The Penguins have had two of their better prospects return to full health. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Rutger McGroarty and goaltender Joel Blomqvist have been activated off season-opening injured reserve. They have been assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
McGroarty was acquired from Winnipeg last year in a swap of 14th overall picks but spent the bulk of his rookie year in the minors. He made Pittsburgh’s roster out of training camp but was sent down after just three games. He played in 60 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, picking up 14 goals and 25 assists. That earned McGroarty a recall in late March and he did well with it, putting up three points in five games down the stretch.
McGroarty had been dealing with an upper-body injury sustained before training camp as he didn’t take part in their rookie tournament or the preseason. Since he spent some time on Pittsburgh’s roster last season, he was carrying a reduced cap charge of just over $148K which will now come off their books.
As for Blomqvist, he came close to an even split between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season. He got into 15 games at the top level and had some struggles, putting up a 3.81 GAA and a .885 SV% in his first taste of NHL action. Meanwhile, in the minors, he posted a 2.84 GAA and a .914 SV%. That’s certainly better than his time with Pittsburgh but it was also worse than his rookie-season performance that saw him compile a 2.16 GAA and a .921 SV% in 45 outings in 2024-25.
For a while, it looked like Blomqvist was going to be Tristan Jarry’s backup heading into the season but that changed when they acquired Arturs Silovs from Vancouver in the summer. While there could be a short-term recall option for him with Jarry currently injured and Sergei Murashov serving as the backup, the better play development-wise might simply be to get him as much game action as possible in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Like McGroarty, Blomqvist had a reduced cap charge while on SOIR (tied to how many days he was on Pittsburgh’s roster) so this move will take his revised $341K charge off their cap.
They need to sell high on Jarry while he’s looking like this and just run the young guns. It’s working so far. Silovs and Blomqvist need as much exposure and TOI so they can decide who to invest the future on.