Penguins’ McGroarty, Acciari not medically cleared for training camp
A handful of players and prospects will not be on the ice when training camp begins.
On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that forwards Rutger McGroarty, Noel Acciari, Tanner Howe and Bill Zonnon, along with defenseman Peyton Kettles, will be in attendance at camp, but aren’t medically cleared to participate.
In a release, the team didn’t specify why the above names aren’t able to skate with the team, but McGroarty and Acciari were shut down late last season due to various injuries, and Tanner Howe underwent ACL reconstruction surgery in April.
General manager Kyle Dubas will speak to the media on Thursday, and is expected to provide more details then.
McGroarty was hoping to have a much more fortunate sophomore season in pro hockey. After struggling out of the gate in Pittsburgh last season, he was sent to the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, for most of the season. In 60 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the 21-year-old scored 14 goals and 25 assists for 36 points.
The former Michigan Wolverine appeared in eight games with Pittsburgh, totaling three points, including scoring his first NHL goal on April 3 against the St. Louis Blues. He suffered a lower-body injury a few games later that kept him out for the final three contests of the year.
Acciari’s ailment wasn’t disclosed. The veteran appeared in the team’s first 79 games of the season, scoring five goals and seven assists for 12 points. It was his highest point total in the NHL since the 2022-23 campaign, when he scored 18 points with the Blues.
Howe, who signed his entry-level contract with the Penguins in July 2024, played for both the Regina Pats and Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. In 47 games, he scored 18 goals and 28 assists for 46 points. The Prince Albert, Sask. native also played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship last January.
If Howe’s timeline serves true, he’s expected to be out through most of January.
Zonnon was taken in the first round, 22nd overall, of this year’s NHL Draft. He was coming off a solid season with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, scoring 28 goals and 55 assists for 83 points in 64 games, finishing second on the team in scoring.
Kettles was taken in the second round, as the Penguins used the 39th overall pick to draft the Swift Current Bronco. In 53 games in the WHL last season, Kettles notched five goals and nine assists for 14 points.
The Penguins’ training camp is scheduled to begin on Thursday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.