Tortorella mentioned he plans on re-uniting Kesler and Burrows (so I think the inference is that Kassian will be given every opportunity to play on L1).
That doesn't mean ZK gets the spot. Remember Hansen played a few games with the twins too and didn't look bad either. Higgins can also play all 3 lines so will likely be given a shot too. He's also very similar to Burrows (at least as close as you can get on the roster) so if you want a direct replacement instead of a change, he might be the ideal choice. Or if Burrows stay with the Twins, Higgins probably would get first shot with Kesler and Booth. Then of course there is Jensen who although not a lock to make the team, at this point probably has the best offensive skill set and above ZK in terms of offensive ability. Not saying Jensen is more likely to make the team but he's a wild card for that spot. He will probably be given every chance to make the team since he'll be burning a year off his ELC regardless and had a pretty good season last year (even got some game action). Basically i don't see ZK being a lock for the spot and his chances of being on the 3rd or even 4th line is just as high as Hansen or Higgins. If he ends up being on the 4th line again, i wonder how many questions MG will get about the trade...
In all fairness, the savings between an ELC and a standard issue 4th liner is pretty meager. An ELC is really only a major advantage if the rookie is filling a prominent role.
It would be nice to have a guy like Gaunce/Horvatt able to fill in in the event of injuries to one of our centers.
Or if MG worries about Jannik Hansen becoming too expensive of a player to retain next year, knowing you could replace him with a guy like Jensen.
The problem with that is future and development. If Gaunce/Horvat is on the roster for 10+ games, they burn a year off the ELC, which means 1 year sooner for their bridge contract and also 1 year earlier for UFA. Given its "salary cap" era, you really don't want to burn a year unless
a) You know the player is ready
b) The player gives you the best chance to win now/he's clearly an upgrade over whoever he is replacing
Both Gaunce and Horvat are prospects that clearly have a good chance of playing in the NHL someday but they are probably not ready at this point. Both are pretty solid defensive in Jr. hockey where "defense" is really a loose term. You really want them to get some AHL seasoning and play a tighter/closer to NHL style of hockey before putting them into the NHL. Of course that isn't possible since they'll be back in Jr. if they don't make the team. There's a chance they make the team and get 9 games to decide rather or not they stay but last thing you want is have them play 10+ games then decide they are not ready and burning a year on their ELC/UFA (in the case of Horvat, possibly 2 years).
Also in the case of Horvat (at least until he signs the ELC), the difference might actually be a decent size difference. My guess is he'll get a base salary of 925,000 (same as Gaunce) on his contract + bonuses. If he meets some of those bonuses (guess that's pretty unlikely given he probably won't get a top 6 role), the difference between him and say Santorelli could be 500k+, which would translate to ~1.5mil+ come deadline time. If he isn't clearly better than Santorelli at this point, its probably best to have him go back to Jr. for now and the future.
Also Jensen/Hansen are not comparison. Completely different style of hockey and skill set. Jensen cannot replace Hansen in terms of the role he plays on the team. Jensen is pretty much top 6 or not playing type (unless the 3rd line becomes a more offensive line). His defensive/own zone game is still developing/suspect at this point while Hansen is fairly good defensively. A more comparable replacement would be Sweatt (who of course will be in Europe but still our property next off season, tho not meaningful unless he has a very good year and decides to come back since right now, he's borderline NHL material as it is, forget replacing an elite 3rd liner/borderline 2nd liner). At this point, Hansen is pretty hard to replace and if MG could, he probably should sign him to a deal similar to Higgins ASAP.