The curious case of Jamie McGinn

by tiburon on Feb 20, 2011 6:14 PM PST

As a self-diagnosed McGinn homer, I've been following his progress down in the AHL with a lot of interest to see whether he still has the potential and ability to be a top 6 forward in this league, or whether he his destined for a fourth line role.

Looking back in his days in the OHL he posted a 46 goal season, and was seemingly almost as successful and valuable as the great Logan Couture - he scored more points in his best season than Logan did in his, albeit in more games. However, their success in the NHL could hardly be more contrasting. Couture is a star, whilst McGinn was gritting it out on the fourth line, failing to find the goal, before finally being demoted, with seemingly little chance of being recalled, at least for this season.

Down at Worcester, McGinn has played 9 games for 4 goals and 7 points. While not setting the world alight, these are fairly respectable numbers. The most interesting statistic, however, is his shot percentage which lies at 17.4%, second highest on the team after Benn Ferriero (20%). This contrasts with his team low 1.6% shooting percentage in the NHL. Some drop off between the two would be expected considering the difference in goaltending abilities; however, whilst Ferriero's percentage does drop, it remains at a solid 9.1%. McGinn's on the other hand, is shockingly bad.

So, why is McGinn struggling so much to score in the NHL? Could it be that his offensive ability is enough to make him a good AHL player, but not an NHL player? Looking back at last season, Mcginn's shooting percentage was at 13.2%, so it would seem that he does have the tools to beat an NHL goaltender. So perhaps it is just a loss of confidence, or bad luck? He has certainly tried to play a more physical role this season, with 12 more hits after 10 fewer games, and whilst I have enjoyed and appreciated his work ethic and this style of play, when he next gets a chance in the big league I think he needs to try and showcase his offensive talents as well as contributing to the team as a checking forward, or he may end up being pigeon-holed in that role. Because I don't believe that Mcginn definitely has more offensive upside and could yet be a legitimate top-6 forward.

I hope.

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Comments

He’s not going to win a top-6 spot on our current or future roster. While I don’t see him in the same light as Goc, he’s another example of what can happen to our 4th line grinders when they get top-6 minutes.

Jon Casey fan since '84
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by stufflife on Feb 20, 2011 6:17 PM PST reply actions

The way the Sharks are lining up, he doesn’t have to be top 6 to be a top 6 forward….having three lines with Thornton, Pavs and Couture down the middle means there are three legitimate “top 6” lines.
Will he break the actual top 6, no. Could he play with one of those centres, give Mclellan more flexibility with line combinations and become a scoring threat, probably.

by tiburon on Feb 20, 2011 6:22 PM PST up reply actions

Except he’s not really all that good with any of the 3, which is why he was demoted. He was on all the lines (except the Couture line) already this season before his demotion, and he looked exactly the same in all the lines as he does on the 4th. He is like a brainless pylon flying at 100 mph. Basically a physical force with a good amount of energy, but if he ever gets the puck he either doesn’t know what to do with it, takes too long to decide what to do with it, or it was an accidental turnover from him plowing into enemy lines and doesn’t realize he has it at all.

He never has the positioning to do anything, if he wins a puck battle he either can’t thread a pass or can’t continue the cycle, it just ends up in another puck battle again. And he did this when he was with Thornton and Marleau of all duos….

I’ll put his performance in a car metaphor. He’s cruising down the highway road to the NHL doing a good 55 mph in his Toyota Camry. He’s put in his time and he’s almost there for good. Then suddenly a fckin Ferrari (Couture) blasts past him going 120. A Wave of jealousy blows through his body and he puts the pedal to the metal. Unable to come close to those speeds he grinds his shifter a couple times and then ends up stalling his engine and sputtering to a stop.

I think that sums it up nicely. He got outshone by Couture and started forcing his game in all aspects, only that made it worse because he’s not a star player, he’s a good solid 3rd liner that can has potential to be a 2nd liner later in his career in the Clowe type of role. Trying to do things above his skillset he pretty much messed up his whole progression.

His time in the AHL will do him good for him to regain his perspective, then he can come back in to the 4th line. The problem for him this season is also the excessive amount of depth we have now with Eager and Wellwood. The only person I could see McGinn edging out for a roster spot would be Mitchell (don’t count McCarthy cause he’s only back while Nichol is hurt) and even that would be a mistake cause they fit 2 totally separate player roles (on top of Mitchell’s numbers are already better than McGinn’s…..).

by VVhirlwind on Feb 23, 2011 3:03 AM PST up reply actions

Not top-6 on our team

McGinn was on Thornton’s line earlier this year for a few games and it was a waste. He was a waste of Thornton’s playmaking ability on that line. I do like his work ethic and think he could serve as a serviceable scoring pop on our bottom lines. However, I don’t know if he has a future with our organization because of his failure to find twine in the NHL

"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton

by waive kent huskins on Feb 20, 2011 7:04 PM PST reply actions

McGinn is NHL Bottom 6 Lock

If you watch his game closely, McGinn does not have the puck handling skill set as a Top 6 forward, there are not many top 6 forwards that chip and chase, the one’s that do have excellent board and puck handling skills. McGinn does poses good speed and has a nice shot. If he wants to continue his play in the NHL he needs to refine his role; a checking winger. He needs to learn to play all 3 zones properly and learn to shot block better, he could be a very effective PKer, with scoring threat. He’s 22 and still has a couple of years to “get it”.

Im fine with McGinn becoming a bottom 6 winger, all the good ones are hard to come by or cost a pretty penny to obtain in free agency. It is nice to develop these type of players out of your farm, but McGinn has a long ways to go if he wants to see 10-12 mins of ice time.

by OrangeJulius on Feb 23, 2011 11:28 AM PST reply actions

Depth Scoring

McGinn is young. I think the Sharks demanded he focus on improving his defensive game first, so his offensive focus just fell way off. His first year his scoring came from sheltered minutes that someone else is getting this year. Perhaps while he has skills he does not have quite the Hockey sense yet to balance defensive responsibility with being in the right place at the right time that has helped Couture. Also look at Marleau, Heatley, Pavelski, Boyle, everyones scoring is down, even Ovechkin, Kolvachek, etc.. Defense, blocked shots, is back and it is harder to score anything but dirty goals. Confidence is also a very important component in success, you have to believe you will score to take a risk and not just always play safe and conservative.
I think inconsistent goaltending early in the year really affected the whole team’s play.
Depth scoring is very important. Take Detroit, everyone raves about their stars, but before the last game with them, comparing scoring, the Sharks top 7 had out scored their top 7 by 7 goals, but Det next 11+ were outscoring the SJ next 11+ by 38 goals. Philly, Pitt, Van were all out scoring our next 11 by 25+, but only Van out scores our top 7, with their top 2 only, like Marleau, Heatley last year putting them up. Chicago beat SJ in the Conf finals last year with depth scoring, and defense, not their top 7. Marleau outscored their top 7.

by Busterbuddy on Mar 1, 2011 10:48 AM PST reply actions 1 recs