IRVINE – Forget six degrees of separation – the hockey world pretty much has it down to one or two.
Case in point: Brock McGinn, the newest Duck.
On Monday, McGinn was looking around the dressing room at Great Park Ice after his second practice with the Ducks, having been acquired on trade-deadline day on Friday from the Pittsburgh Penguins. That was the move in which the Ducks sent defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to the Penguins for McGinn and a third-round draft pick in 2024.
McGinn, 29, noted that he overlapped with Ducks defenseman Nathan Beaulieu in the Penguins organization briefly last season although Beaulieu never got into a game with Pittsburgh due to injury. Previously, with AHL Charlotte, McGinn also lived with Trevor Carrick, the younger brother of Ducks’ forward Sam Carrick.
Additionally, McGinn got a scouting report from his older brother Jamie, who played 21 games with the Ducks in the 2015-16 season.
“He knows some people still in the organization and said it’s a good place to be, a fun place. A good organization,” McGinn said. “I’m just excited to come here and get the chance to show my stuff here and hopefully help this team win games.”
More recently, McGinn spent quality time on the golf course in Langley, British Columbia with Ducks forward Troy Terry when they went to Canada for the wedding of Pittsburgh forward and former Duck Danton Heinen last summer. A lot can be learned about someone after a round of golf.
“You get to see a lot of sides of people,” Terry said. “He probably saw some sides of me that some guys here probably haven’t even seen, that come out only on a golf course. Honestly, Brock was bringing it that day. Danton was my partner but it was pretty much Brock versus Danton that day.”
McGinn’s debut with the Ducks will come on the road as the Ducks open a three-game trip on Tuesday in Seattle. He has been skating on a line with Trevor Zegras and Ryan Strome, and Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said he was…
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