Florida Panthers: Jamie McGinn’s 2017-18 Season Recap
As the offseason rolls along, we continue to look at the season that Florida Panthers players have had. It’s Jamie McGinn’s turn today!
When the Panthers decided to acquire Jamie McGinn from the Arizona Coyotes, many fans and analysts saw it as an odd move. Why would the Panthers want to acquire a player who was really nothing more than a 3rd line grinder worth $3.3M annually? The reason: the Panthers were trying to shed Jason Demers’ contract while looking for an experienced player to plug into their lineup.
It was obvious that the Cats weren’t expecting much from McGinn, but over the course of the season, the Panthers’ coaching staff continued to place him into the lineup. Jamie was usually slotted onto the 3rd line, but on some occasions (notably the first half of the season), he would find himself on the 2nd line.
Even though McGinn would get some playing time with the elite center, Vincent Trocheck, McGinn stayed true to his scoring standard and put up weak point totals once again. In 76 games played, McGinn recorded 13 goals and 16 assists which combined for a total of 29 points.
While his point total was pretty unimpressive, it was still decent enough for McGinn standards. He’s a pure grinder, and he embraces that role. Because he is a rough-nosed player and isn’t afraid to get into a physical battle in front of goal, the Panthers slotted him onto the 2nd power play unit to simply screen the opposing goalie. Getting time on the man advantage didn’t help McGinn either as the 2nd power play unit rarely produced.
Over the 76 games that McGinn featured in, he averaged 13:27 minutes per game. Throughout the season, McGinn would see a familiar pattern through games. He would receive normal minutes in the first and second periods before playing very little in the third. Even if he started on the 2nd line, unless having an exceptional game, Jamie would usually find himself watching most of the action from the bench during the final frame.
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McGinn’s season with the Panthers was decent at best. He didn’t excel, and he didn’t really disappoint given his previous reputation. The Cats got exactly what they thought they were getting when they acquired the 29-year-old winger. He fulfilled his role as a grinding winger on a team that needed veteran forwards.
Moving forward, though, it’ll be interesting to see what the Panthers will do with Jamie McGinn. He’s still under contract for one more year at 3.3M annually and the Panthers are at a place where they don’t really need McGinn to fill a spot in their lineup.
Now that they’ve solidified at least two elite top lines, the Cats have a really good group of young forwards that could easily fill up the bottom two lines.
If Florida decides to hold onto McGinn, it’ll probably be on a 4th line basis. His role would diminish further, likely featuring in fewer games than the season before. That’s why it’s probably best if the Panthers could move on from McGinn and trade him away for whatever draft pick they can obtain.
He can continue his role as a grinding 3rd/4th line forward on a team that finds themselves in the same position that the Panthers were in a year ago. His contract is too big for the role that he’d have if he stayed with the Panthers this year.
Next: Florida Panthers Select Grigori Denisenko with the 15th Pick
McGinn’s year with the Cats was decent, but it definitely wasn’t anything special either. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll suit up in a Panthers uniform once again next year or don some new threads by the time the 2018-19 season kicks off.