Can Penguins forward Brock McGinn be more than Brandon Tanev's replacement?
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese got to know former linemate Brandon Tanev pretty well over the previous two seasons.
And Brock McGinn is no Brandon Tanev.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Through the first four days of the team’s training camp in Cranberry, one of the most regularly deployed lines has been the trio of Aston-Reese on left wing, Teddy Blueger at center and McGinn in Tanev’s old spot at the right wing.
After losing Tanev to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft, McGinn was the Penguins’ most prominent offseason addition, signing a four-year contract worth $2.75 million a season.
It widely was assumed his abrasive breakneck style would allow him to simply slot in on the Penguins’ defensive shutdown line as a carbon copy of Tanev.
Aston-Reese sees some distinct differences between the players.
“I know there’s that (idea) that he’s Brandon Tanev’s replacement,” Aston-Reese said. “But at the end of the day, he brings a different style. You can use a vague ‘grinder’ definition to define him. But he’s going to be a different player than Tanev. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
“(Tanev) might be one of the fast guys in the league so when it comes to that department, it’s hard to replace it. Where (McGinn) might give up a little more speed, he has a little more touch.”
McGinn, who had 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 37 games as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes last season, is optimistic over the offense he could potentially generate skating with Aston-Reese and Blueger.
“Those two guys work so hard,” McGinn said. “We work off each other. We’re going to going to go into the corners and trying to get the puck to each other and then try to get to those open areas. I think it’s working right now.”
“We’re going to get to those greasy areas where we’re going to get pucks back and hopefully get pucks to the net and create those (second- and third-chance scoring opportunities).”
Lineup posted
The Penguins announced their lineup for their preseason opener, a home contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena on Monday:
Forwards – Justin Almeida, Jordy Bellerive, Brian Boyle, Jan Drozg, Jonathan Gruden, Danton Heinen, Kasperi Kapanen, Sam Lafferty, Nathan Legare, Sam Poulin, Felix Robert, Evan Rodrigues, Dominik Simon
Defensemen - Mark Freidman, P.O Joseph, Cam Lee, John Marino, Will Reilly, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel
Goaltenders - Tristan Jarry, Filip Lindberg
Roster trimmed
The Penguins trimmed 10 players from their training camp roster.
Defensemen Chris Bigras, Chris Merisier-Ortiz, Josh Maniscalco, goaltenders Alex D’Orio, Tommy Nappier and forward Sam Houde were assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Maniscalco and D’Orio are the only members of that group who are signed to NHL contracts. Bigras, Merisier-Ortiz and Nappier are signed to AHL contracts. Houde was in camp on an amateur tryout basis.
Forwards Lukas Svejkovsky (Medicine Hat - Western Hockey League), Josh Williams (Edmonton - WHL) as well as defensemen Isaac Belliveau (Gatineau - Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and Ryan McCleary (Portland - WHL) were assigned to their junior teams.
Svejkovsky (fourth round, 2020), Belliveau (fifth round, 2021) and McCleary (seventh round, 2021) were draft picks of the Penguins. Williams was in camp on an amateur tryout basis.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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