Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

To complement the young playmakers already on the roster – and the ones lingering in the pipeline – the Coyotes reviewed the list of NHL free agents with a specific objective in mind:

Acquire a forward who could finish scoring chances around the net, has power-play experience and adds muscle to the lineup.

They identified winger Jamie McGinn, and since McGinn also felt he fulfilled those requirements, a match was made with the 27-year-old signing a three-year, $10 million contract July 1, hours after the signing window opened.

“I’m looking forward to taking that role,” he said. “I’m super excited to start this journey with the Coyotes.”

McGinn is coming off perhaps the best season of his career, tallying career highs in goals (22) and points (39) last season with the Sabres and Ducks. It was the third time he’d reached or come close to the 20-goal plateau (he scored 20 in 2011-12 and 19 in 2013-14), but McGinn believes he can be even more productive with the Coyotes.

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“If I find 22 goals acceptable, that means I’m not going to be working hard to get past that,” he said. “I’m going to continue to strive to get better.”

Part of McGinn's appeal was his ability to bury pucks, especially if he’s lining up next to some of the team’s skilled youngsters who have a knack for creating scoring chances.

Last season, 37.1 percent of the goals scored while McGinn was on the ice were goals he was credited with, according to stats.hockeyanalysis.com. That efficiency that would have been tops on the Coyotes; captain Shane Doan led the team at 33.3 percent.

“We do have some good fits there in terms of some players who can make plays, skate pucks into the zone and he’s a guy who goes to work when it gets there,” General Manager John Chayka said.

At 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, McGinn also has the size to protect the puck and doesn’t mind crashing the net as a screen on the power play. He also hopes he can use his experience in the league to help the team’s core of 20-somethings.

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“At this point in my career, I want a bigger role on being a leader,” McGinn said. “There are some young guys on the team, so I want to help out in a leadership role and do the best that I can and share my knowledge and help those guys make the next step. That’s a big part in success; they have a lot of talent, but sometimes there’s some adversity that players need help through. That’s where I can come in.”

McGinn’s journey in the NHL hasn’t been without its challenges.

A back injury that required surgery to fix caused him to miss most of the 2014-15 season, but he was a regular on the ice last season before and after a trade from Buffalo to Anaheim – dressing for 84 games and seven playoff contests.

“It’s all how you deal with it,” said McGinn, who has a routine he follows on a daily basis to help maintain his back. “You have to be smart, and I feel strong and I feel confident that my body’s holding up.”

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Combine these attributes with the eagerness it sounds like McGinn has to be a solution, and the pairing with the Coyotes certainly has the potential to be fruitful for both sides.

Once the team showed interest in signing him, McGinn reached out to his brother Tye, who joined the Coyotes at the 2015 trade deadline as a waiver-wire pickup.

Despite a tough situation – the Coyotes were in the midst of a tumble down the standings to last place in the Western Conference – Tye enjoyed his time in Arizona and mentioned how Doan offered to show him around the Valley and take him to lunch to help ease the transition, insight that stuck with McGinn.

“It looks like they’re a very positive group,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to the future.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.