Penguins acquire top prospect Rutger McGroarty from Winnipeg for Brayden Yager

Pens beefing up with legit top young player by sending out their own top prospect

Update: Wow it’s a big one. Pittsburgh trades Brayden Yager (14th overall in 2023) for Rutger McGroarty (14th overall in 2022).

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Kyle Dubas has often said he’s constantly seeking improvement and ways getting younger for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it looks like he’s throwing out a home run swing with the news breaking today that he’s acquired former first round pick Rutger McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets.

McGroarty, 20 was draft 14th overall by Winnipeg in 2022. That has been an issue for McGroarty, who did not attend their prospect camp and announced intentions to return to the University of Michigan for his junior season. McGroarty’s problem with the Jets seems to be timing-based, he reportedly soured playing for Winnipeg after they wouldn’t commit to giving him an NHL contract and job when he felt he was ready to leave college and turn pro. Since then, he’s had little to do with them and Winnipeg would lose his rights if he graduates college in 2026, making a trade the expected outcome for them.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler listed McGroarty as the 33rd top drafted prospect right now. That’s ahead of everyone in Pittsburgh’s system, including Brayden Yager (58th). Wheeler wrote of McGroarty:

McGroarty’s one of those kids who just looks like a pro hockey player. If he walked into an NHL dressing room tomorrow, he would stand as strong as some in it. Then you add in the charisma that made him the natural choice for the captaincy at the U.S. NTDP and with last year’s gold medal-winning world junior team, and the light and energy that oozes out of him, and you have to be careful not to put too much stock into the off-ice pieces of the puzzle that he already appears to have figured out. But I think he’s a darn good hockey player and the pieces of the puzzle fit together nicely on the ice as well.

He’s a better skater (it doesn’t look the prettiest through his first few steps, but there’s some power when he gets going nonetheless) than he gets credit for and his spatial awareness, reads and effort level help him avoid losing short races. He’s got great hands and feel on the puck as a passer. His finishing touch around the net is there in spades, with a hard one-touch shot that he leverages his strong frame to power through when he gets open in the slot. He has always been a sneaky-good facilitator who passes the puck really well and can hold it.

He has particularly mastered the net drive into a high rotation away from coverage that brings him back to around the net. And then when he gets there, he’s got the strength to shoot from bad postures/off balance. He always seems to put his shots into good locations (along the ice, low blocker, high short side), too. He’s dexterous. He’s a tone setter. I’m a big fan.

The ice normally tilts in his favour, he’s such a smart player, he can score, he works, and he just understands where to be out there and how to put himself in positions to create offense. He has also reinforced his strong statistical profile from the NTDP at Michigan, where he was a point-per-game freshman and played to nearly 1.5 points per game as a sophomore last year despite a pretty severe injury in the fall (a broken rib and punctured lung).

If he can get a little quicker from the jump, he’s got all of the other makings of a legitimate top-nine forward who can play up and down a lineup with a variety of player types. He’s going to have a long career as a second-liner, I’d expect. I think he’s ready for pro, too.

As a “heart and soul” type of winger, McGroarty doesn’t have elite skill, but projects to be a very solid NHL player for a long time.

The question that remains now is what the Pens would have to give up to get a high-end prospect. Winnipeg was seeking a substantial amount back to part with him, and given high interest from around the league in the type of forward that every NHL teams wishes they could add, it might be significant.