2019-20 Season in Review: Jared McCann

Vitals

Player: Jared McCann

Born: May 31, 1996 (24 years old)

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 187 lbs.

Birthplace: Stratford, Ontario, Canada

Shoots: Left

Draft: 2014, Vancouver Canucks, 1st Round, 24th overall

2019-20 Statistics: 66 games played — 14 goals, 21 assists, 35 points

Contract Status: Pending restricted free agent. McCann just played the final season of a 2-year, $2.5 million ($1.25M AAV) contract signed with the Florida Panthers on July 1, 2018. He was traded to Florida by Vancouver in May 2016 before the Penguins acquired him in May of 2019 in the trade that sent Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan to Florida in exchange for McCann and Nick Bjugstad.

Playoffs

3 games played: McCann registered an assist in the Penguins Game 1 loss to Montreal. He would be scoreless in Game 2, scratched for Game 3, and scoreless (as was the entire team) in Game 4.

Monthly Split

via yahoo!

McCann’s best month was November, when he would register 12 points, 7 of which were assists. He had other good months in terms of goals or assists, but November he seemed to find a stride in both goals and assists.

The other date that stands out for McCann would be January 14th. That was the last day he has scored a goal. McCann wouldn’t find the back of the net in the last 25 games he played.

Advanced stats

Corsi For%: 49.6% (10th)
Goals For%: 55.6% (6th)
xGF%: 50.9% (8th)
Scoring Chance %: 51.1% (7th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 48.0% (11th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 10.2% (4th)
On-ice save%: .910% (10th)

—A high-shooting percentage boosted McCann to have the highest PDO among forwards. His other numbers were middling to below-average compared to his teammates.

Bottom line

After scoring 28 points in 68 games for the Panthers in 2017-18 season, McCann showed roughly the same production in 2018-19, scoring 35 points in 78 games split between the Panthers and Penguins.

When the regular season was paused and ultimately ended for 2019-20, McCann had scored 35 in 66 games, and presumably would’ve set a career-high in points had a full 82-game season been played.

Ideal 2020-21

If the Penguins are on their path of wanting to get younger and faster as GM Jim Rutherford mentioned, getting production from players like Jared McCann is going to be absolutely key. Being a restricted free-agent without big production in a contract year, it’s safe to assume the Penguins should be able to get him in at a low cap-number.

Question to ponder

Does Jared McCann have what the Penguins need to be their third line center? It was much talked about recently that Brandon Sutter and Derick Brassard were never able to settle into the role that Nick Bonino helped fill after the departure of Jordan Staal.

For the Penguins to have success, they likely need a player like McCann to fill that role well, and being able to do so at a low price is what the Penguins need as well.