Dec 21, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rutger McGroarty (prone) is tripped by Montréal Canadiens defenseman Adam Engstrom (42) during the first period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images DETROIT — For every success, there must be a failure.
Professional sports are a zero-sum game, as there is only so much money, so many roster spots, and very defined roles filled only by the best player for that spot, not just every player who can. And so the crowded house that is the Pittbsurgh Penguins training camp will have its success stories.
There will be quite limited time, with just three full-camp practices before preseason games and, presumably, cuts begin as the team immediately pares down to single-group practices. There will be three groups, A, B, and C, in camp, and, reminiscent of former coach Mike Sullivan, they are expected to be segmented by status.
Sullivan once cocked his head and had to bite his tongue when PHN once asked him to confirm the group formations were indeed based on expectations and likelihood to make the team. Of course, Sullivan had spent days preaching that everyone had a chance, and didn’t want to say, “Well, duh,” when the minor-league players were relegated to a new group together.
Hey, Sullivan had his ways of dealing with PHN questions he didn’t like, and we had our ways of pushing back. Now, coach Dan Muse won’t have the time or luxury to go through those progressions of camps past, as this camp will be full speed ahead with just 13 days between Day 1 and regular-season Game 1.
Consequently, while there will be some second-chance players who break through for an NHL spot, but there will also be some players who are sorely disappointed. In fact, there could be a few dirty diapers headed to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for AHL camp, though none are expected to display the outright disgust of the assignment as defenseman Matt Dumba did last season.
But there could be some very bruised egos and building hate. 3 Penguins Likely to Be Disappointed 3.
Rutger McGroarty McGroarty and fellow prospect Ville Koivunen are often linked because they made their Penguins cotillion in the same game with eight to go in the 2024-25 NHL regular season (McGroarty had made his NHL debut at the beginning of the season but played just a few games). While Koivunen inked an eight-year deal last month, his counterpart is still pushing for his big break.
McGroarty, 22, has been expected to arrive for two seasons, since general manager Kyle Dubas flipped 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager to the Winnipeg Jets for McGroarty, who was the Winnipeg Jets’ 2022 first-rounder, but informed the snowy city in the summer of 2024 that he would not sign there. So, Dubas flipped one first for another, but a year older, presumably a year closer.
That hasn’t yet come to pass, but it was close last season. McGroarty performed solidly in the second half of the season, but was snakebitten when it came to actually putting the puck across the goal line.
He was helping linemates up their totals, but remained largely off the scoresheet in 24 NHL games. He scored three goals with three assists in almost 12 minutes per game.
A 55.8% Corsi rate buttressed his argument to stay, and furthering his hard-luck tune was a 94.7 PDO, which is the mysterious hockey stat that tries to measure expectations; a player with a 100 score is scoring exactly as expected, and a player below 100% should have scored more. And yes, 94.7 is well beyond snakebitten.
Despite his solid play, McGroarty was demoted on March 31, on the precipice of the Penguins’ playoff run. He was the victim of veteran players returning from injury and disappearing roster spots, but it still stung.
Last spring, WBS Penguins coach Kirk MacDonald passingly noted that it took a few moments for McGroarty to be OK with it, and the player made a similar reference to PHN. But things will be no different this week at Penguins camp.
McGroarty is blocked in all roles and positions in training camp. He is waiver-exempt, so it will be easier to send him to the AHL than it will be for most of the other players fighting for that singular bottom-six spot.
There are still downsides to his game, such as his skating, but he’s largely proven ready for his NHL sweater. Yet a full boat likely means bad news for the player who boasts a polished 200-foot game, a penalty-killing acumen, and should be scoring at a much higher rate.
Frustration will be a real enemy. 2.
Hendrix Lapierre There are always surprises and players in unexpected spots. Last year, Filip Hallander was given the inside track on a roster spot after returning from a couple-year stint in his native Sweden.
It is entirely possible that Lapierre will be given the same track for a roster spot, and it would be well deserved for the 2020 first-round pick of the Washington Capitals. After all, the Penguins spent a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick to get Lapierre from Washington, and then signed him to a two-year, $2.6 million deal.
So, he should be in the lineup. But…
where? The team traded for him days before the NHL Draft, and he was quite optimistic after the deal that he would get the same sort of second chance with a long runway as others such as Egor Chinakhov, Philip Tomasino, and Tommy Novak.
In fairness, Chinakhov didn’t need a runway, but he had it nonetheless. With nearly 20 potential NHL forwards in camp, and the center spots filled, Lapierre might not get much of one at all.
1. Joel Blomqvist So close.
Blomqvist was the heir apparent to Tristan Jarry in the Penguins net. His AHL numbers and performance were stellar, and former Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivan called him the heart of the WBS Penguins.
However, Blomqvist was roughed up in his big chance in the second half of the 2024-25 season, so much so that the team pulled the plug and recalled Jarry after unceremoniously waiving him a month prior. Since then, Blomqvist has been passed on the depth chart by potential phenom Sergei Murashov, who started all of the WBS playoff games and is clearly ahead on the depth chart.
Yet, Dubas has asserted that there will be an open competition in camp, but it’s hard to imagine Blomqvist surpassing Murashov, who got five NHL games last season while Blomqvist remained in the AHL. Blomqvist, 24, should be entering his NHL window.
He’s played three AHL seasons, and it’s been six years since he was drafted. There’s a special kind of frustration from being so close, perhaps even ready.
And a few of the Penguins are likely to get that news in a week or two.
