Coming in at No. 4 on our 2026 THN Top-20 Penguins' Prospects list is a winger with an all-around toolset who, even if he still has more to give, should be an effective NHL player.
It's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In years past, this has been a bit easier of an exercise, as there used to be a more clear-cut line between prospects with NHL upside and longshots. However, because of the work that general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and his staff have put in during the last several years, the line is blurring a whole lot more - and there is a substantially higher volume of talent in the system.
This time around, making a top-20 list was challenging. So, a few criteria were put into place: To make our list, prospects must be under the age of 26 and have played less than 50 NHL games. This excludes names such as Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander, Oliver Okuliar, and Alexander Alexeyev.
At No. 5, we sang the praises of right wing Mikhail Ilyin, whose high-level smarts, vision, and playmaking ability are perfect complements in a future top-six role. For No. 4, we give some love to a prospect who many are down on but who still has more to give.
No. 4: RW Rutger McGroarty
As mentioned, some are down on the 22-year-old McGroarty, which is a bit understandable to an extent. After a nice NHL showing at the end of the 2024-25 season before injury ended his campaign prematurely, he registered just three goals and six points in 24 NHL games this season and couldn't contribute with enough consistency.
It is worth considering that an injury over the summer last year caused McGroarty to miss the entirety of training camp as well as the first month and a half of the season, which almost certainly set him back a bit. He came out of the gate after his injury and earned an NHL call-up after just five games, but his right-away performance didn't take away from the fact that he did miss that time.
Yes, McGroarty's injury history is also a slight concern at this point. But, if he can remain healthy this season, there's a good chance he could make the jump - and, perhaps, actually stick this time.
Like Ville Koivunen - who is at a similar point in his development - McGroarty has shown flashes at the NHL level while dominating the AHL up to now. He had 10 goals and 34 points in 30 AHL games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins in 2025-26, and he also tied for second in team scoring during the Calder Cup Playoffs with four goals and nine points in 15 games.
The one thing with McGroarty that seems pretty certain is that he is going to be an NHL player. He has a translatable toolset, and he has worked very hard to improve a major area of weakness in the form of skating over the last two years. He still needs to improve in that department, but he's putting in the work.
Other than that, though, he has an intriguing and impressive all-around toolset. McGroarty is someone who can put the puck in the back of the net, and he also has translatable NHL playmaking skills and keen awareness in all three zones. He's an excellent penalty-killer, he's effective in a distribution role on the power play, he makes the right reads off the rush and when creating and executing in the offensive zone, and he is also willing to go to work in the battle areas along the wall and at the net-front, areas in which he thrives.
And, let's not forget that he can snipe the puck, too. McGroarty's shot is a dangerous weapon when he has the time and space to set himself up in the scoring areas of the ice. Sniping aside, he has a nice set of hands down low and can stickhandle in some pretty tight spaces.
He is also a notoriously physical, pain-in-your-behind kind of player, as you'll find him creating a chance one second and hitting the daylight out of someone the next. And his leadership and locker room intangibles hold a lot of water. He's very self-aware and willing to put in the work to improve on the margins, and that shows in how his game has evolved at the AHL level over the last two seasons with the organization.
“Especially without the puck and on the forecheck, he's able to generate much more speed and pressure opponents,” Dubas said during his end-of-season press conference. “That’s the game he’s going to have to play [at the NHL level].”
A 14th overall pick in 2022, the Penguins knew who they were trading for in August of 2024. They still very much believe that McGroarty, like Koivunen, can be a key piece of their future and that they both still have more to show.
And the organization is challenging them both to show more next season.
"I think [their seasons were] good overall," WBS assistant general manager Amanda Kessel said. "I think that they both have more in them, but at the same time, they were in big roles in the AHL, which isn't an easy league playing against older, bigger, stronger men. So, I think it was a good year for them. I believe in both of them a lot as players and think they have more to give."
It's hard to say what McGroarty's 2026-27 season will look like, as the Penguins - as we have said time and time again - have loaded up on the forward front, making McGroarty's path to full-time NHL minutes a bit more complicated. But the momentum he gained during the AHL season last year - momentum that carried over into the playoffs - should be a good springboard for McGroarty to reach even greater heights this season.
At the end of the day, if he can't earn a spot out of camp, he's going to be one of the team's first call-ups. McGroarty still has a ceiling as a top-six winger, even if his more realistic projection is somewhere in the middle-six.
But, make no mistake: This guy is going to be an NHL player, and he's going to be effective in whatever role he eventually finds himself in. Few players in the system have a higher floor than McGroarty does, and if he can build on what he accomplished last season and, most importantly, stay healthy, expect him to take pretty significant steps this season.
The list so far:
- No. 20: D Chase Pietila
- No. 19: C Kale Dach
- No. 18: LW/C Ryan Miller
- No. 17: C Zam Plante
- No. 16: G Joel Blomqvist
- No. 15: C Markus Ruck
- No. 14: LW Tanner Howe
- No. 13: D Finn Harding
- No. 12: RW Avery Hayes
- No. 11: D Tomas Galvas
- No. 10: C Tristan Broz
- No. 9: RW Liam Ruck
- No. 8: D Owen Pickering
- No. 7: RW Ville Koivunen
- No. 6: LW/C Will Horcoff
- No. 5: RW Mikhail Ilyin
- No. 4: RW Rutger McGroarty
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