Boy, do the Toronto Maple Leafs probably regret exposing
Jared McCann in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. Back then, McCann was a 25-year-old defensively responsible bottom-six center who had just wrapped up back-to-back 14-goal seasons. The Leafs had traded for him from the Pittsburgh Penguins solely to leave him unprotected in the expansion draft, prioritizing
Alexander Kerfoot instead. McCann, a decent secondary scorer, never really got a top-six opportunity with the Penguins, Florida Panthers, or Vancouver Canucks. But that all changed in Seattle. Since joining the NHL's newest franchise in 2021-22, only
Auston Matthews,
David Pastrnak,
Filip Forsberg, and
Nathan MacKinnon have more 5-on-5 goals per 60 minutes than McCann (1.33), according to naturalstattrick.com. McCann set a career-high with 40 goals in the 2022-23 season while hovering near the 30-goal mark in both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, scoring 27 and 29 goals, respectively. Plus, he's notched 50-plus points in each of his three seasons with Seattle.
