Greg McKegg’s playoff experience with Hurricanes now can benefit the Rangers
Greg McKegg laughed Friday when the conversation turned to golf and how some of the Carolina Hurricanes were being asked about the team’s best golfer.
Justin Williams, Haydn Fleury, Brady Skjei ...
“Willy is a little bit of a sandbagger, too,” McKegg jokingly said of Williams. “Fleury plays at least 18 a day.”
Eighteen holes a day?
“Yeah, that’s correct,” Fleury said in a Saturday media call, smiling. “I would say we’ve got the best golfing team in the NHL.”
According to Fleury, he and Williams were leading the member/member tournament Friday at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham when a rain delay postponed it. They were disqualified Saturday morning, Fleury said, when they missed their tee time because of a conflict — the Canes’ training camp practice at PNC Arena.
“I guess that’s how it goes,” Fleury said.
McKegg was once part of all that golf talk on the Canes and probably their best player on the links. A former junior golfer of note in Canada, he now tees it up with different teammates — those on the New York Rangers.
In a few weeks, McKegg will be centering the Rangers’ fourth line as they match up against the Hurricanes in a 2020 postseason qualifying round in Toronto. The Rangers have a few other Canes “alums” — forwards Julien Gauthier and Phil Di Giuseppe — and there’s defenseman Adam Fox, who was traded to Carolina by Calgary in 2018 but refused to sign with the Canes and was dealt to New York.
Like many, McKegg feared the coronavirus pandemic might cancel both the end of the 2019-20 season and the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. But the NHL’s Return to Play format has provided a plan and a path to determining a Stanley Cup champion.
“The uncertainty was there before but now that it’s become reality everyone is excited and ramping things up,” McKegg said in an interview. “The pace has been really good in (training) camp and each day seems to be improving a lot. We’re building each day.
“Before the (NHL) pause we were on a pretty good run. At the start of the season we had a lot of new faces but as the season went on we began to jell as a team, kind of built that belief within our dressing room and started clicking.”
McKegg, 28, now has played for six different NHL teams and spent just one season with the Canes. But what a year it was.
For the first time since 2009, the Hurricanes were a playoff team in 2018-19. McKegg was called up from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, was in 41 games for the Canes in the regular season as Carolina earned its playoff spot, then got in 14 playoff games, averaging almost 11 minutes of ice time.
“Obviously it was awesome,” McKegg said. “It was an awesome run and a ton of fun. The farther you go, and experiencing the ebbs and flows of a series, is something I think I can take into this year even with a completely different (playoff) format.
“But last year was a blast. Coming to the rink, seeing all the fans getting out there early, setting up games, and then getting in the building with all the excitement is something I’ll never forget. It was a special time.”
It was McKegg’s goal against the New York Islanders that clinched the sweep of the second-round series, McKegg banging a loose puck through goalie Robin Lehner. That proved to be the Canes’ last playoff win as they were swept by Boston in the Eastern Conference finals.
“Kegger” was a fan favorite at PNC Arena and how could he not be with that nickname? Everyone tapped into it, had fun with it.
And then he was gone. An unrestricted free agent after the season, he was not re-signed by the Canes and agreed on a one-year, $750,000 deal with the Rangers, moving to Manhattan.
McKegg, a native of St. Thomas, Ontario, again was used as a fourth-line center, playing 53 games. Late in the season he was joined on the line by Gauthier, who was traded to New York by the Canes on Feb. 18, with Brendan Lemieux on the other wing.
“It has been an easy transition for ‘Goat,’” McKegg said of Gauthier, a former first-round draft pick who has played his first 17 NHL games. “He’s a big skilled forward and he’s a lot to handle when he gets moving.”
One of the biggest questions headed into the Canes-Rangers qualifier will be the Rangers’ starting goalie. Henrik Lundqvist has dominated the Canes but rookie Igor Shesterkin has put up very good numbers with his 10-2-0 record, 2.52 goals-against average and .932 save percentage.
McKegg didn’t give away any goaltending secrets but said of Shesterkin, “He’s been unbelievable. He’s just solid back there. He’s calm, he’s cool. He’s pretty confident with the puck. He’s a pretty impressive dude.”
The Rangers swept the regular-season series with the Canes and should go to Toronto with a positive vibe. But it’s a best-of-five qualifier, after a four-month layoff. And again, McKegg isn’t giving away any secrets.
“It will be exciting to play them,” McKegg said. “Obviously a real strong team coming off that experience last year. They’re going to be tough to beat but we’re looking forward to it.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 2:45 PM.
