With the NHL entering its Olympic break, the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned rookie forwards Avery Hayes and Rutger McGroarty to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Friday.
The team did not announce the transactions but they were reflected on the AHL’s website in the early hours of Friday morning.
Hayes made his NHL debut in spectacular fashion during a 5-2 road win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday by scoring a pair of goals. He tied a handful of franchise or league marks, including becoming only the seventh player in NHL history to score a multiple goals in the first period of his NHL debut.
The Penguins recalled Hayes to the NHL roster Thursday afternoon, a handful of hours before the game.
Injuries have disrupted most of his 2025-26 season at the AHL level. Limited to 31 games, the right-handed Hayes has scored 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists).
Hayes, 23, is in the first year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $830,000.
Injuries have also inhibited McGroarty this season as he has split the campaign between the NHL and AHL clubs.
At the NHL level, McGroarty has skated in 19 games and scored four points (two goals, two assists) while averaging 11:55 of ice time per contest.
With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, McGroarty, a left-handed shot, has appeared in nine games and scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists).
McGroarty, 21, is in the second year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $950,000.
While the Pittsburgh Penguins are not scheduled to play any games until a home contest against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 26, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are slated to play in seven games during that span, starting with a road entanglement against the rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday, 7:05 p.m.
