Last season the Edmonton Oilers had the second best penalty kill in the league at 84.42% (the Sharks sat first with an 85.71% kill). Edmonton sat 21st in the league with 199 powerplay opportunities against them and sat last in the league, tied with Columbus and Minnesota with 3 shorthanded goals.
Overall the Oilers were a fairly disciplined team through the 19/20 season and when they were on the kill they were great. Riley Sheahan, Josh Archibald, Ethan Bear, and Darnell Nurse were the top unit for the Oilers and though they were not creating many chances, they were doing their job, keeping the puck out of their own net while down a man.
This season the Oilers will be without Riley Sheahan and Oscar Klefbom, two players that were prominent features on the PK (Klefbom on the second unit with Kris Russell). Who will be stepping up on each unit?
On the top unit, 3/4 of that unit remains with Archibald, Nurse, and Bear all likely returning to their respective roles. The fourth man, the one who will take that key faceoff in his own end needs to be replaced. Who are the candidates?
Jujhar Khaira is obviously going to be an option. Last season Khaira spent just over 100 minutes on the PK, which was the fourth most among forwards. In that time there were only 4 goals scored against the Oilers on the PK. Khaira only took four faceoffs last season on the PK, winning two and losing two but over the season he took a total of 66 with a 51.50% on the dot.
Interesting enough all three of the Oilers centres who took the main brunt of faceoffs on the PK did poorly and despite that the team had an effective kill.
Draisaitl - 47.83% (92 faceoffs) Sheahan - 41.23% (211 faceoffs) Nugent-Hopkins - 39.02% (41 faceoffs)
Next candidate could be Gaetan Haas. At 5 on 5 I like what Haas brings more than Khaira. Haas skates better and is more tenacious in attacking the puck. If Khaira played at his best all the time I would take him but we only see that Khaira for about two weeks every season. I am sure Tippett and his staff will be working with Haas more this year to teach him to be an effective penalty killer.
Both of these two players will be fighting each other for ice time, making for a difficult decision for the coaching staff. Ideally any team is going to want their best unit available every game. Khaira could be the best PK option but not the best fourth line centre option every night.
Kyle Turris could end up being the wild-card here. Turris is a lock for the third line centre position on this roster that was held last season by Sheahan. Turris is not a penalty killer by any standards. Over the last three years with Nashville, Turris played a total of 49 minutes on the PK. Last season, Turris played 42 of those minutes. Last season 3 goals against were scored and one goal for while Turris was on the ice.
Turris won't be a feature player on the PP with the current cast available. I would not be surprised to hear Tippett has already spoken to Turris and told him to be prepared to kill penalties.
Zack Kassian could end up taking a role as well. Kassian has the foot speed and physicality to fit well in a PK role but would need to heavily pick up the defensive aspects of his game. Again, Kassian is not on the PP and may need to help the other special teams.
I would love to see Kailer Yamamoto get some time on the second PK unit. Yammer is so good at attacking the puck and despite his small size he can be a real pest. I do believe he could adapt nicely to that role.
Lastly there is Jesse Puljujarvi. JP already spoke in an interview regarding being happy to contribute any way he can, even on the penalty kill. Last time he was in the NHL the biggest issue with Puljujarvi was his game without the puck so clearly work would need to be done. I see Tippett playing a slow game with Puljujarvi and while time on the PP and top six may be in his future, a third line complimentary role with some PK time might be in the cards first.
Here are the units I would run next season.
FIRST UNIT
Khaira-Archibald Nurse-Bear
SECOND UNIT Draisaitl-Yamamoto Jones-Russell
In a perfect world I would subsitute Draisaitl with Turris if he could learn the PK. Draisaitl and McDavid already play more minutes a game than any other forward in the NHL and especially with a shortened and constrained schedule for this coming season this duo needs as much rest as can be given.
Ideally you have your bottom six players holding the line against the oppositions best on the PK and then on the first shift after when the other team has to rest their own top players you roll out the big guns.
What say you? How would you set up your PK units?