Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years – and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft – top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News – Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
This may be subjective, but it does seem like the Penguins have a pretty clear-cut top-three at this point in time. Really, any one of them could be Nos. 1, 2, or 3, and that is reflected on a lot of Penguins’ prospect rankings.
For THN – Pittsburgh’s No. 3, we have Rutger McGroarty, who has made significant strides since his acquisition last summer – and who figures to be a key part of the Penguins’ future plans.
About those other Penguins’ prospect rankings? To be honest, many of them still have McGroarty at No. 1, and for good reason.
The 21-year-old forward was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets in August of 2024, and it cost the Penguins their top prospect at the time in Brayden Yager. The price was high for McGroarty – even if he wanted out of Winnipeg – and many were a little bit wary of how that trade would pan out for the Penguins.
Of course, it’s still early, and both McGroarty and Yager will, hopefully, have long NHL careers ahead. But the Penguins probably got the better prospect out of the deal, and he’s the kind of player that every contending team would want to have in their top-six.
What Are Realistic Expectations For McGroarty And Koivunen This Year?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have a pretty decent forward group entering the 2025-26 season, especially if they don’t make any trades between now and October 7, when they open the regular season against the New York Rangers.
McGroarty actually broke the NHL roster out of training camp last season due to a strong showing and some circumstantial factors with injuries. He played in only three games before being re-assigned to the AHL, and in those three games, he looked a step behind in his skating and in his reads.
Then, he wasn’t NHL-ready. He also had a relatively slow start to his AHL career, and things didn’t pick up for him down in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) until the second half. Although it was building up to something all season long, it was in his final stretch of AHL games…