{"id":545847,"date":"2026-04-07T16:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545847\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:45:14","slug":"what-im-hearing-about-the-penguins-murashov-mcgroarty-and-magical-pickups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545847\/","title":{"rendered":"What I\u2019m hearing about the Penguins: Murashov, McGroarty and magical pickups"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 There is a growing perception that the Pittsburgh Penguins are unhappy with Rutger McGroarty<\/a>, as one of the team\u2019s top prospects<\/a> has been unable to become a regular at the NHL level this season.<\/p>\n

While the Penguins have shocked the hockey world by becoming among the Eastern Conference\u2019s best teams this season, they\u2019ve done so without much of a contribution from young forwards other than 18-year-old Ben Kindel and 25-year-old Egor Chinakhov.<\/p>\n

So, is the organization down on McGroarty?<\/p>\n

From what team sources have told me, the answer is no. The Penguins still have high hopes for him and believe he\u2019s going to be a very good NHL player for a long time. They also really liked what they saw from him during a brief call-up in early February.<\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t he getting more NHL opportunities? McGroarty\u2019s skating remains an issue, and it\u2019s never going to be his strength at the NHL level. Still, he just turned 22 last week, and there is plenty of time for growth in that area. Not everyone is Kindel, who turns 19 on April 19 and is ready to excel in the NHL at such a young age.<\/p>\n

The Penguins love McGroarty\u2019s hockey IQ, size, play on the boards and defense. They believe the rest of his game, namely production, will come around. It will be very surprising if he doesn\u2019t start next season as a top-12 forward in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

I have been told that McGroarty is disappointed he\u2019s not in Pittsburgh right now. That doesn\u2019t mean the Penguins are disappointed in him. They understand that some prospects take longer than others.<\/p>\n

Playoff goaltending<\/p>\n

The Penguins are now considered to have a greater than 99 percent chance<\/a> of making the postseason, so for this exercise, we\u2019ll assume they\u2019re in. Everything I\u2019ve heard indicates that Stuart Skinner is going to be the Penguins\u2019 No. 1 goalie when the playoffs begin. I wouldn\u2019t expect the Penguins to resort to the goaltender rotation they\u2019ve used most of the season. Skinner appears to be the guy. His gutsy performance in the final minutes of a game in Utah last month won over many people in the organization.<\/p>\n

Skinner is dealing with an eye injury, which makes things a little murky. Eye injuries can be tricky, and I\u2019m not about to play doctor. But I can tell you the Penguins feel more comfortable with Skinner starting a playoff game than they do Art\u016brs \u0160ilovs.<\/p>\n

That brings us to Sergei Murashov, who was called up on Tuesday due to Skinner\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

If Skinner is out for a long time, or if he plays very poorly early in a playoff series, I wouldn\u2019t be shocked to see Murashov catapulted over \u0160ilovs. The Penguins have been extremely disciplined with Murashov, resisting the temptation to bring him to Pittsburgh because they wanted him to play an entire season in AHL Wilkes-Barre. They\u2019ve prioritized his development.<\/p>\n

But some people in the organization want him to stick around, even after Skinner is healthy. I don\u2019t think Kyle Dubas is one of those people. The Penguins boss has wanted Murashov to marinate in the AHL, which is hard to argue against, as Murashov has been outstanding there.<\/p>\n

That said, Dubas has been burned by poor goaltending before. I don\u2019t think he\u2019d let \u0160ilovs mind the net with the season on the line if Murashov were available. The Penguins have accomplished their development goal here. The priorities have now changed as playoff hockey arrives. Most people I\u2019ve spoken with in the organization believe Murashov, even with his NHL inexperience, would give the Penguins a better chance in playoff competition than \u0160ilovs.<\/p>\n

The Penguins consider Murashov their second-best option in net but want him to play regularly, so they prefer to keep him in the AHL when Skinner is healthy. If Skinner isn\u2019t healthy for an extended stretch, Murashov may well become their No. 1 goaltender.<\/p>\n

Trade deadline steal<\/p>\n

As you may have suspected, the Penguins are positively delighted with everything they\u2019ve seen on and off the ice from Elmer S\u00f6derblom.<\/p>\n

One team source told me over the weekend, \u201cI can\u2019t believe Kyle got this guy. He\u2019s going to be a part of our bottom six for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00f6derblom has six points in his past six games and, perhaps even more noteworthy, was been a consistent presence in the offensive zone in all of them. He uses his massive frame to hold onto the puck and has showcased skill and vision that have gotten everyone\u2019s attention. Points can come and go, but S\u00f6derblom having the puck on his blade so often, even in fourth-line minutes, has everyone excited about where this could lead.<\/p>\n

The Penguins are pleasantly surprised with his physicality, leveling defensemen regularly and dropping the gloves with the Islanders\u2019 Scott Mayfield last week. He\u2019s also been willing to put in post-practice work and has quickly adapted to the Penguins\u2019 system. The move to bring S\u00f6derblom to Pittsburgh flew under the radar on trade deadline day, but he\u2019s made a pretty clear impact.<\/p>\n

Tough decision looms<\/p>\n

Who comes out of the lineup when Blake Lizotte returns from injury?<\/p>\n

There are no obvious candidates. It could be S\u00f6derblom, though we\u2019ve covered what the Penguins think of him.<\/p>\n

We know Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Evgeni Malkin, Chinakhov, Anthony Mantha, Kindel and Lizotte are locks to remain in the lineup. Someone from this group will have to sit: Justin Brazeau, S\u00f6derblom, Connor Dewar, Tommy Novak or Noel Acciari.<\/p>\n

Novak has really been off his game lately, with zero goals and only three points in his past 12 games. That said, the coaching staff really trusts him, so I don\u2019t know that we\u2019ll see him out of the lineup in the playoffs when he hasn\u2019t been a scratch all season. S\u00f6derblom has made this decision more difficult. It\u2019s not like Brazeau or Dewar deserve to come out of the lineup, either, and I\u2019d be stunned if Acciari were removed.<\/p>\n

All eyes on Chinakhov<\/p>\n

In my time covering the Penguins, I don\u2019t recall a time when players were as blown away by a new arrival as they are by Chinakhov.<\/p>\n

His name is brought up unprompted almost daily by Penguins players, who mention his talent, his future and their general confusion about why the Columbus Blue Jackets traded him to a division rival.<\/p>\n

Chinakhov had only three goals in 29 games with the Blue Jackets this season, though he didn\u2019t get much ice time or opportunity in Ohio. The Penguins have deployed him in a top-six role in every one of his 40 games with Pittsburgh. He has responded by putting up 17 goals and 33 points, a staggering 15 of those goals coming at even strength.<\/p>\n

Despite all that offense, many of the Penguins are more inclined to discuss his overall game and his defensive work, which is exceptional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 There is a growing perception that the Pittsburgh Penguins are unhappy with Rutger McGroarty, as one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,4,118,1469,100,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-545847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-penguins","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-pittsburghpenguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116364438690035785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}