Carolina Hurricanes: It Is Officially First Line Brock Season

Brock McGinn has been getting a ton of minutes on the Carolina Hurricanes’ first line alongside Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, and he has been absolutely tearing it up with those extra minutes.

At the beginning of the 2020-21 NHL regular season, there wasn’t a single person who predicted Brock McGinn would have more goals than Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, or Martin Necas individually, let alone combined, just 10 games into the season, but here we are.

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Brock McGinn, currently on a 3-game goal streak, has 4 goals in 10 games played; Aho has 2 goals in 10 games, and Teuvo has yet to make his mark in the goal column with just 7 games played (he missed 3 due to being placed on the COVID list). Necas has a single goal in 8 games played (he’s missed the past 2 games due to an upper body injury sustained in the last Chicago game).

Throughout the past 2 years or so, “First Line Brock” has become something of a meme within the Carolina Hurricanes fanbase; McGinn is a very serviceable player, and adds much-needed grit to whichever line he finds himself on. McGinn was really only utilized on the 1st line in years past when head coach Rod Brind’amour felt they needed a shakeup, or when injuries caused Rod to slot McGinn in next to whatever combo of Aho + whatever other winger he felt like that day.

This time, though, “First Line Brock” has taken on a whole new meaning. McGinn has taken this opportunity (and the ice time that comes along with it), and sprinted with it full-force into 4th place in goals on the Carolina Hurricanes roster through 10 games played this season. The only players ahead of him in goals scored are Nino Niederreiter (5), Vincent Trocheck (6), and Andrei Svechnikov (6).

A few weeks ago, I was pushing hard in favor of a first line consisting of Aho centering Teravainen and Svechnikov, but McGinn’s performance the past few games has me questioning if that’s the right move for now.

Svech has brought scoring to whatever line he draws into, and Teuvo still seems to be struggling after coming back from the COVID list. If you ask me, First Line Brock is the way to go, at least for the very near future.

McGinn is having arguably the hottest start to a regular season in his career, and I’m 100% here for it. The only slight downside that this might have going forward is that McGinn will command more money in the offseason, and rightfully so; his contributions on the penalty kill and the defensive/physical side of things are nothing short of immense, and if he tacks on a solid goalscoring effort this year, he’ll see a nice payday for his next contract signing.

This performance is slightly out of character for him, though, so it might not spell certain doom for McGinn’s time as a Hurricane. For now, though, First Line Brock is living his best life, and scoring goals for the Carolina Hurricanes like a man possessed. I’ll ride the high while we have it.