McCann 'pretty darn important player' for Kraken

SEATTLE -- Jared McCann can no longer fly under the NHL radar.

The 27-year-old forward has become a goal-scoring machine ever since he was taken by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

Now with technically his fifth team in his ninth NHL season, McCann has 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists), his third straight season of at least 25 goals since joining the Kraken.

"It's just opportunity," McCann said. "I never necessarily got the opportunity in the past places that I've been, and when I did, I did produce, but I got a consistent opportunity here and I'm super thankful for that."

One of those past places is Pittsburgh, where McCann played three seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Kraken's opponent at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, ROOT-NW, SNW, SNO, SNE) a game between two teams desperately trying to stay in the Stanley Cup Playoff race. The Penguins (27-21-8) and Kraken (25-22-1) are seven points out of the second wild card from the Eastern and Western Conference, respectively.

Selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round (No. 24) of the 2014 NHL Draft, McCann played one season with Vancouver but was traded to the Florida Panthers on May 25, 2016. After scoring 18 goals in 143 games for the Panthers, he was traded to the Penguins on Feb. 1, 2019. He scored 39 goals over two seasons with Pittsburgh and then was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 17, 2021, for a seventh-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Toronto then left McCann unprotected in the expansion draft. He arrived in Seattle before the Kraken's inaugural season with a chip on his shoulder, saying the Penguins "didn't want me," and responded by scoring 27 goals in 2021-22 and 40 goals last season to help the Kraken make the playoffs for the first time and advance to the Western Conference Second Round, a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars.

McCann has scored 25 goals this season, his third with Seattle, and his feelings toward Pittsburgh have softened.

"Hockey's a business, and I enjoyed my time in Pittsburgh, I really did," McCann said. "I got to learn from some amazing players, and all those guys there, and I'm a better player from it.

"I understand, obviously. I know the business side of hockey a lot more than other players do, for sure, and I was there for a short amount of time. Obviously COVID was happening while I was there and took away a lot of time, a lot of games of me playing there."

The Penguins are not surprised to see him flourishing in Seattle, where he has 166 points (92 goals, 74 assists) in 210 games.

"We saw a lot of offensive upside out of Jared, for sure," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's a really talented player, he's a great kid, he shoots the puck really well. Am I surprised that he's been able to attain that [success]? No. Everybody saw his potential on the offensive side, in particular."

Bryan Rust was in Pittsburgh for the entirety of McCann's tenure.

"He was, is, a highly skilled player," Rust said. "He skates really well, has good vision, but he can really shoot the puck. I think that's probably one of his greatest assets. He can shoot it (and) he can pick spots from anywhere. I think you've been able to see that with Seattle."

Jordan Eberle, McCann's linemate with the Kraken, agreed that McCann's snap shot is his most dangerous weapon, but said there's more to his success.

"He's obviously thrived here, not only with his shot, but his playmaking," Eberle said. "It's the little things that people don't pick up, his wall plays and stuff like that, so I think he's still going to keep growing and growing."

It has been a long road for McCann to get to this point as a consistently productive forward. Though he's reaching his full potential, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol still sees room for growth.

"This league, it forces you to grow," Hakstol said. "We've seen some players this year hit different benchmarks, 500 games, 600 games and more. When you look at those players, those are guys that have been able to grow their game in the League, have been able to find roles and play those roles consistently.

"And that takes time. It takes time for every player. Everybody wants it to happen instantaneously, but very seldomly does that happen, so Jared's done a really good job of growing his game, gaining confidence.

"He's a pretty darn important player for us right now."

McCann leads the Kraken by 11 goals (Eberle, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Eeli Tolvanen are tied for second with 14) and his 46 points rank first. It isn't just the teams he played for that are noticing how much of a threat he has become.

"Jared's a fast, tenacious player," Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes said. "He's got a great shot, he finds his way into scoring areas, and when he does get into the scoring areas, obviously his shot is really impressive. It's lethal."

NHL.com independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report