F Rutger McGroarty - Signed by Penguins and playing in the AHL (2022, 14th, WPG; traded to PIT)

[lanky]

i dont blame him one bit for not wanting to live in Winnipeg

I'm not suggesting he should want to live in Winnipeg, but your speculation that he didn't, is just speculation. I believe the drama was about securing an NHL spot sooner - just as reported.

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

LOL, this guy launches his own version of LeBron's The Decision all-summer and then can't even stick with the big-club. Dime-a-dozen prospect. Everyone has a couple.

 

[antman12]

If he would just come out and give his reasoning for requested a trade all of this speculation would go away. He would receive some backlash and Winn fans would hold a grudge but at least people would know his reasoning.

In that sense its similar to the Gauthier situation in Philly that has left everybody speculating. Just own it and move on.

Then again, they both got their way (Gauthier certainly) so why would they care and screw us fans right?

 

[Thechozen1]

I don't think they promised him an NHL spot at all. In his first press conference he literally said they didn't promise him anything and he'd have to earn it.

Of course that’s what he’d say to the media. Would sure rub a lot of the other prospects the wrong way if he stated otherwise. I don’t believe anything that comes out of that kid’s mouth. I saw him pose as the media darling at 2 Jets development camps, saying all the right things.

 

[Fatass]

I don't think they promised him an NHL spot at all. In his first press conference he literally said they didn't promise him anything and he'd have to earn it.

Sure. And that’s 100% truth.
Of course he was promised the nhl spot. Even Dubas had to defend the decision to keep him up to start the year when pressed on the matter.
McGroarty needs to get over his entitlement. The thing is he’s already very close to his ceiling. There’s not much runway of development left for him. It’s the entitlement that’s in his way.

 

[BLONG7]

LOL, this guy launches his own version of LeBron's The Decision all-summer and then can't even stick with the big-club. Dime-a-dozen prospect. Everyone has a couple.

It would seem he has been kicked off his high horse. Not a good start to his NHL career.
It will be interesting if he goes down, and puts in the work in order to return?

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't think they promised him an NHL spot at all. In his first press conference he literally said they didn't promise him anything and he'd have to earn it.

It's because the report is totally fabricated, all of Chevy, Dubas and McGroarty have flat out said that his trade request was not about getting a guaranteed NHL role and that he wasn't given one by the Penguins.

People just hate the kid for having the audacity to not want to play for Winnipeg, so they want to make up a reason for why he asked for a trade to shit talk him.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

He is definitely NHL ready and fully earned a job that was open due to 2 injuries. Now is he ready to be a difference maker? Diff question. He did not look like a big time difference maker early in the reg season, but wasn’t bad or a negative either.

Pens have a lot of guys that can do the same thing (adequately fill a bottom 6 role).

He is the only waiver ineligible skater the Pens have. Made sense to send him down when healthy if he didn’t light it up, which he didn’t. Rust returned and that was that.

Kid looks good for 20 years old, how he develops his strength and his skill will determine where he ends up slotting into a lineup. His skating looks very passable in a good way, esp relative to how I thought it would look.

With how they were using him (3rd line LW and no special teams time), I think it’s better for him to be a big shot in the AHL anyway. He was a 3rd liner at ES, but with special teams had the lowest TOI avg of any forward.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

It's because the report is totally fabricated, all of Chevy, Dubas and McGroarty have flat out said that his trade request was not about getting a guaranteed NHL role and that he wasn't given one by the Penguins.

People just hate the kid for having the audacity to not want to play for Winnipeg, so they want to make up a reason for why he asked for a trade to shit talk him.

Yeah the reality is he just didn't want to live in WPG. The guaranteed ice-time stuff was all bs IMO.

That is plenty enough for a Winnipeg fan to hate on him though. We draft you, you act all excited about going to the Jets, say its your favourite team blah blah blah then demand out before you play a game? f*** you.

I am not watching his every movement but he will be booed mercilessly if he comes to Winnipeg.

 

[josra33]

Seems like the goalposts are now being moved.

He quite literally got an NHL job. That's it. That's the end of that discussion. He got what he wanted, and Pittsburgh held up their end.

Obviously there's no guarantee on what happens once that happens. Maybe he struggles. Maybe he doesn't. He's not a Bedard or Michkov. It likely won't be smooth sailing from there. Isn't for most 20 year olds trying to prove themselves in this league. But he got the opportunity with Pittsburgh he wanted.

And beyond that, I'm not sure how anything has been proven that he's not ready for the NHL. He's played less than 35 total minutes in the NHL. And even if we want to go there, he looked absolutely okay in the game I saw and had a good preseason. If anything, the evidence points to that he is NHL ready. Further, Pittsburgh is going to give him an opportunity that he wouldn't have gotten in Winnipeg. For all we know, Winnipeg might've not given him any opportunity to be a regular in the NHL this year no matter how well he did in the minors. That won't be the case in Pittsburgh, and they've already shown that they are willing to give him the chance to play in the NHL, if he earned it.

So save the stage five clinging. Let it go. You traded for a good player. You don't need to be so petty.

Bro literally said “technically he made the NHL” like that’s not a goal post moving comment in itself!

 

[StreetHawk]

With how they were using him (3rd line LW and no special teams time), I think it’s better for him to be a big shot in the AHL anyway. He was a 3rd liner at ES, but with special teams had the lowest TOI avg of any forward.

This was the reality for him leaving school. NHL isn't a place (especially on a club hoping to make the PO) for 20 year olds who don't play one of the special teams unless you bring something unique, like a big physical game (which is not likely for most 20 year olds vs fully grown men).

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Can bitter people stop saying he’s not good enough for the NHL? Thats simply not true. He’s played less than 35 minutes. Nothing is proven that quickly. He had an objectively good preseason and earned it. And has plenty of prior pedigree.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Can bitter people stop saying he’s not good enough for the NHL? Thats simply not true. He’s played less than 35 minutes. Nothing is proven that quickly. He had an objectively good preseason and earned it. And has plenty of prior pedigree.

If he was good enough to be in the nhl he would be right now. So as of this moment that statements accurate.

However - he is for sure good enough to make the nhl based on his progression. The good thing about mcgroarty is he has a high floor, even though his ceiling is lower. He won’t ever be a top liner but even if he “busts” he will be a good fourth liner, with his projections/scouting reports being a good middle sixer.

Anyways, any updates on how he’s looking in the ahl?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If he was good enough to be in the nhl he would be right now. So as of this moment that statements accurate.

However - he is for sure good enough to make the nhl based on his progression. The good thing about mcgroarty is he has a high floor, even though his ceiling is lower. He won’t ever be a top liner but even if he “busts” he will be a good fourth liner, with his projections/scouting reports being a good middle sixer.

Anyways, any updates on how he’s looking in the ahl?

The world doesn't always work that way. Is Nikishin not good enough for the NHL? Was Michkov not good enough last year?

I don't know why you feel the need to say the most obvious thing ever. He was quite literally in the NHL a few days ago and he's 20 years old. Captain obvious statement to say he can have an NHL career.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

The world doesn't always work that way. Is Nikishin not good enough for the NHL? Was Michkov not good enough last year?

I don't know why you feel the need to say the most obvious thing ever. He was quite literally in the NHL a few days ago and he's 20 years old. Captain obvious statement to say he can have an NHL career.

 

[heretik27]

Don't really have any strong feelings about the player, but the situation isn't ideal. Calgary already lost a future Norris winning prospect to this. It can't become a trend or Canadian teams won't be able to reliably draft US players if they're all going to get home sick and demand trades south of the border.

 

[Fatass]

Don't really have any strong feelings about the player, but the situation isn't ideal. Calgary already lost a future Norris winning prospect to this. It can't become a trend or Canadian teams won't be able to reliably draft US players if they're all going to get home sick and demand trades south of the border.

This guy wanted to avoid the minors. He ended up there anyway.

 

[heretik27]

This guy wanted to avoid the minors. He ended up there anyway.

I suspect there's a lot more to his decision than just that. Jets have had a lot of players ask out during Chevy's reign. He's done well to keep the team competitive, but maybe our management rubs people the wrong way? Maybe the market just isn't attractive to young bachelors? Are we always going to place the blame squarely on the player without knowing any of the actual details?

 

[Fatass]

I suspect there's a lot more to his decision than just that. Jets have had a lot of players ask out during Chevy's reign. He's done well to keep the team competitive, but maybe our management rubs people the wrong way? Maybe the market just isn't attractive to young bachelors? Are we always going to place the blame squarely on the player without knowing any of the actual details?

This kid hasn’t proven he’s a player. If anything he’s not and may never be.

 

[heretik27]

This kid hasn’t proven he’s a player. If anything he’s not and may never be.

He's 20, Brad Lambert didn't make the Jets either from the same 1st round draft. I think it'd be smart to give it a few years, most kids don't start breaking out until age 23.

 

[Empoleon8771]

This guy wanted to avoid the minors. He ended up there anyway.

Let's pretend that this is actually true, even though it has been rebuffed by all of McGroarty, Dubas and Chevy. If that was true, literally why would he pick Pittsburgh of all places to go to? Serious question.

In the 9 years Mike Sullivan has been the Penguins coach, there has been a grand total of 1 player who made the Penguins without any AHL time: John Marino. And if you look in more recent years, they've given young players fewer and fewer chances. They have been notorious for pushing young players down for shitty veterans. You have to go back to like 2017-2019 window to find them giving young players chances, where guys like Guentzel, Aston-Reese, Simon and Marino were getting pretty significant roles very quickly.

Look at Drew O'Connor as a good example of this. He was bouncing between the AHL and NHL for 3 years from 2020-2021 through 2022-2023 and only fully became a regular NHLer in 2023-2024. Now he's looking like a damn good 3rd liner, but he was constantly getting yoinked between the AHL and 4th line duty with the shitty veterans the Penguins were playing with their 4th line. That lasted for 3 years when you can reasonably argue his AHL performance warranted a legitimate NHL role back in 2021-2022 (32 points in 33 AHL games).

My point is that if McGroarty decided to allow a trade to the Penguins based on "avoiding the minors", he's an idiot that didn't actually pay attention to how young guys have been handled by the Penguins. And since I'm not going to assume someone is stupid for no reason, it makes a lot more sense to assume that "he demanded a NHL spot immediately" wasn't actually true. Which, again, aligns with what McGroarty, Dubas and Chevy all have said.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

If he would just come out and give his reasoning for requested a trade all of this speculation would go away. He would receive some backlash and Winn fans would hold a grudge but at least people would know his reasoning.

In that sense its similar to the Gauthier situation in Philly that has left everybody speculating. Just own it and move on.

Then again, they both got their way (Gauthier certainly) so why would they care and screw us fans right?

Unless it’s something like Trouba’s reason for being in NYC (supporting his wife’s career in medicine) he doesn’t really gain anything by giving his reasoning, just stands to lose more. If he took issue with some element of the Jets org he would be throwing them under the bus and possibly burning bridges further down the line. If he didn’t want to be in Canada that just increases the animosity from Canadian fans.

Does each free agent owe the fans an explanation when they choose not to sign or re-sign with a team? Of course not. This is no different.

The backlash is childish and embarrassing.

I would be mortified to see fans of my team acting like this:

 

[Fatass]

He's 20, Brad Lambert didn't make the Jets either from the same 1st round draft. I think it'd be smart to give it a few years, most kids don't start breaking out until age 23.

At 23 players this guy will need waivers to be sent down. He’s either a regular NHLer, before that, or he’s one of those who live mostly in the A. As of yet, he’s more looking like the latter.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Let's pretend that this is actually true, even though it has been rebuffed by all of McGroarty, Dubas and Chevy. If that was true, literally why would he pick Pittsburgh of all places to go to? Serious question.

Ummm, Rutger demanding starting time has not been rebuffed by Chevy. Chevy has not said anything specific.

Am open to you providing some proof/link on this though.

As far as people pushing back on his demand on starting time, or in general high demands considering he is a middle six scouted player, that was reinforced by the media while Winnipeg was trying to trade him. Elliot freedman reported, amongst others, that interested teams were put off by his demands and lost interest in Acquiring him.

If it was simply I don’t like Winnipeg, how does that play into the reports from Elliot et al? It doesn’t.

There very clearly were some perceived unrealistic demands not only by Winnipeg but other clubs as well.

Hope he develops well and has a great career in the nhl. A few seasons in the ahl are needed to work on his skating which has always been known to be a weakness.

When max domi looks like ankle breaker mcdavid in comparison to you - you may have some work to do. Lol.

Cheers to the king of Scranton!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Maybe the issue is that the Jets have unrealistic expectations for young players. Why is the instinct always to blame the player?

If you are McGroarty, you see your former teammates Cooley, Gauthier, Fantilli, Brindley, Hughes, Nazar, Casey, Hutson jump right into the NHL and in some cases not play any minor league time afterwards. The idea he’s not at a similar level to at least some of those players is ridiculous. He has every right to ask for what they got. If a team doesn’t want to comply, well then they should trade him.

And he quite literally EARNED an NHL spot to start the season with a great preseason. If he so clearly needed to ride buses, especially for multiple years, in the minors, how did that happen? Quit the pettiness and stage five clinging. For all we know, he was demoted for two weeks to avoid the crazy backlash he’d get from these sorts when the Penguins play in Winnipeg today.