The Penguins re-signed forward Jared McCann to a two-year contract extension, Jim Rutherford announced on Friday.
McCann, 24, was one of the Penguins' pending restricted free agents this offseason.
The contract, which runs through the 2021-22 season, carries an average annual value of $2.94 million, more than doubling his previous cap hit of $1.25 million.
"It's very exciting," McCann said of the deal on a conference call on Friday evening. "I'm very thankful for the Penguins organization for giving me this chance. I've thought a lot about it, this definitely sets me up for a good future. I'm very thankful for that."
McCann said he left most of the negotiating during the contract talks up to his agent.
"There was a lot of communication between me and him, but not much between me and the Penguins," he said of the process. "My agent did a great job with controlling everything, letting me do my thing just playing hockey. I'm excited because now I can just focus on training and skating."
McCann's name was one that some people speculated could have been a potential trade piece over the last few months, given his expected salary and next season's flat cap of $81.5 million. But with the extension he signed Friday, it now seems safe to say that he's going to be a Penguin whenever next season opens.
"Hockey is a business," he said of the speculation. "That's something I learned pretty early in my career, that things happen for whatever reason. A team either wants you or doesn't want you, there's different situations like that, right? I don't try to focus on it too much. If it happens, it happens, but right now I'm excited and thankful for the Penguins being able to give me this contract and give me this opportunity."
McCann appeared in 66 games for the Penguins this season. He scored 14 goals, and set career highs in assists (21) and points (35). He recorded just one assist in three qualifying round games this summer and was a healthy scratch in Game 3.
McCann has played both wing and center in his season and a half with the Penguins, playing anywhere from the third-line center to Sidney Crosby's wing. With Nick Bjugstad gone after a trade for a Wild, the third-line center position is up for grabs, and McCann is a candidate to fill that role.
"Jared is a good offensive player who can play center or wing," Rutherford said in a press release. "We saw improvement in his play this year and feel that there is more upside to his game."
McCann doesn't seem too worried about which line or which position he'll play when next season gets underway, saying that he's already been "all over the map" in his role ever since joining the Penguins.
"I'll be whatever the team needs me to be," he said. "Honestly, having a role kind of defines you as a player, but whatever the Penguins need me to do, I'm going to be that guy for them. I feel like I had that opportunity to show what I did this year, when we had injuries I was able to step into a top-six role and contribute, put points up and get wins for the team. Whatever they need me to do, I'll be ready."
McCann didn't have much to say about the way the Penguins' 2019-20 season ended after a qualifying-round loss to Montreal, saying that "it's in the rearview now, and we're just looking to the future." He said that his biggest personal goal for next season is to go all the way next postseason.
"Personally, to win a Stanley Cup. I’ve been in the NHL for five years now. I talk to guys who haven’t won a Cup and who have been in the league a lot longer than I have. That’s something that I feel like kind of slips away from your mind when you’re a young guy, you know? You always get a crack at it, right? There’s not a lot of people out there that have Stanley Cups. I want to be one of those guys, and I feel like we have the team to do it."
After McCann's extension, the Penguins have three restricted free agent skaters remaining from the NHL roster: Dominik Simon, Sam Lafferty, and Anthony Angello. Both Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry are also restricted free agents, with one expected to be moved this offseason. None of the Penguins' pending unrestricted free agents -- Justin Schultz, Patrick Marleau, and Conor Sheary -- are expected to be re-signed.
The Penguins have about $7 million in cap space to fill out the remainder of the roster.
McCann is the third player to sign an extension with the Penguins this offseason following defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and Juuso Riikola, who both signed through 2021-22.
