Quoting: Haymaker26
I'd prefer not to have Rust on the PK anymore either, which is why I'd prefer to have Poulin or Ponomarev on it. But that lets us try Poulin or Ponomarev on the PK, and if they don't work out, we have Rust to fall back on. Given how little ice time anyone young other than DOC had gotten this year, I think giving them PK time would be a good test of their worth at the NHL level, that they can handle a bigger role. I don't see it as a way to weigh them down. I see it as a way for them to prove themselves and push them to be better NHL players.
I get what you are saying but I'm just telling you how it really works.
1st year they just don't do this.
Look at DOC first real year here. 46 games last year. He had 25.6 minutes in PK time.
That isn't because there were no penalties it's because they don't put 1st year players on the PK unless they have to.
Baring injury, someone else will most likely fill that last PK role, at least until the 2nd half of the year. That's what history tells us.
They want younger players to focus on other things. Learn where to be, play off the puck, how to adjust to the speed of the game.
Even with Poulin being in the system so long, he's had so little time at the NHL level. In two years he doesn't even have 50 minutes of ice time.
That's not going to make them want to put him on the PK.