The Oilers PK, Part 1: Forwards

Going over last year's stats regarding our PK, there are a few surprising stats that I found that would contradict a lot of what many Oiler fans have been discussing regarding the "defensive abilities" of our forwards:

Here top Oiler penalty killing forwards from last year, based on GA/60 min:

Reasoner: 4.49 (3.10 mpg)
Cogliano: 4.60 (0.80 mpg)
Brodziak: 4.82 (2.49 mpg)
Moreau: 5.17 (2.78 mpg)
Pisani: 5.24 (2.45 mpg)
Horcoff: 5.79 (2.54 mpg)
Stoll: 6.92 (2.67 mpg)

Keep in mind that after Horcoff got injured, Stoll and Pisani were our #1 PK unit, while Brodiak and Reasoner was the other. Moreau played a lot of 1st unit time when he was healthy alongside Horcoff

What surprises me is how much attention Jarret Stoll was getting as a defensive stalworth. He had easily the worst numbers on the team in terms of PK, and got some of the heaviest minutes; yet was the least effective. To the same effect, Reasoner was being vastly underrated for his PK presence. He was solid all year long. It's important to remember that both of these guys were both among the top minute-eating and faceoff-taking members of the team, and their departure means some others are going to step up.

Brodziak is going to be a major player on this year's PK, and I think it's imperative for him to learn to win faceoffs (he was 51.5% last season, not bad) if he's going to be relied upon during important times. He should be the 2nd option, after Horcoff, as a PK center.

If Moreau and Pisani don't stay healthy this year, we may be in the bottom-5 in penalty-killing, because I honestly don't think the kids are ready to take on that role this year.

Cogliano was a present surprise. Although he only played 0.80 mpg on the PK because of our depth, he not only had an impressive 4.60 GA/60min, he led the team on the PK with 3.68 GF/60 min as well. His speed made him such a threat that it not only deterred the other team's PP, it helped our PK create offense in the absence of the usual SH scorers like Moreau.

Can anyone say Marchant?

Here's another interesting thing:

Eric Cole: 5.40 (0.90 mpg)

Cole was getting some hype as a PK presence from posters on HF. With these numbers, I don't think we'll see him getting much chance to play the PK unless one of Moreau/Pisani go down.