One of the things I've been thinking about this summer is the penalty kill, and how Paul MacLean can use it as a way to get certain forwards a few extra minutes in key shot-prevention situations.
The two players he'll undisputably lean on next year in the forward ranks will be Zack Smith and Erik Condra. It makes obvious sense -- the more minutes you allocate to this competent pair, the more EV/PP minutes you can preserve for better players. Milan Michalek could very well be the team's third penalty killing forward.
Figuring out number four is a bit more tricky, mostly because you have to wonder (maybe even assume) MacLean's going to take some of the burden off of Kyle Turris on the penalty kill this year. It's not talked about much, but Turris logged more minutes than the aforementioned Smith did on the penalty kill last year, and no longer does the team have the luxury of throwing Turris to the wolves to preserve better minutes for Spezza. The team has to now think about preserving minutes for Turris.
One wonders if two-way center David Legwand's as sort of an insulation option for the team's second penalty killing unit, but Nashville and Detroit deployed him in penalty kill situations to a surprisingly miniscule degree. Legwand logged about ten minutes of PKTOI last year. Barring a radical change or Paul MacLean seeing Legwand as a very different option down a man, I don't know if the team goes that route.
So, I think Ottawa has two options here. One, you shuffle the old Kyle Turris minutes to Mika Zibanejad, who I think is more than capable of playing well in those spots. Two, you make sure that you bring along one of JG Pageau or Derek Grant -- again, two players who I think can get the job done down a man.
As for additional wingers who can rotate in (lord knows Ottawa needs extra bodies to kill penalties -- half their team is loaded with penalty magnets), I'd like to see Mike Hoffman and his super-speed get a decent look. We've seen what Michael Grabner can do with his top-end speed on the kill over on Long Island, and it seems to me that Hoffman could have similar success over time.
So, bring it together, and you've got three horses -- Smith, Condra, Michalek -- and three other guys rotating through -- Pageau/Grant, Zibanejad, Hoffman. That seems to me the sensible move, because you really have to isolate the big EV/PP minutes for guys like Turris and MacArthur heading into next year.
What do you do with the kill next season?