Rutger McGroarty won’t be able to suit up against the organization that drafted him later this week, after all. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have assigned McGroarty to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins without a corresponding roster move.
It’s the logical step forward for McGroarty who was originally supposed to begin the year in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had it not been for a few injuries to the Penguins’ forward core. He’s been left off the scoreboard over three games in Pittsburgh to start the year with two shots on net and four hits. He’s posted strong possession numbers over those three games with the Penguins but his healthy scratch on Tuesday night indicated a move might be on the horizon.
It shouldn’t take too long for McGroarty to get going offensively with the AHL Penguins who are currently tied for the league lead in goals scored over two games to start the season. They should be able to slot him next to the likes of Emil Bemstrom, Samuel Poulin, Ville Koivunen, or Jimmy Huntington to make his transition to professional hockey much easier.
He’s still only one year removed from being one of the better scorers in the NCAA at the University of Michigan. McGroarty’s 16 goals and 52 points in 36 games make him one of, if not the best prospect in the Penguins organization and he should be on the receiving end of another call-up at some point during the 2024-25 regular season.
As a Jet fan and a McGroarty hater I find this amusing.
Yager will be a good player for the Jets in a few years time. You act like McGroarty is Gordie Howe. Hope he has a Brian Lawton type of career.
His skating has never been at the level it should be to play there and I don’t see any improvements since his draft year, so don’t worry, would be surprised if one day he succeeds.
Ha, suck it McGroarty!!!!
Maybe the Jets assessment of Rutger at this point in his career was accurate afterall.
Has nothing to do with his play. He’s been fine. It’s because he is the only waiver exempt forward and they have guys getting healthy. If pustinen was waiver exempt you better believe he’d be gone first
Fact remains that he wanted to stay at Michigan instead of going to the AHL and now he’s headed there anyway.
I like him as a prospect, but he’s not a top 6 forward yet at the NHL level.
Yes the Wilkes Barre Penguins are gonna be fire this year
Cue the whining……… Go.
He’s just didn’t want to be in Winnipeg. He won’t complain about going down for now
trade request incoming..
SO F’ing done with Jarry. No intensity whatsoever.
You can have Husso, Georgiev, or Grubauer.
Shouting at clouds lol
We don’t need another goalie. We have a good system, we just need jarry out
Bruins will trade you Korprisalo!
For the misinformed: he’s sent down to Wilkes for development reasons. There’s no room top 6 in lineup. If he gets bottom 6 role, he’ll develop like a bottom 6 player. Sent to AHL to give him 20 min a night and power play time. He’ll be back up soon enough.
Sounds exactly like what Winnipeg wanted to do…
So read between the lines then. He just didn’t want to play there
…and that is why these kids are exactly how they are. Don’t bother putting in the work and proving that you belong. Keep changing teams till you bounce out of the league. I have no patience for these types of players.
*Immediately requests trade*
These primadonna’s coming into this league really get to me sometimes. I understand that they’ve been told all their lives that they are better than everyone else, but come on. Don’t they understand that this is the best league in the world and that hard work is needed to even get noticed, nevermind be able to supplant someone who put in the work.
I love seeing when these types of kids get a real eye opener. Nothing is just going to be given to you just because of your draft class or your own thought process.
I don’t think we are misinformed about these types of players. I think fans can read exactly into what is going on. Players are expected to play a competent 200 foot game, so it shouldn’t matter what line is what. If you are good enough, they will make a spot for you. Coronato in Calgary doesn’t look to be having much trouble playing on the 4th line. He is not a 4th line player.
I always thought that excuse was a lame cop out to not being able to play the right way.
You are radically misinformed about the possible motivation behind these players. .
Drafted players are essentially owned by their teams until one of two things happen: they accrue enough service time to reach UFA or they let their rights expire after three years. If they sign, they have no freedom of movement for at least three years, and hockey’s old boy’s club makes RFA tendering an infrequent occurrence. If they don’t sign, they lose out on three years of development and develop a reputation from this same old boy’s club as princesses and malcontents. These players have no choice but to sign with the team that drafted them if they want to complete their life goal of playing in the NHL. They’re subject to whatever they decide is best for their careers.
Free agents are signed because the team sees a role for them… rookies are signed because a team wants to control an asset long-term. A drafted rookie is expected to be with the team for the entirety of their prime but they’ve done nothing to earn that right to their continued labour. It shouldn’t be expected. I’m absolutely thrilled players are starting to see that they can control some things, especially if they’re a top prospect the team will never buy out as long as they retain value (it’s part of the reason the old boy’s club goon squad, the hockey media, immediately starts railing these ‘whining, crybaby primadonnas’– to tank their value so they can’t get traded). If you don’t want to play in Winnipeg or Philadelphia, you shouldn’t have to play in Winnipeg or Philadelphia. They can sign free agents that want to play there.
For those of us outside of sports, we may also be subject to non-competes as a parallel— and in all but the rarest cases, we can’t not be allowed to find comparable employment, We may also align with an employer who puts us through a development plan early in our careers— the difference is that I’m a free agent, I can sign with ABC or DEF and I want to land wherever I sign.