With forward Bryan Rust serving a three-game suspension and defenseman Jack St. Ivany now sidelined following surgery, there was going to be a roster move coming for the Pittsburgh Penguins before they begin their current three-game home stand. That roster move came on Thursday morning, and it is the return of forward Rutger McGroarty.
The Penguins officially announced the recall of McGroarty after a four-game stop in Wikes-Barre/Scranton following his recovery from a concussion. He was injured during
a collision with a teammate in practice. During his four-game stay in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton he recorded five assists, furthering his impressive AHL numbers for the season. He has four goals, eight assists and 12 total points in nine games at the AHL Level.
He has two goals and an assist in 16 games with the Penguins.
With McGroarty back, the question now becomes what sort of role he take with the Penguins and where he will slot back into the lineup.
The Penguins have really settled their forward line combinations and have four lines that are working extremely well together at the moment. The easiest solution would be to simply plug McGroarty into Rust’s spot on the top line and keep the Evgeni Malkin-Tommy Novak-Egor Chinakhov line together, the Ben Kindel-Anthony-Mantha-Justin Brazeau line together and the Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Accairi line together.
Why disrupt multiple lines that are all working if you do not have to do so?
Crosby and McGroarty also produced well together in their brief ice-time together at the end of the 2024-25 season.
The other option could be a potential reunion of McGroarty with Ben Kindel, with one of the veteran forwards (Brazeau or Mantha) getting bumped to the top line.
Based on the lines at the morning skate, the Penguins are going to go with the latter option as Brazeau has skated on the right side of the Crosby-Rakell line, while McGroarty is on the left side with Kindel and Mantha.
At the end of the day, just so it is not Kevin Hayes drawing back into the lineup there really is not a bad decision here. The important thing is just putting a good lineup out there that can keep this run going. The other important thing is McGroarty making the most of this opportunity and making a good impression no matter what line he plays on. Making the playoffs is now a very realistic goal for this season, and perhaps even an expectation at this point, but seeing growth from young players and positive development there is also a big priority. Bryan Rust’s suspension is unfortunate for the Penguins, but it is still a big opportunity for McGroarty to get another look with the NHL team.
