Quoting: LuckyMoneyPuck
You need to win on the dot to be a PK center. Both Acciari and Eller are good faceoff men. This is why they won't let a younger player do that. You lose on the dot, the puck stays in your end. You win you get a clear and time off the clock. They aren't going to take guys who are good on the dot and sit them for younger players.
This is why I say they probably keep both even though they should move 1. Those were 2 of the only guys who really stood out in the bottom 6. All the 4th line wingers were just there. They didn't do anything.
The 3rd line wingers rotated and were here and there. Mainly Smith and Rakell who did a little time there and DOC. You take those 3 off the 3rd line and take way Eller and Acciari and there is nothing there of any value left in the bottom 6 last year.
While a younger player might get the winger role on the PK, I doubt they are getting center role. My guess is they will put DOC out there on one of them as he had the role this year. The other will probably go to Bemstrom if he is a 4th liner. Which he probably will be if they play the youth at 3C and 3RW. So no I don't see them playing them. You have 3 of those forward roles basically set already.
Your 4th line next year probably Bemstrom, Eller, Acciari. 3rd line DOC, ?, ? They will let players try to earn those spots I think. Not rely on them for defense so much, or to PK and just let them try to generate more offense. You have to not flood their plate with responsibility and let them grow.
Eller lost more faceoffs on the penalty kill than he won, per Evolving Hockey. And if you take my argument to mean that the young guys will steal our PK spots from Eller and Acciari, you aren't listening. If it were up to me, we'd run Eller/DOC on the top unit, and Acciari and one of Poulin, Ponomarev, or Rust on the 2nd one. Bemstrom never PKed for us. That doesn't mean he won't if he sticks around, but it means the coaches didn't expect him to PK better than Rust, Smith, or Carter this year.
The guys that stood out in the bottom 6 to me were DOC, Eller, and after a while Puustinen. Acciari struggled heavily this year, to the point that I wouldn't include him in any list of notable bottom 6 players. He was solid on the PK and pretty disappointing elsewhere. I expect Smith to be gone and Rakell to be a consistent 2nd liner next season: Bunting-Malkin-Rakell was great down the stretch.
Best-case scenario IMO is a 3rd line of DOC, Puustinen, and either a free agent in the short term or whoever wins the spot between Poulin/Ponomarev. Yager could get his 9 games as well. Give that kid line an opportunity to make an impact, see if they can make a dent in our lackluster rush offense. with
That leaves a 4th line of Eller, Acciari, and whoever else wins a spot. Neither Bemstrom nor Puljujarvi are remarkable options. I wouldn't mind if they were our 13th/14th forwards. I'd prefer another younger guy whose ceiling isn't mediocre 4th liner. Maybe if Poulin doesn't stick at 3C, he does at 4LW. No reason that spot can't be earned as well.
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