All bottom pairing D get sheltered minutes, if they didn't they'd be top 4D.
Everything is relative. It's an objective truth that he is playing highly curated and managed minutes relative to your average bottom pairing defenseman. 14 minutes a night is nowhere near average bottom pairing minutes, let alone with the kind of hand picked deployment and competition he has faced.
Nothing he has shown is any different from what he brought in Ottawa all these years. He will be back down in the AHL or in the press box pending the health of Vancouver's lineup. Although, they might lose him to waivers if another team has injuries, because as you're seeing in Vancouver now he is a solid pro. He's just one that cannot be trusted to play a big enough role to be an everyday NHLer. Which is why I suspect he's being used in the way he is in Vancouver as per the curated minutes.
He will be out of the NHL by next year because he's a superstar in every other league in the world, and there won't be 1-way money on the table for him.
People do this all the time. Puck moving defenseman look great playing minimal minutes with buttersoft deployment, and people overrate their performance without realizing that it's not something that can be scaled up into a bigger role because you can't shelter Ds playing bigger minutes like that.
