The Curious Case of the Carolina Hurricanes Jay McClement
A lot of people want to get rid of Jay McClement, but as a PK specialist, he is perfect for the Carolina Hurricanes.
With three points in 34 games, Jay McClement is the lowest scoring forward on the Carolina Hurricanes. For comparison, Brock McGinn has as many points as McClement in sixteen fewer games. One can’t just chalk this up as a bad season; McClement has surpassed twenty points once in the last seven seasons. This begs the question – why is he still on the team?
It is not for lack of other viable options. Patrick Brown, Andrew Poturalski, or Lucas Wallmark could easily step in and duplicate or exceed McClement’s box score production. Sure, your fourth line
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center’s ceiling should be higher than five goals, but Jay McClement’s value is not found on the scoresheet. McClement serves as one of the most undervalued penalty killers in the National Hockey League.
Since the Carolina Hurricanes acquired “JMac” in 2014, they have been a top-6 penalty-killing unit in the league finishing fourth and sixth in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The Carolina kill is comfortably sitting at first in the league this season at 90.6 percent. This is a full three percentage points better than the St. Louis Blues, who are second best. Before the arrival of Jay McClement, Carolina had not been in the top half of the league in penalty kill percentage since the illustrious 2005-2006 season. While some of the special team’s recent success can be attributed to Steve Smith’s and Bill Peters’ system; McClement’s contribution should not be overlooked.
McClement averages over two minutes of PK time a game – which is the most of any Carolina forward. Almost eighteen percent of his total time on ice is spent on the penalty kill. This is the highest of any player on the Hurricanes. To put it in perspective, Jaccob Slavin is second in this category at only thirteen percent. McClement boasts a 49.8 percent face-off percentage, good for 72nd in the league with players that have at least 200 attempts in the circle.
Along with face-off percentage, JMac also excels in both shorthanded blocks and shots. Seven shorthanded blocks and two shorthanded shots tie Jay McClement for fourth on the team in both categories. Essentially, the Hurricanes pay McClement $1.2 million a year to be a penalty killing specialist. It is a small price to pay considering the elite PK unit the Canes are rolling out on a nightly basis.
Carolina Hurricanes fans often criticize Jay McClement and at times he deserves it. While he will never sniff an All-Star roster or come near the Hart Memorial trophy, he does exactly what the Hurricanes need him to do. As long as the Canes want an elite PK unit, JMac will have a place on this team.
