Jets Refute McGroarty Narrative; Why He Wouldn’t Sign in Winnipeg

After being traded to a team that will put him on the NHL roster, Rutger McGroarty has ended his matriculation at the University of Michigan and signed his entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

However, the Winnipeg Jets disputed the widespread speculation that has become gospel truth.

It has become a matter of fact that McGroarty wouldn’t sign with Winnipeg because they refused to guarantee him an NHL roster spot. Reportedly, a few trades over the past six months have fallen through because of McGroarty’s demand until Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas ponied up his top prospect, 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager.

Both sides were presumably very excited. Dubas has not yet released a public statement or held a press conference, but Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff did. In the press conference, Cheveldayoff pushed back on the presumptive narrative of why McGroarty refused to sign.

“As we found out–we were at the NHL Draft Combine, and we got a text from his agent that wanted to meet. So, we sat down and chatted, and he said that Rutger didn’t intend to sign,” Cheveldayoff said.  That’s the first inkling we got that nothing was going to come to fruition there.  e sat down and asked the agent why, and he said he didn’t have an answer.”

McGroarty’s agent is also Penguins captain Sidney Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson.

“I went through a litany of questions with the agent. Was it player development? Was it that we didn’t burn a year (of his entry-level contract by bringing him into the NHL)? And he said, ‘No, no, no. Rutger said just didn’t feel right.'”

Cheveldayoff pushed for an answer and eventually met with McGroarty himself a few days later. However, Cheveldayoff didn’t get the clarity he hoped for. The player merely repeated that he wouldn’t sign with Winnipeg, but he didn’t necessarily have a specific reason or one he would share with Winnipeg.

“He said that when he got to development camp here (in 2023), he put the jersey on, it became real,” reported Cheveldayoff. “(He said) it just didn’t feel right at that time, and it culminated with that.  o again, if there’s a specific reason, Rutger hasn’t told us.”

Just a few hours after the trade Thursday, the Penguins tweeted a photo of McGroarty at the University of Michigan hockey arena signing his entry-level contract, smiling from ear to ear.

Welcome to Pittsburgh! ✍️

The Penguins have signed Rutger McGroarty to a three-year, Entry-Level Contract. pic.twitter.com/lpACZ7dB0e

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) August 22, 2024

And he should beam. While college life can be quite fun, he’s now going to get the chance to play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, take breakout passes from Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, and set up wingers like Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell.

Character issues seemed at odds with McGoarty’s work with Team USA, where he was the captain of the 2024 World Juniors gold medal team.

Cheveldayoff punctured the narrative that it was because McGoarty wasn’t guaranteed an NHL spot or able to make his NHL debut last season.

“We have never had that conversation.  Not) once,” said Cheveldayoff.

Perhaps the Penguins didn’t have to guarantee him an NHL spot after all, but it surely seems like that will be a moot point.  cGroarty scored 16 goals and posted 52 points in 36 games last season, his second with Michigan. He will count $950,000 against the Penguins salary cap in the NHL, and one could project that he will be quite a bargain while fulfilling Dubas’s expressed intention to add more youth to the NHL roster.