This is getting absurd. You’re trying to make sweeping assertions based on a sample size thats meaningless (first it was one game, then two games)
-Sammy and Joker do not play 24-26mins a night.
-But a dman like them playing more minutes than their “norm” from time to time is perfectly normal.
If you want to go on about the grind of a seasson you need a meaniful sample size. Well I used the entire season to date. There is nothing unusual about the mintues played by Dahlin, Sammy and Joker. Dahlin plays #1 dman minutes and the other two o play normal top 4 minutes. Nothing you’ve posted has proven otherwise.
Let me clarify, because you are mixing multiple posts in your replies and not understanding my messages while out of context.
With Power, the extra icetime tends to cause mental mistakes in young D that are working on positioning, communication, tracking, and their part within the team structure.
Power is a teenager that is dealing with learning a lot while carrying a substantial load for a team that the pressure is increasing due to the strings of losses. Looking at his icetime average does ignore the fact that he is probably playing too much for a player of his age and experience in a lot of the games. Here are some of his icetime totals from some games, I looked at half the season so far.
25:12
24:04
23:54
23:43
23:51
24:13
24:43
28:14
29:35
26:49
25:03
Now a lot of that time is PP time, which is substantially different than ES or PK time, so it is not as bad as it looks, but I have noticed that his mistakes lessened with his ice load, so it goes to suggest that the team would be better if they lightened his icetime a bit.
Dahlin is a great player, but he should not be logging huge minutes all season if they don't want to see him crash mid-season, which historically is common with players logging the types of minutes he has seen.
28:22
26:21
28:39
28:08
26:43
27:37
26:58
29:25
25:57
26:23
27:48
26:07
27:05
Looking at those numbers, in Buffalo's non-OT wins, Dahlin played less than 25 minutes in 8 of the 11. And he has not played more than 26 minutes in any of those wins all season. Small sample size, but it is not surprising the team results are better when the defensive load is more balanced.
As far as Samuelsson and Jokiharju, what I was implying was that there is no way they should be playing 24-26 minutes with huge penalty kill responsibilities in a specific game. Yes, that is a limited case, but still reflects the depth problem.
Jokiharju 23:59 TOI 5:09 PKTOI
Samueslsson 26:04 TOI 7:06 PKTOI
Anyone that doesn't realize there is a monumental difference between PK icetime and ES and PP icetime has never played competitive hockey.
What this all suggests is that this team has had major D depth issues this season. Looking at the season averages, it is easy to think that there is no problem, but with a few injuries, and looking at game specific numbers, it is clear that the team needed help.
Hopefully the massive defensive injury bug is past, and we won't see the heavy loads continue, as the icetime balance was actually great when everyone was healthy to start the season, but I responded to your seasonal averages post just to point out that we can't ignore that there have been icetime issues during this injury stretch.
