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Rutger McGroarty Ready & Grateful; ‘I Could’ve Played Beer League’
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- Rutger McGroarty Ready & Grateful; ‘I Could’ve Played Beer League’
Talia Sprague-Imagn Images Talia Sprague-Imagn Images
PHILADELPHIA— Rutger McGroarty is ready for his permanent NHL address. The Pittsburgh Penguins ' rookie, who spurned the Winnipeg Jets , who had drafted him 14th overall in the 2022 draft, thus forcing a trade to the Penguins in the summer of 2024, has the look of a young player who has figured it out.
Monday morning, the Penguins recalled McGroarty, and both sides hope that is the last time that sentence is ever written.
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McGroarty, 21, quickly laid waste to AHL competition after he finally made his season debut two weeks ago. An upper-body injury kept him out of training camp and the first two months of the season, but once he finally hit the ice, it was full go.
"He built his game there in Wilkes, and finished the year (in Pittsburgh) and was playing really well. You know, I've gone back and watched some of those games, and then unfortunately, he misses training camp, but he really put in the work there," said Penguins coach Dan Muse . "You know, just (putting in) the time. And he was coming back for his return to play; he did a great job there in terms of just preparing himself for those games. In Wilkes, he's played really well. So yeah, he earned an opportunity back."
The Penguins could have kept him on the NHL roster, but general manager Kyle Dubas instead assigned him to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins , telling the player he had to earn his way to the NHL this season.
The stocky winger with a polished game at both ends of the rink scored in each of his first four games with WBS and amassed seven points in five games, shoving his way back into the NHL faster than anyone anticipated.
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And he had a few beauties for the media Monday morning, too.
"You've gotta grow where you're planted. I feel like wherever you are, you just have to find a way to grow. And it's super easy there. I mean, the development team that they have, the players there, the coaches there. Everybody is so dialed in and wants to get better. So I feel like it's it's such a great group," McGroarty said.
"And some of my best friends are there. So I loved every second of it, going there, hanging out with them, getting to share the sheet with them again. And for me, I was just so juiced to play hockey again, I could have gone and played Beer League back in Nebraska, and I would have loved it. But overall, I was just grateful to play hockey again."
Last season, McGroarty lasted only three games at the start of the season, before spending most of the campaign with WBS. He finished his season with five games in the NHL before suffering a lower-body injury blocking a shot.
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He scored one goal and registered three assists in those eight total games.
"It's motivating because I feel like, at the end of the year, I did well. But obviously, there's still so much I have to work on," McGroarty said. "It was really exciting for me getting those games at the end of the year to see how much better I got than at the start of the year. And then going into summer, knowing what I had to work on, continuing to work on my speed, continuing to work on my strength. And then my overall just scoring touch, too."
Monday night, Muse will put forth a new bottom six, both inserting tough Boko Imama on the fourth line, but creating an all-rookie line with McGroarty, Ben Kindel , and Ville Koivunen .
The post Rutger McGroarty Ready & Grateful; 'I Could've Played Beer League' appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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