At the NHL Player Media Tour, Sidney Crosby mentioned that he’d texted a bit with new Penguins prospect Rutger McGroarty. The team acquired the 20-year-old forward from Winnipeg at the end of August.
“From everything I hear, he's super excited. Just excited for him, and obviously, I think he's really happy,” the Penguins captain said.
After a hectic couple of weeks getting situated in his new surroundings, McGroarty was thrilled to don black and gold in real game action for the first time at this weekend’s Prospects Challenge in Buffalo.
“It was awesome. It was good to just go out there and do what I love, honestly,” McGroarty said. “Like, we all love the game so much. And obviously, throwing on the Penguins jersey, it's awesome. It was fun.”
The message from the coaching staff was, “don’t be someone that you’re not… go out there, do what you do best, and just compete.” For McGroarty, that’s being a power forward with skill and a strong hockey IQ who takes pride in his compete level. He tries to “work extremely hard and do everything with intent, and then hopefully drag other guys across the line with you and help them get better.”
Before reporting to his first NHL training camp in just a few short days, McGroarty is working to feel comfortable in that game.
“Obviously you can't replicate a game in the summer, so I feel like this is actually huge for us going into training camp – getting our legs under us, getting our cardio back, and just feeling comfortable with the puck as well,” McGroarty said.
“I feel like puck management is the biggest thing. I feel like at the NHL level, you have to be able to manage the puck and put it in the right places. And also, just learning the systems as well. I feel like that's big for us. Obviously, it's new systems, new team. So I feel like that will definitely give us a head start.”
As Penguins fans prepare to see what McGroarty can bring on the ice, get to know more about Rutger as a person through this profile and his Player Essentials, listed below.
