Friday, March 29, 2019

Even Penguins might not have known what they got in Jared McCann


By Tim Benz
https://triblive.com/sports/tim-benz-even-penguins-might-not-have-known-what-they-got-in-jared-mccann/
March 29, 2019
Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers makes the first period save as Jared McCann #19 of the Pittsburgh Penguins looks for the rebound at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

If you weren’t aware of what the Penguins were getting from the Panthers when they acquired Jared McCann as part of the Derick Brassard trade, don’t worry.
It appears they may not have been fully aware, either.
Obviously, Jim Rutherford had at least a hope that McCann could be productive. Otherwise, the Penguins’ general manager wouldn’t have asked for the 22-year-old forward to be included in the deal that also yielded Nick Bjugstad.
But beyond Rutherford and his scouting staff, McCann appears to have been a little-known commodity to his new coach and new teammates.
“Just from playing (Florida) a couple of times, you have some familiarity with his game,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “But not in any sort of detail.”
Here are the details since McCann arrived in Pittsburgh:
• Eleven goals and 16 points in 27 games as a Penguin since being acquired in late January.
• None of those goals has come on the power play. Three have been short-handed. The rest have been at even strength.
• A shooting percentage of 18.6, best on the Penguins among players with at least 50 shots.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said at least some of McCann’s positive traits were evident when he was an opponent with Florida.
“I didn’t know a whole lot about him, just playing against him a little bit,” Crosby said. “But his shot seemed to stand out. His speed. He was a good skater.”
McCann has played mostly wing since coming to town. He jumped up on Sidney Crosby’s line after Bryan Rust got hurt. Since Rust’s return March 17, which coincided with Evgeni Malkin’s injury, McCann has been slotted into a left-wing position with Teddy Blueger at center and Phil Kessel on the right side.
“I’ll be honest,” Sullivan said, “when we first got them, we envisioned Jared playing that third-line center role and Nick playing on the wing in the top-six capacity. It’s worked out to this point that roles have been reversed. But they’ve both embraced it and done extremely well.”
As mentioned by Crosby, McCann’s shot and speed frequently have been discussed in the Penguins’ locker room as having a sneaky “plus” quality. Freeing up those talents to impact the team may be the result of necessity being the mother of invention thanks to Rust’s injury, which kept him sidelined for about three weeks in early March.
At that point, the Penguins decided to dot in McCann at the wing. That’s when he had a conversation with Penguins assistant coach Mark Recchi.
“When I got switched to the wing, they told me to use my speed a little bit more,” McCann said Thursday. “I feel like once I get going, I can move pretty well. So I just try to shoot the puck and skate as hard as I can for my linemates and get open for them.”
Sullivan seems to think McCann’s positive qualities are best highlighted on a wing position.
“We encouraged him to shoot the puck,” Sullivan said. “The one thing about Jared on the wing is that we feel like we can leverage his speed a little bit more. If our center icemen can get him the puck out on the wing with some speed, then he can challenge defensemen, he can get some separation to shoot the puck and we encourage him to shoot the puck because he has shown the capacity to score.”
Sullivan said the trickle-down effect is that Bjugstad also has fit nicely in the third-line center job vacated by Brassard. In 2016, the Penguins got a Stanley Cup run boost from elevating the likes of Rust, Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl. In 2017, that pop came from Jake Guentzel.
Perhaps this year, that energy can be provided by two guys elevated to more significant roles from outside the organization in Bjugstad and McCann.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or viaTwitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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