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.
They have plenty of options for all four lines, and it may lead to head coach Dan Muse doing a lot of experimenting during the season. There are a lot of veterans who are expected to take up a good chunk of the forward spots, but Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen will be right there, too. They had a nice trial run to end the 2024-25 NHL season and looked NHL-ready after getting top-six minutes with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
It’s been a year since the Penguins traded for McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for top prospect Brayden Yager. McGroarty had been on the trade market since last year when he informed the Jets he wasn't going to sign with them, and the Penguins hadn’t been floated as a potential trade partner until they made the deal. It shows how secretive the Penguins' general manager and president, Kyle Dubas, is, as he doesn’t let much information leak out.
McGroarty did enough during training camp to make the opening night roster, but only played in three games before he was sent down to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. It was evident that he needed more time for development in those games, and he got more than it during the year in WBS. He worked on all aspects of his game and was a different player when he came back up to the Penguins at the end of the season.
He scored his first goal against the St. Louis Blues on April 3 from a dirty area late in the third period to send the game to overtime, and got some great reps on Sidney Crosby’s line. His skating, which was a question mark heading into the season, looked much improved, and he finished the season with one goal and two assists in eight games.
He will have to earn his way onto the opening night roster for this season, and if he does, fans will need to temper their expectations. It’s great that the Penguins have some legitimate young players to look forward to for this season and in the future. That said, people have to be realistic about what to expect. If McGroarty gives the Penguins 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points over an 82-game season, that would be a tremendous success. That’s almost a half-a-point-per-game pace in his first full NHL season. Is it good enough to win the Calder Trophy or be a finalist for it? No, but that was never the expectation for him heading into the year.
The same can be said for Koivunen, one of the main pieces of the Jake Guentzel trade. Koivunen made his NHL debut last season when he came up with McGroarty and showed his playmaking skills right away. He compiled seven points, all assists, in eight games, and was good at both 5v5 and the power play. He spent time with both Crosby and Evgeni Malkin last season, and could get more time with Malkin since he was a good fit on his line.
Koivunen only played 36:12 of 5v5 minutes with Malkin, but made it count. When they were on the ice together, they had a 54.9% CF% rate, 52.5% of the expected goals, 55% of the scoring chances, and 60% of the high-danger chances.
Like McGroarty, if he gives the Penguins 10 goals and 20-25 assists for 30-35 points, that would also be a successful season for him. He’s more of a playmaker than McGroarty, but also needs a bit of work on his skating heading into the year.
Both players are very intriguing pieces for the 2025-26 season and are in a good situation with Muse at the helm since he specializes in development. Muse has also coached McGroarty before during his time with the U.S. National Development Program earlier in his coaching career.
McGroarty and Koivunen will be heavily watched during training camp when it starts in a few weeks and during the preseason when it gets underway at the end of September.
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