“We’ve relied mostly on the veterans to do that, but with Savoie, I thought he showed a lot of promise in the preseason, and it’s something that he did quite well in Bakersfield,” Knoblauch said. “He was one of the key penalty-killing forwards in Bakersfield, and we want to give him that role.
“I think from what we’ve seen, we want somebody who can break up plays, get up ice a little bit, and it’s also nice to have a little more threat offensively. You usually don’t have much threat on the penalty kill unless you have speed, and Savy gives us some speed.”
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, as expected, are set to start the season on the top line with Trent Frederic, with the Dynamic Duo having also taken reps on the penalty kill during the preseason to give Coach Knoblauch even more versatility when it comes to his forward group.
With plenty of options at his disposal, the bench boss believes there’s still going to be adjustments when it comes to the systems and figuring out who to throw out on the penalty kill, but it’s going to take a team effort and he’s comfortable with what he’s seen so far from the PK during the preseason.
“It’s going to take a while,” he said. “It’s going to take a while for everyone to get on the same page and read off of each other. We’ve just recently established pairs for the forwards. We’ve been mixing those up just with lineups. Who’s playing in those exhibition games, who’s not, who do we think can do it?”
“We have six penalty kill forwards for tonight. We have other individuals who we think can also do it. But it’s going to take a while for everyone to get familiar. We’re heading in that direction and it’s going to take a complete team effort, whether it’s the forwards, the defenceman, or our goaltender making saves. But so far, I like where we’re at.”