Rutger McGroarty suffered an unspecified upper-body injury over the summer and was not available for the Prospects Challenge or the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp.
McGroarty recently resumed skating, but a timetable for his return to team activity had not been discussed. Wednesday night, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas updated McGroarty’s status via his GM show on the Penguins radio network.
Dubas said McGroarty will resume full activity sometime in the next month. However, he won’t return to the NHL roster, but begin his rehab and then be assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
“At his age, we want to make sure we’re doing everything (to ensure) that this doesn’t multiply into a greater issue. So he’s (in Pittsburgh) skating, and I would say inside of the next month he will return,” Dubas said. “And the (return) will come in Wilkes. He missed training camp and all of the preseason, so we’ll get him back fully up and running. And when he’s able to return to full practice and is cleared, then we’ll have him go to Wilkes and just continue on the progress that he made last year.”
McGroarty played eight NHL games last season, three at the beginning of the year and five toward the end of the season, before he suffered a lower-body injury blocking a shot. He had three points (1-2-3) in those eight games, and played in a top-six role during his second stint.
The Penguins acquired McGroarty prior to last season when Dubas traded 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager (14th overall) to the Winnipeg Jets for the rights to McGroarty, who was Winnipeg’s 2022 first-round pick (14th overall). McGroarty was a college player at the University of Michigan and had informed Winnipeg that he would not sign with them, eventually forcing the trade to the Penguins.
In 60 AHL games, McGroarty had 39 points, including 14 goals.
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