Penguins forward Jared McCann expected to return to lineup
With Jason Zucker sidelined long term because of an undisclosed injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins appear to have found a pretty experienced replacement for him as the left winger on their second line.
Jared McCann.
The veteran forward was activated from injured reserve Saturday afternoon. He has missed the previous seven games because of an undisclosed ailment.
In 11 games this season, McCann has five points (two goals, three assists).
McCann was satisfied with how he was playing prior to the injury.
“I thought I was really good defensively,” McCann said via video conference Saturday. “Very responsible. Obviously, when I got injured there, I kind of took a step back. I feel like moving forward here, I’m going to continue to do that. Defense wins games, and I feel like I’ve done that so far this year.”
McCann is expected to skate with Evgeni Malkin at center and Bryan Rust on the second line in Saturday’s road game against the New York islanders. He’s pretty clear on what he’ll offer in that deployment.
“Speed,” McCann said. “More speed. Obviously, (Rust and Malkin) can both fly. I feel like I can add to that. If I’m in, I going to come in and be hard in the corners, hard on the puck and try to find (Rust and Malkin) as much as I can.”
While McCann has skated with other Penguins forwards more regularly, playing with Malkin isn’t foreign to him. According to Natural Stat Trick, Malkin and McCann had 97 minutes, 46 seconds of common five-on-five ice time last season.
(In contrast, McCann’s most common five-on-five ice time last season came with former Penguins forward Dominik Kahun at 300:19.)
He seems to have a pretty firm grasp on what’s expected when playing with Malkin.
“Create some space for him,” McCann said. “Use my speed, whether it’s to pull the (opposing defense) back or get in on the forecheck. Just create space for the guy. … Get him the puck. He knows what to do with it when he gets it. I’m just going to go to the net hard.”
Additionally, the team promoted forward Anthony Angello from the taxi squad and assigned rookie forward Drew O’Connor to the taxi squad.
O’Connor, 22, is a first-year professional who the team signed out of Dartmouth in March. In nine games this season, he has one assist. During a 5-2 road loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, O’Connor took a hooking penalty that eventually led to a winning power-play goal for the Capitals.
In two games this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, Angello has two points (one goal, one assists). At 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, the 24-year-old is one of the largest players in the organization. A fifth-round pick (145th overall) in 2014, Angello made his NHL debut last season by appearing in eight games and scoring one goal.
Also on Saturday, the team announced it had activated forward Sam Miletic from injured reserve to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The AHL’s Web site had indicated that Miletic was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Feb. 5.
Having suffered an undisclosed injury during training camp in early January, Miletic has yet to play a game at any level this season.
During the 2019-20 season, Miletic was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lone representative to the AHL’s All-Star game event. In 62 AHL games last season, Miletic had 32 points (nine goals, 23 assists).
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.