Clarke MacArthur took some time out to talk to the media on Wednesday following his
five-year, $4.65MM AAV extension.
I particularly liked this
quote:
I think Turris would click with anyone, if they want to say I'm the guy who's good with him I'll take it. He does everything well. He's a centreman with great speed, he's got a great shot, he sees the ice. As far as making things easy out there, we obviously have to keep working at it, there's things we want to improve for sure, but he's got a good attitude and he's a player willing to listen to other people's ideas. It just worked out well last year.
Teammate flattery isn't anything unique to the National Hockey League or sports in general, but it's hard to disagree with MacArthur's assessment of Turris. These two were really fantastic last year, playing primarily with goal-scoring wizard Bobby Ryan. Despite Ryan playing most of the year with a sports hernia, they were far and away Ottawa's most dynamic (only dynamic?) line, driving play and getting the right side of the goal-rates for the majority of the season.
The reason why this line works, I think, is because each guy complements one another. Ryan's the elite goal scorer that maybe needs a bit of assistance getting into the offensive zone and getting shots off in the home plate area. MacArthur's really a nice blend of decent shooting ability and strong neutral zone work -- I wasn't surprised to see Clarke succeed last year, but I maybe underrated his ability to harass puck-carriers and turn play back-around. And Turris -- his shooting accuracy could use a bit more consistency, but man is he
excellent getting his line out of the danger areas in the defensive zone, and defending altogether.
I don't know if it's the optimum way to create the lineup because of how short on top-end depth this team is right now, but I really, really want to see this line back in 2014-2015.
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Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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