When you look at the pecking order of players battling for Canes roster positions for 2013-14, Brock McGinn is way down the list and clearly a long shot, dark horse and anything else you can say to suggest “not yet.” He was just drafted in 2012, is only 19 and has barely seen AHL ice (4 games after juniors ended) let alone NHL ice. But here’s the thing. The Canes have a history of players clearly projected to go back to juniors bursting onto the NHL scene ahead of schedule. Josef Vasicek did it in 2000-01 as a 19-year-old who was not even a sure thing to stick around past prospect camp but just kept hanging around and hanging around until he became the best option to center the 3rd line that season. Eric Staal was expected to return to juniors in 2003-04 to add some weight but forced the team’s hand when he led the NHL in preseason scoring. And most recently Jeff Skinner burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old rookie. The opening available for the next early arrival could not be any bigger than it is this summer. As of right now, the team has literally 4-5 openings at forward. Equally significantly the team has a need for exactly the kind of player that Brock McGinn is – a puck hound, a puck chaser and just generally a pain in the butt to play against. Brock McGinn is not likely to ever become a point per game scorer in the NHL. But he is the kind of player that is difficult to play against because he is always around the puck making it difficult. He is the original version of Chad Larose with a little more size. He is Tuomo Ruutu lite. He is exactly what the Canes need – a player who just makes it difficult to do anything.
Kirk Muller called for a need for more bigger, grittier players last season. When it was all said and done, the team had parted ways with 3 smaller, less gritty veteran forwards in Tim Brent, Chad Larose and Jussi Jokinen. And along the way Muller auditioned every option available in terms of bigger and gritty including Tim Wallace, Jeremy Welsh, Brett Sutter, Adam Hall and Nicolas Blanchard. All brought some of the jam and juice desired, but none really showed to be more than roster depth. And this summer the Canes have made only 2 forward additions (Aaron Palushaj and Nathan Gerbe) both on 2-way tryout type contracts and neither representing a pure version of top 9-capable size and grit.
Enter Brock McGinn. At only 5-11 185 pounds, he is not the pure version of size and grit either. But somewhat like Tuomo Ruutu, he plays and hits bigger than he is and is very much the “I will battle to the death for each and every puck” type of warrior that the team needs more of. Whereas the frontrunners for the open forward roster spots (guys like Lindholm, Rask, Dalpe, etc.), lean toward skill and skating, McGinn looks more like a dominant bumper car entrant spending his 40-second shifts skating as hard as he can and taking every opportunity given to run into another body. Luke DeCock from the Raleigh News & Observer aptly said that Brock McGinn “hits like a garbage truck on skates.” Chip Alexander from the N&O also wrote a positive story on McGinn:
Chip Alexander blog on Brock McGinn
I see 2 significant obstacles to McGinn even being considered for the 2013-14 roster:
1) Brenden Morrow. If the Canes sign Brenden Morrow, the team is suddenly 3 deep at left wing. It would not make sense to bury McGinn on the 4th line with limited minutes. If he cannot play his way into a significant role that matters at the NHL level, the Canes will likely choose development over marginal impact and send him back to juniors to play 18ish minutes per night, not burn a year on his entry level contract.
2) His ability to quickly adjust to the faster game. I think it will be pretty easy to get a read on his chances in early scrimmages and preseason games. If it looks like he has a little bit of catching up to do and is just a half step behind the plays, then I think his value diminishes enough to rule him out. If he looks to be chasing the play and pace a bit then the hitting and peskiness on the puck that you hoped for will be gone.
Because of his experience, I think Gerbe is more likely to win the open left wing slot (if it remains open). But if McGinn looks like he can adjust to the pace then I think he is in a good position to become the next early arrival. Per my Twitter post yesterday, McGinn along with Victor Rask are my dark horses to make the Canes roster this season, realizing that because of the volume of openings Rask is maybe not that much of a dark horse.
Who do you think could rise up through the ranks faster than expected, leap frog a few more experienced players and stake a claim to a 2013-14 roster spot?
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