ice time, didn’t record a point, worked on the third line and picked up a few power-play shifts.
Through roughly 23 minutes of ice time to this point, he’s also been given unusual five-on-five zone starts, with more than 73% coming in his own end.
Pittsburgh has also been dealing with a rough stretch as it looks to reshape the roster. Reportedly willing to move some veteran forwards, the club has not matched last season’s 41-win pace.
The Penguins sit 28th in the league and have lost six of their last 10, leaving little room for optimism if things don’t turn quickly. An older roster - the 11th-oldest in the league - with shaky playoff hopes would seem to make a youth push more appealing, and that would obviously help McGroarty’s case.
Because Wilkes-Barre/Scranton played in Charlotte last night, Andrei Kuzmenko appears likelier to get the nod over McGroarty in Anaheim, since McGroarty has to make the trip to California. Still, if the Penguins didn’t bring him out just to sit as insurance, there’s a chance he could see his third game of the season Wednesday night in San Jose.
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For the Penguins, the situation remains more complicated because of the mix of legacy players and a front office that has been cautious about making a move. Friedman noted that any meaningful deal would have to fit a very specific set of conditions, which is why names like Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell keep surfacing without anything close to a clean resolution. The result is a familiar Pittsburgh holding pattern, with plenty of speculation and not much certainty about which direction the roster could actually go. [Read more 🡒]