Well, he's played on the second line for the entire tournament, a line that was originally slated to be Canada's second scoring unit. Playing on a line with Stewart and Richards, this line was supposed to be producing at a much higher clip then they currently are.
Both Dawes and Stewart struggled out of the gate, which leads me to believe that Canada's third line, comprised of Carter-Getzlaf-Ladd, actually became Canada's second scoring unit.
I cannot compare icetimes for Dawes, considering I have neither his stat for last season, nor this one, however I would believe it is somewhat similar. Both this year and last he was working the powerplay as well.