Rutger McGroarty stands out with number choice, attitude

The young forward is future captain material and breaking grounds with his number choice

The newest Penguin met with the media earlier this week to cap off what’s been an exciting time for Rutger McGroarty. Already in town and taking part in the Penguins’ informal player skates at their practice facility, McGroarty is ready to launch his pro career in just a few weeks.

The energy and excitement drips off the kid, it’s not hard to tell why he’s been a leader in the early steps of his career.

“I love it,” McGroarty said. “I love being a part of an atmosphere like that. I feel like I’ve played on a lot of winning teams in my career. Obviously, not to this extent in the NHL with guys like that, but I love being a part of that atmosphere.

“I love coming in. I love the grind every single day. I love winning, so that makes me really excited. Hopefully, I can be a part of that.”

“Hopefully, drag the other guys across the line with you and help them get better,” McGroarty said. “I’m also a very vocal guy. I’ve got a ton of energy. I’m always buzzing around, so hopefully, some of that is contagious energy that other guys can feed off of.”

That’s all great and fun to hear. Usually the captain of a team happens to be the best player on the team, and who knows if in 5-10 years the Penguins will have a more skilled player than McGroarty around. So naming him “future captain” material is a bold take, but a safe bet for sure is that he’s the type of player to wear a letter on his chest in the future, be it the alternate captain’s A or the captain’s C.

While a letter on his chest will be years down the line, McGroarty will stand out for the number on his back.

Pittsburghhockey.net is a great resource for the numbers throughout history, here’s the list of previous No. 2’s for the Pens over the years:

Leo Boivin, Duanne Rupp, Bob Paradise, Ed Van Impe, Tom Edur, Tom Bladon, Pat Price, Giles Lupien, Brian Lundberg, Phil Bourque, Greg Fox, Joe McDonnell, Todd Charlesworth, Chris Dahlquist, Jim Paek, Chris Tamer, Josef Melichar, Hal Gill, Nate Guenin, Matt Niskanen, Adam Clendening, Chad Ruhwedel

After checking all of these on hockeydb that the modern memory couldn’t capture, all of these players were defensemen. (Phil Bourque played some forward, but after his number switched to the 2-9er he would be remembered wearing).

McGroarty will make Penguin history with that but just when his NHL debut will be is still up in the air. Where he plays is also to be decided.

McGroarty confirmed that he is capable of playing the left or right wing. From studying Michigan’s lineups, McGroarty was used in 2023-24 mostly on the left, but because they had two right-handed shots in Frank Nazar and Gavin Brindley on the first line with him. When Michigan opted to use the left-handed Dylan Duke on the top line, McGroarty would then shift to the right wing.

Given Pittsburgh’s current roster strength, a LW start seems to make more sense, but don’t be surprised if McGroarty rotates and eventually becomes a right winger in the future if the team is overloaded with LH shots.

Where that future begins was left unknown. McGroarty said that only a spot in Pittsburgh’s rookie tournament next month in Buffalo was promised to him. He then went on to offer some oceanfront property in Arizona (from his front porch you can see the sea!)

Just kidding on the last part, and it would make sense that no assurances could be absolutely made for McGroarty. In training camp if he’s not one of the team’s top forwards, it wouldn’t do the organization or the 20-year old player and good to mandate him to start out in the NHL. However, given his pedigree, ability and upside, it does stand to reason that a team is naturally going to want this kid to stay engaged and be fast tracked towards huge opportunities that will mean making his NHL debut sometime in 2024-25. Just how much was actually promised or communicated can be debated, if McGroarty and his camp thought that the Pens would block and slow play his future the way Winnipeg seemingly planned to, they obviously wouldn’t have been so eager to sign a contracts with Pittsburgh within literal minutes of the trade that brought him into the organization.

“I feel like I’m going to get what I deserve and I’m going to come ready to work for camp,” McGroarty said. “I like where my game’s at right now, but I’m just excited to get to camp and hopefully leave a bit of an impression on them.”