Wild West: Ice Time Winners – Defense

Chris Kane

2019-12-16

 

Last week we took a look at forwards in the Western Conference that were seeing a change in their ice time. The idea being that deployment; linemates, power-play time, even-strength time on ice – all of these things matter when figuring out which players we want to hang on to, particularly when we get to the bottoms of our rosters. We especially want to know when deployment changes as that is likely to lead to a change in performance. This week we are going to take a look at defensemen.

 

We are going to take a look at players’ deployment and see what has changed recently. Our baseline will be a months worth of data from November, and we will be comparing it to data over the last two weeks. This article will highlight a few of the defensemen who have gained the most time on ice, and the players who have lost the most.

 

Quick Explanation on stats: We are looking at the change in averages per game. So the difference in the percent of the team’s power-play time (Δ %PP) from the baseline compared to the last two weeks, the change in average power-play time per game (Δ PPTOI), even-strength time on ice (Δ EVTOI), and total time on ice (Δ TOI).

 

On D we are sorting by power-play time as general time on ice isn’t always a good indicator of an offensive contribution to a fantasy team.

 

Five Up

 

Name

Pos

Team

Δ %PP

Δ PPTOI

Δ EVTOI

Δ TOI

ERIK GUSTAFSSON

D

CHI

35.3

0:55

0:54

1:53

NEAL PIONK

D

WPG

24

1:21

-1:00

0:11

RASMUS ANDERSSON

D

CGY

22.1

1:06

-2:43

-2:21

CALE MAKAR

D

COL

21.4

-0:09

0:08

-1:10

HAMPUS LINDHOLM

D

ANA

20.8

0:34

0:19

-0:03

 

Erik Gustafsson:

Gustafsson has had a bit of a turbulent start to 2019-20. He came off an incredible breakout campaign in 2018-19 and dropped the ball. He was given the opportunity again and squandered it. He lost his top power-play spot for a chunk of time but now seems to be back in the saddle. He leads Dmen in power-play gains. He is seeing gains across the board as he is up about a minute of even-strength time as well.

 

Neal Pionk:

Coming into 2019-20 the consensus was that Josh Morrissey would inherit the top power play with Dustin Byfuglien undecided on his return. Morrissey has been unable to keep that job, to Pionk’s benefit. He has lost a little even-strength time over the last few weeks, but that has been made up for in more productive power-play time so at the moment the trade-off seems to be well worth it.

 

Rasmus Andersson:

If you aren’t a Calgary fan you might be less familiar with this name. Andersson is in just his second full season and is seeing career-high ice times. It looks like he is manning the second unit in Calgary at the moment, but occasionally seeing big minutes with almost 3.5 minutes of power-play time in his most recent game. His current point pace isn’t all that appealing, but he is putting about two shots on net per game and may be worth keeping an eye on as things continue to sort out in Calgary.   

 

Five Down

 

Name

Pos

Team

Δ %PP

📢 advertisement:

Δ PPTOI

Δ EVTOI

Δ TOI

ESA LINDELL

D

DAL

-26.1

-1:04

0:27

-3:08

JOSH MORRISSEY

D

WPG

-20.3

-0:58

0:14

-1:06

CAM FOWLER

D

ANA

-12.6

-1:17

1:48

0:25

JAKOB CHYCHRUN

D

ARI

-11.6

-0:18

1:07

0:26

JUSTIN FAULK

D

STL

-10.9

-:33

0:10

-0:01

 

Josh Morrissey

As mentioned above, Morrissey seems to have lost out on his power-play spot for the moment. This has happened for periods already this year so it is definitely possible that he usurps Pionk again. At the moment though his deployment isn’t looking great and puts him in the droppable territory (depending on your league’s depth obviously).

 

Cam Fowler

As Hampus Lindholm is listed above it is not terribly surprising to see Fowler on this list. It looks like Anaheim is spreading out the power-play talent a bit. Ricard Rakell and Ryan Getzlaf are on different units and the time is being distributed more evenly than in the past. On the one hand, that means a few other players get a crack at being relevant, but it certainly hurts those who would have been members of the top unit. 

 

Justin Faulk

Somehow Faulk is still showing up in power-play conversations. For a while, in October and November, he seemed to be sharing some top unit time with Alex Pietrangelo. Now he is firmly ensconced on a second unit with Vince Dunn – though in seven of his last nine games he has not seen any power-play time at all. For the moment it seems like the days of Faulk as a relevant power-play contributor are over.

 

Wild West Weekly Streamers:

Zack Kassian:

Any week where you can line up with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid for four games is a good week to stream. Kassian also adds hits if that is helpful in your league.

 

Joonas Donskoi:

Don’t look now, but Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky were back up with Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado’s last game. This one is a definite risk as Donskoi is not at all worth it if he isn’t playing with MacKinnon. But he was and Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen were on a second line with Nazem Kadri. If he is available take a chance and jump on him.

 

Last Week’s Streamers:

 

Dylan Strome: Strome put up a goal, two assists, seven shots, and two power-play points over the course of four games. He made a good stream and is making the case to stay on your roster for a bit.

 

Alex Tuch: Tuch was a little less successful last week after his masterclass the week before. He put up an assist and 12 shots over four games. Another point would have been nice, though he did add a few hits (4) and blocks (3) if those are helpful in your league.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Jan 04 - 12:01 WSH vs NYR
Jan 04 - 16:01 S.J vs N.J
Jan 04 - 19:01 CAR vs MIN
Jan 04 - 19:01 COL vs MTL
Jan 04 - 19:01 CBJ vs STL
Jan 04 - 19:01 TOR vs BOS
Jan 04 - 19:01 WPG vs DET
Jan 04 - 20:01 DAL vs UTA
Jan 04 - 21:01 L.A vs T.B
Jan 04 - 22:01 VGK vs BUF
Jan 04 - 22:01 CGY vs NSH
Jan 04 - 22:01 SEA vs EDM

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
JONATHAN DROUIN COL
JASON ZUCKER BUF
TROY TERRY ANA
TY SMITH CAR
JACKSON LACOMBE ANA

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
SAM MONTEMBEAULT MTL
JEREMY SWAYMAN BOS
YAROSLAV ASKAROV S.J
JONATHAN QUICK NYR
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency NSH Players
25.9 STEVEN STAMKOS JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT FILIP FORSBERG
13.0 OZZY WIESBLATT COLTON SISSONS MICHAEL MCCARRON
11.1 FEDOR SVECHKOV MARK JANKOWSKI LUKE EVANGELISTA

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – New Year News

Jeremy and Shams are back to bring you up to speed on what happened in the Fantasy world during New Year’s Eve and Day. They cover all the injury news headlined by Nichushkin and a couple of starting goalies and close with hot and cold streaks that include two big name defensemen that might be […]

Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts: New Year, New PPQB

Ryan and Lewis go out with the old and in with the new on a shiny New Year’s episode of Short Shifts. After starting the show with some discussion of Laine, Michkov, and Fowler, the guys get into injury news and rate our confidence in replacement PPQBs in Carolina and Vancouver while the regulars recuperate. […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Crossover Draft with Keeping Karlsson – Part 2

In part two of a crossover draft with Keeping Karlsson’s Brian Kom and Elan Dubrofsky, Jesse and Victor take turns drafting a second half low-roster percentage team. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email fantasyhockeylife@gmail.com and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon […]

Keeping Karlsson: KK x FHL less than 70% Rostered Draft, Part 1 of 2

Elan and Brian get into the muck with Fantasy Hockey Life’s Victor and Jesse, mining for diamonds in the rough amongst players who are less than 70% rostered on Fantrax (at the time of recording)… one-player-per-team-draft style!

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: