When Rutger McGroarty was in a dispute with his draft team, the Winnipeg Jets, he made his beliefs very clear. McGroarty believed he had the ability and the skill set to make the jump from college hockey straight to the National Hockey League. 

McGroarty wanted to follow the same path that several of his University of Michigan teammates were offered – a direct line to getting NHL action as soon as they signed. McGroarty watched  Frank Nazar and Gavin Brindley sign deals with NHL clubs and get into the league right away, a year after Adam Fantilli and Luke Hughes did the same thing. 

The Jets could make no such promise. The organization believed it was in McGroarty’s best interest to start him in the American Hockey League, where he could get pro experience without the pressure and intensity that is NHL hockey. 

Things were at a standstill until June, when McGroarty made it clear he favored returning to Michigan rather than coming to Winnipeg’s training camp, where he was likely headed for the AHL. Winnipeg began to shop the prospect they drafted 14th overall two years ago, and in August they were able to swing a deal with Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

The Penguins sent their own 14th overall pick from last year, Brayden Yager, to Winnipeg in a one-for-one swap. Dubas made the trade knowing that McGroarty was confident in his abilities and wanted a chance to make the NHL out of training camp. 

Dubas obliged, successfully signing McGroarty to an entry level deal and inviting him to the Penguins’ training camp. Dubas stressed to the media that the Penguins were giving him a chance to make it, but he was having nothing handed to him. 

That was the deal that the Penguins made to McGroarty: earn it in training camp, and see how it goes from there. In the end, he did just that, beating out players like Emil Bemström, who Dubas traded for last year, and Sam Poulin, who is a former first round pick by the Penguins. 

But less than two weeks into the season, the terms are changing for McGroarty. The Penguins announced on Wednesday that he had been reassigned to Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.. 

It’s a decision by the front office that I’m sure McGroarty isn’t thrilled by, but it’s one that will benefit both him and his development long-term. 

McGroarty was already starting to see the troubles in keeping an NHL job. After playing in the team’s first three games, he was a healthy scratch on Monday night against the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Mike Sullivan Jesse Puljujärvi in his spot, after Puljujärvi was a scratch himself the game before. 

While McGroarty has been generating some positive plays, his efforts have not yet appeared on the score sheet. He had yet to record a point, being the only forward who started the season healthy to do so. His two total shots on goal were also not working in his favor in any argument to keep him up there. 

Whether it’s the correct way to approach things or not, the team’s bottom six is composed mostly of older players – and a lot of them aren’t going anywhere. Sullivan has long made clear his preference for veteran players over young guys. It’s a move that is very unpopular with the fan base now that the team is no longer making the playoffs and Sulivan is approaching a decade behind the bench in Pittsburgh. 

McGroarty, at age 20, is an outlier in that bottom six, and if he couldn’t find a way to light the lamp early, chances were he wasn’t going to remain an everyday player in Sullivan’s lineup. 

Bryan Rust’s swift return from Injured Reserve further complicated McGroarty’s fit in the lineup, and with Blake Lizotte making progress with his concussion, it was only a matter of time until a move had to happen. 

Again, whether that should be the case or not is definitely up for debate, but that’s the reality of Sullivan’s Penguins. 

But McGroarty going to the AHL will help him a ton in his professional transition. With the AHL Penguins, McGroarty will be a top line player every night, with the development of his game remaining a top priority. 

Sure, the AHL is a less talented league, but it will provide its own challenges for McGroarty, and without the risk of a severe loss of playing time. Part of the process of getting him acclimated to the pro side of the game is to get him playing against experienced adults. 

There is no doubt that McGroarty has immense talent. It’s why he was drafted that high up and why he could still command a high price in the trade market. But for what he brings to the table in talent he lacks – for right now – in experience. 

The professional transition isn’t easy. Talent and skill take time to adapt when all of the sudden McGroarty isn’t facing exclusively college-level competition. Getting him 20+ minutes a night in the AHL, where the average age of an opposing team is 23 to 27, will get the ball rolling on that front. 

McGroarty’s entry level contract makes him waivers exempt, which only further compounded him being the odd man out. But it also means he will be on the short list when injuries inevitably crop back up for the Penguins. 

Having no risk of losing him to any team makes it easy for the Penguins to shuttle McGroarty back and forth between the NHL and AHL as many times as needed. 

As long as there is a spot in the lineup for him, McGroarty should be here in Pittsburgh playing. The reality is just that there isn’t right now. 

And in the present time, the best thing for his development is to be getting top line minutes in the AHL, rather than sitting in the press box in the NHL.

(Featured photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)