Should Bruins dial back the ice time of some important veteran players? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins are rolling right now. They are one point behind the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets for the best record in the NHL.
This team, by pretty much every measure, has exceeded expectations. The B’s lost so many good players in the offseason, most notably Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Hall, Dmitry Orlov and others. And due to a lack of salary cap space over the summer, they weren’t able to replace these players with top-tier talent.
Therefore, expectations were lower than normal for the B’s. Make the playoffs? Yes. Be in the mix for the top record in the league? No.
And yet here we are: The Bruins, at least according to their record (26-8-9), are again a legit Stanley Cup contender.
There are a few areas of concern, though, and one that’s worth keeping tabs on is the ice time certain veterans are playing. The Bruins are relying on their top guys a lot, and while it’s been a successful strategy so far, it could catch up to them come playoff time.
Here’s a look at notable veterans on the B’s roster and how much their 2023-24 ice time compares to last season, as well as their career high.
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None of the time-on-ice increases shown in the chart above are super glaring, but they do add up over the course of a full season.
McAvoy and Lindholm are on track to be the first pair of Bruins defensemen to average 23:00 minutes or more of ice time per game since Zdeno Chara (24:56) and Dennis Seidenberg (23:47) in 2012-13. McAvoy played 26 or more minutes twice in 67 games last season. He has hit that minute level 12 times in 35 games this season. That’s 34 percent of his games. In 2021-22, he hit the 26-minute mark in 21 of 78 games (27 percent).
What’s the reason for the increase in minutes for these players? Injuries have played a part. Derek Forbort missing 23 games has resulted in guys like McAvoy, Lindholm and Carlo playing even more on the penalty kill. The team’s overall depth is worse than it was last season, mostly because of the offseason departures noted above. Another factor is 14 of…