One year later, Jared McCann continues to shine with the Penguins
SUNRISE, Fla. — While most of Western Pennsylvania scraped windshields and salted walkways, Jared McCann was in a familiar place Friday.
The Sunshine State.
“I was sweating getting off the plane,” McCann said with a grin after his team’s practice Friday at BB&T Center.
Aside from the temperate climate and a few restaurants he enjoyed, McCann has few warm memories about his time in Florida.
A member of the Florida Panthers for parts of three unremarkable seasons, McCann is diplomatic but blunt when talking about his time with the Panthers, as well as his first team, the Vancouver Canucks.
“It was a tough start to my career I feel like,” said McCann, who spent one season with Vancouver. “I just grinded through and tried to stick with it as much as I could and tried to stay positive.”
To be clear, McCann makes a point to express gratitude to the Panthers for the opportunity they provided him. At the same time, he savors the better opportunity he has been gifted by the Penguins during the year since he was acquired via trade from Florida.
“I was put in a position where I was kind of tossed around (in Florida) a bit and I was spinning my wheels,” McCann said. “Now that I’m here in Pittsburgh, I love it.”
On Feb. 1, 2019, the Penguins acquired McCann and forward Nick Bjugstad for underwhelming forwards Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan as well as a handful of 2019 draft picks.
Even though Bjugstad has been a disappointment this season — primarily because of injuries — the trade has benefited the Penguins immensely based on McCann.
“His whole overall game has improved,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
“He’s much better in the battle areas. His tight-area game is improving. He’s always shown an ability to score goals since he’s been a Pittsburgh Penguin. He continues to do that for us. Obviously, we’ve used him at different positions: the wing position, the center position. That versatility really helps us.”
This season, McCann has bounced between left wing and center, with each assignment being dictated, in part, by Sidney Crosby.
When Crosby missed 28 games this season because of a core muscle injury, McCann served as a No. 2 center throughout most of that time.
Once Crosby returned, there was a need for a left wing on his line in the absence of injured Jake Guentzel.
In stepped McCann, who moonlighted in that role last season after the trade.
“I have pictures of him in my basement,” McCann quipped. “It’s a little creepy to say. Jerseys and stuff. My initial reaction was just try to be calm, take a deep breath and just go out and play my game, shoot the puck, skate hard, forecheck and do whatever they need me to do.”
To be frank, the team probably needs him to score a little more. While he has a solid 14 goals and 30 points in 51 games, he has gone seven games without a goal despite ample ice time on Crosby’s flank.
McCann doesn’t dispute that notion and acknowledged he still is trying to find the right balance between shooting and passing, particularly with a luminary such as Crosby at center.
“It’s something that I definitely talk to the coaches (about),” McCann said. “And even Sid and my other teammates. It’s something that I feel like I look (to) pass a little too much. I’ve got to get open and good areas to shoot the puck.
“He’s an amazing player. You want to give him the puck as much as possible. But, sometimes, you’ve got to shoot.”
The offensive improvement in McCann’s game is easy to quantify: In 83 regular-season games with the Penguins, he has 47 points. That equates to an average of 0.56 points per game.
In 147 games with the Panthers, he had 53 points for an average of 0.36 points.
But even with the clear surge in offensive production, McCann suggested his greatest improvement with the Penguins has come on the other side of the ice.
“Honestly, I think it’s just defensively,” McCann said. “I’ve been better all around, whether it’s just making the simple play sometimes just getting the puck out. With our systems and everything, they make it easy for the wings to make the easy pass. If you don’t have anything, chip it off the wall to get it out. It’s easy here.”
“He just seems really tenacious out there now,” said goaltender Matt Murray, close friends with McCann dating to their days as junior players with the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. “Not that he ever wasn’t, but he’s just on another level. He’s hard on pucks. He’s hard on checks. He wins a lot of puck battles down low.
“That’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed. Just how hard he works and how tenacious he is.”
And, arguably, how happy he is to be in Pittsburgh, gray skies notwithstanding.
“I got an opportunity to play early with Sid,” McCann said. “I played well. Things have been looking up ever since.”
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.