What the Rutger McGroarty addition means for the Penguins next season

Adding a player close to NHL ready will have a cascading effect on the Pittsburgh roster and lineup

The Penguins made a big swing today by acquiring top prospect Rutger McGroarty and signing him to a contract. The last part isn’t to be taken for granted, McGroarty had made it clear he wasn’t going to sign with the team that drafted him up in Winnipeg.

Examining why that relationship fell apart could be a key to understanding how the future could unfold. From the Winnipeg Free Press this past June:

According to sources, McGroarty believes he’s unlikely to crack Winnipeg’s roster immediately and would probably have to spend time in the American Hockey League honing his craft, maybe even a full season. And the Jets have conveyed as much to him given their current roster, which includes plenty of forward talent with the big club and on the farm.

That’s seemingly a tough pill to swallow for McGroarty, who has seen many college teammates and opponents turn pro and immediately get NHL looks — including his two linemates last season with Michigan in Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks).

“Winnipeg really needs to re-visit its development plan,” a source said.

McGroarty could also look to the stop-start nature of how the Jets treated another top prospect in Cole Perfetti to see what could his future could hold, and saw enough to decide he would rather start his NHL career with a different organization. The Jets couldn’t mend that relationship and instead were forced to trade the player that didn’t wish to sign with them.

The Penguins ended up being the beneficiaries to add the former Team USA captain to their club. That Pittsburgh also signed McGroarty immediately presumably indicates they have given him reason to want to start his career with them.

In other words, that he will have the opportunity to play in the NHL from the very beginning. Let’s struggle to flat out say “promise him a spot”, because in the NHL very little can be promised or kept open forever without the performance to back it up. But, in essence, it certainly should be expected that Pittsburgh will be giving McGroarty every chance and benefit of the doubt to get to the NHL as quickly as possible — perhaps even right out the gates for the start of the 2024-25 season.

What does that mean for the team moving forward?

We won’t find out for sure until it happens, but in the interim there’s time to think on it. If scouting reports are accurate, McGroarty likely will be a top-six winger for the Pens at some point in the future. But he’s not likely to be a huge minute guy right off the bat and could serve well to play on a third line as he acclimates to the NHL and continues to grow his game.

McGroarty has been a versatile player moving all over the ice, but a check of Michigan’s lineups shows him mostly used as a left winger last season, which is also where he played for Team USA last winter at World Juniors.

As such, the left shot probably should factor into being used as a LW by the Penguins, at least at the start of his career as a natural and starting position. This is probably just as well, since Pittsburgh is weak and lacking on the left side. They have Michael Bunting, Drew O’Connor and then not much else, though players like Anthony Beauvillier and Blake Lizotte could be options to play on the left wing. Many of McGroarty’s highlights (especially the power play) show a player comfortable working from the right side of the rink, so beyond the terminology and starting spot on faceoffs, he’ll be all over the place but nominally a LW.

The key will be seeing how McGroarty fits in an NHL training camp and where he is best suited in the lineup to start out. An urge will be to see McGroarty with Sidney Crosby right away, but that would be extreme to think a player who has not yet made his NHL debut will be an instant and full-time first line player. Luckily, O’Connor has shown that he can fit in on that first line and the team can always rotate and work McGroarty in with more shifts if he proves ready for it as the year goes on, if he’s up for it.

And just because he might not be on a scoring line from the start, an impact can be made further down the lineup too. Sometimes literally in this player’s case.

McGroarty has more talent and shouldn’t be on a checking line indefinitely, but using him with players like Beauvillier, Kevin Hayes, Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen to open the season wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. And now the team has plenty of options to figure out as well.

If nothing else, Pittsburgh’s third line got a lot more skilled and a little more juice for next season. McGroarty is a high-motor player who will get to the front of the net and then has the hands to finish. It doesn’t take a lot to play with a straight-line player like that.

The McGroarty acquisition puts a breath of fresh air into the Pens’ organization after what has been an uninspiring off-season. It’s nice this move comes at the end of the summer, so that can be a focal point for a little bit about how the team puts a stamp on their quest to get younger and improve for next season and beyond. McGroarty