Penguins A to Z: Brock McGinn delivered as advertised

With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Brock McGinn

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 28

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 187 pounds

2021-22 NHL statistics: 64 games, 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists)

Contract: In the first year of a four-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2.75 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in the 2025 offseason.

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent, July 28, 2021

Last season: During last offseason’s expansion draft on July 21, 2021, the Penguins lost fierce and popular forechecking forward Brandon Tanev to the Seattle Kraken and needed to find a pretty immediate replacement.

A week later, they found one in Brock McGinn, formerly of the Carolina Hurricanes. With limited salary cap space, McGinn wound up being their most prominent signing last offseason.

Installed in Tanev’s former role on the right wing of the team’s checking line — along with Teddy Blueger at center and Zach Aston-Reese on the left wing — McGinn largely did what Tanev did, albeit with a little less flair and a little bit more offensive touch.

In fact, McGinn looked like he might reach the 20-goal mark after scoring 10 goals in his first 39 games of the season.

Aside from the offense he generated, McGinn was a staple on the team’s penalty kill which saw great improvement from the 2020-21 season and wound up being the NHL’s third-best short-handed unit in 2021-22 with a conversion rate of 84.4%. McGinn was routinely one of the first players over the bench for the penalty kill and averaged 2:01 of short-handed ice time per contest.

Like a lot of his teammates, McGinn’s offense dried up in February as he was limited to a single assist in 10 games during the shortest month of the year. Any hopes he could contribute more in March were dashed when he suffered a suspected right hand injury during a 5-2 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights and was sidelined for the next 15 games.

McGinn recovered and appeared in the final eight games of the regular season and contributed four points.

In the postseason, during the Penguins’ first-round loss to the New York Rangers, injuries to other forwards prompted McGinn to predominantly play on the right wing of the team’s third line with center Jeff Carter. In seven playoff games, McGinn recorded two points (one goal, one assist).

The future: There are few players on the Penguins’ roster whose status is more secure than McGinn. He still has three years left on this contract and as general manager Ron Hextall’s signature free agent signing to date, it’s safe to assume management is sated by what McGinn has offered so far.

And sure enough, McGinn largely brought what he was expected to provide upon joining the Penguins. He was aggressive on the forecheck, brought a level of physicality, sprinkled in some offense and was stout on defense.

The biggest criticism of McGinn is consistency. Essentially, the first half of his season was much better than the second half, which, admittedly, included him dealing with a right-hand injury. Beyond that, on the occasions McGinn was promoted to the second or third lines due to injuries to other forwards, he never seemed to establish the same level of chemistry with the team’s other centers that he had with Blueger.

But as a whole body of work, McGinn delivered as advertised in his first season with the Penguins.

Follow the Penguins all season long.