McCann, Bjugstad have bittersweet return to Florida

Less than a week after Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann were traded from the Panthers to the Penguins, they were back in Florida to face their former team.

"It's pretty weird," McCann said. "Last week I was playing for them, and to walk in on the other side, you're kind of lost."
Those feelings dissipated after he took the ice, with McCann going on to score his first goal as a Penguin in Pittsburgh's 3-2 overtime loss to the Panthers at BB&T Center on Thursday.
"Got the monkey off the back, which was nice," McCann said afterward. "But I would have traded that in for a win any day."
The tally came on a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush, with McCann skating in and whipping a wrister far side to beat Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo.
"I thought he had a strong game," Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. "He can really skate. He was real good on the penalty kill. He gets a huge goal for us shorthanded. I thought his line was better 5-on-5 tonight. I think he's getting more comfortable with how we're trying to play. I think he's getting better with each game and he had a real strong game tonight."
McCann centered Dominik Simon and Patric Hornqvist, while Bjugstad started the game on Sidney Crosby's wing before moving onto a line with Matt Cullen and Phil Kessel.
"I thought Nick had a good game," Sullivan said. "We had him for two periods with Sid's line. We put (Bryan Rust) up there and tried him with Cully and Phil on the wing. We're trying to put him in positions where he's comfortable. He's a good player. He's got good offensive instincts. You can see it when he has the puck."
The Penguins flew into Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday afternoon. As soon as they arrived at the team hotel, Bjugstad and McCann got off the bus and headed straight to their respective homes to grab more of their things after haphazardly packing and hurrying to the airport last Friday.
"My wife packed my bag basically, and I ran home and grabbed it," Bjugstad said. "I didn't really have much. All the stuff is still back at home. Wrapping everything up there. The transition was very easy. The Pittsburgh organization did a great job of making it easy for us. It'll be a process getting everything there, I'm sure, but it's just part of the job. A lot of guys go through it."
Both McCann and Bjugstad spoke highly of their time with the Panthers before the game. Bjugstad was drafted by the organization in the first round (19th overall) in 2010 and spent six years there, ranking inside the club's top-15 lists for games, goals and points. McCann played parts of the last three seasons with Florida, dressing in 143 total games.
The Panthers did two separate videos for them, with McCann's playing in the first period and Bjugstad's in the second. They were grateful to get some closure, and now, they're only looking forward.
"Had some really fun years here, started my career off here," Bjugstad said. "I was given a lot of opportunity and I'm very thankful for that. It's a great place and made some great friendships along the way. Learned a lot. I'll always cherish my time here. … I'm going to miss it, but now I'm onto a new chapter of my life and I'm definitely very excited to be a Pittsburgh Penguin now."
"I had a good couple years here and I'm so thankful for the Panthers organization for giving me a good opportunity here," McCann added. "I feel like I kind of relished it. I'm still working on it, obviously, becoming the player I know I can be. Moving forward, I'm just going to keep working."