Here we are for the third in our four-part series examining what changed for teams and players during their playoff runs. In Part 1, and Part 2 we were examining first round exits. As such there were small sample sizes and disappointing exits that were impacting the data we were looking at. It is harder to read too much into a four-game sample size that went terribly for the team. At this point though we have teams that have a round one victory and have a bit larger sample. This week on Frozen Tool Forensics:

Playoff Deployment Part 3: The Second Round.

Just as a reminder – from last week: We will be touching on point production, but our main focus will be usage and deployment. We want to answer the question – were players used in a different way during the playoffs that can give us any hints as to how they might be used next season?

To answer this question, we are going to turn to the Time on Ice Reports from the report page. By running and then exporting the same report for both the regular season and the playoffs to date we can get the same data from those two periods. We then combine sources and filter by the team of focus to get an idea of who on each team benefited and who lost out.

Boston

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI
BRANDON CARLO	D	BOS	8	34.2	22:30	30.5	18:43
DAVID KREJCI	C	BOS	11	31.1	20:00	28.1	17:08
CHARLIE MCAVOY	D	BOS	11	41.5	26:39	39.4	24:00
MIKE REILLY	D	BOS	11	33.4	21:29	31.8	19:17
BRAD MARCHAND	L	BOS	11	32.2	20:40	31	18:55

Boston's chart looks more or less like we would expect it. We have some defensemen increasing their time on ice, a second-line center, and a superstar. What we can also see though is that the biggest boosts on the power-play came to David Krejci, and Charlie McAvoy.

Krejci has a solid history to compare to, but he saw the highest total time of his career and the highest percentage of his team's power-play time. He finally had some real talent on his wing with the addition of Taylor Hall. He already spent significant time on the top power play during the regular season, it just looks like that top unit was leaned on quite a bit more during the post season.

McAvoy is a bit of the same story, though the one major difference is that there was no question of his role on the top power play. Throughout the season Boston kept wanting to give it to Matt Grzelcyk. In the postseason though it was McAvoy's position and he responded with eight power-play points. Given the drop in power-play effectiveness Boston experienced during the regular season, this might be something the coaching staff are more willing to turn to next season.

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
KEVAN MILLER	D	BOS	4	24.6	16:32	31.3	19:04	-6.7
NICK RITCHIE	L	BOS	11	18.7	12:02	25.3	15:22	-6.6
CURTIS LAZAR	C	BOS	10	17.8	11:31	22	13:19	-4.2
JAKE DEBRUSK	L	BOS	10	20.9	13:33	24.4	14:53	-3.5
KARSON KUHLMAN	C	BOS	3	14.2	9:15	17.6	10:39	-3.4

Nick Ritchie and Jake Debrusk lost out in total time due to a big drop in power-play time. Taylor Hall and Grzelcyk kept them company there as well. For Ritchie and Debrusk that loss is brutal to their value, while Hall still had some value at even strength. For DeBrusk and Hall at least, the additional silver lining is that it looks like they kept their deployment, the top unit just got a lot more time during the playoff run than they got during the regular season. For Ritchie and Grzelcyk the news is worse as they had time on that top unit during portions of the regular season but lost it in the regular season.

Carolina

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
TEUVO TERAVAINEN	L	CAR	11	30.8	20:45	27	16:26	3.8
BRETT PESCE	D	CAR	11	40.1	26:58:00	37.3	22:48	2.8
JACCOB SLAVIN	D	CAR	8	40	24:27:00	37.7	22:59	2.3
BRADY SKJEI	D	CAR	11	36	24:12:00	34	20:44	2
MARTIN NECAS	C	CAR	11	29.9	20:07	28.3	17:17	1.6

Teuvo Teravainen is a bit of an anomaly as he missed so much of the regular season, but he and Martin Necas are tops of the list also for increased power-play role. Both were featured on the top unit with Sebastian Aho and Vincent Trocheck. Frankly if you are a Necas owner this is something you are thrilled to see. Necas did spend some time on the top unit back in March, but for most of April and May was seeing about 30 percent of the team's power-play time. Fast forward to the playoffs and he was looking at 65-85 percent depending on the game. Unfortunately, he only put up five points in eleven games (and only one on the power-play), but that chance with the season on the line speaks volumes about what role Necas might have going forward. 

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
JANI HAKANPAA	D	CAR	11	25.1	16:53	29.7	18:01	-4.6
NINO NIEDERREITER	R	CAR	7	21.8	15:25	25.8	15:43	-4
JESPER FAST	R	CAR	11	21.6	14:30	25.1	15:18	-3.5
VINCENT TROCHECK	C	CAR	9	27.3	18:37	29.9	18:14	-2.6
JAKE BEAN	D	CAR	11	21.4	14:24	23.8	14:32	-2.4

So, in a bit of a deviation from the norm here, I am actually going to use this section to talk about Jake Bean – in a positive way. Yes, he lost a little bit of his share of Carolina's overall ice time, but he grabbed a chunk of second power-play time. He took over sole responsibility of that second unit with Jake Gardiner out. His one point in eleven games certainly isn't awe-inspiring, but it was at least a power-play point. It is great to see him getting that opportunity and with Dougie Hamilton's future in Carolina uncertain there may just be a chance for Bean to break through next season.

Colorado

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
TYSON JOST	C	COL	10	26.2	15:41	23.4	14:07	2.8
MIKKO RANTANEN	R	COL	10	35.7	21:22	33	19:55	2.7
VALERI NICHUSHKIN	R	COL	10	26	15:37	23.3	14:05	2.7
J.T. COMPHER	L	COL	10	26.2	15:43	23.6	14:13	2.6
BRANDON SAAD	L	COL	10	25.4	15:15	23.3	14:06	2.1

Colorado is such an interesting case. Up until now the predominate benefactors of changes in ice time have been defensemen, top lines, and maybe the odd promotion to the top six or top power-play. Colorado's biggest time on ice winners contain no defensemen, several second- and third-line players, and doesn't even include the actual biggest winner in deployment Joonas Donskoi who saw 27 percent more of his team's power-play time in the postseason getting a bump to the top unit.

Tyson Jost gained the second most power-play time (up about eleven percent), getting time on the second unit, but was playing third line minutes by Colorado's last game. Brandon Saad was generally seeing time with Jost, but was playing top line by the final game, and Donskoi actually lost even strength time, but saw a huge boost playing on the top power-play.

It is honestly hard to pick a winner here. The top power-play spot is the most coveted, but Donskoi couldn't hold it in the regular season. Saad's even-strength position for the final game is good, but isn't a big sample size and might not stick. Jost has the most factors going for him here, with increases at both even strength and on the power-play, but if he isn't getting top power-play time or exposure to any of Colorado's top three players there just isn't much of a ceiling there.

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
ALEX NEWHOOK	C	COL	8	10.6	6:24	22.8	13:41	-12.2
CONOR TIMMINS	D	COL	10	18	10:46	22.5	13:33	-4.5
PATRIK NEMETH	D	COL	10	26.3	15:46	29.9	18:01	-3.6
ANDRE BURAKOVSKY	L	COL	10	22.5	13:29	25	15:05	-2.5
PIERRE-EDOUARD BELLEMARE	C	COL	10	17	10:10	18.8	11:20	-1.8

While Alex Newhook technically lost the largest percentage of Colorado's ice time, Andre Burakovsky has to be the biggest loser here. A significant chunk of his loss here was actually power-play time. He, Valeri Nuchiskin, and J.T. Compher all suffered losses on the power-play during the postseason, but Burakovsky's drop below 14 minutes of ice time in conjunction with that loss is particularly concerning.

Winnipeg

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
KYLE CONNOR	L	WPG	8	35	23:41	31.1	18:45	3.9
BLAKE WHEELER	R	WPG	8	33.1	22:25	30.4	18:20	2.7
MARK SCHEIFELE	C	WPG	5	37	26:41:00	34.8	20:59	2.2
ANDREW COPP	C	WPG	8	32.2	21:50	30.2	18:14	2
NEAL PIONK	D	WPG	8	38.4	26:00:00	36.4	21:57	2

Not much to see here really. A lot of Winnipeg's top players saw more overall time during the playoffs. Interestingly, Andrew Copp is the only player on this list who did not see a decrease in his share of power-play time. Most of the other players actually lost out on power-play shares, but saw increases at even strength to make up for it. That makes Copp an interesting look, what with his opportunity alongside Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers, but given that was exclusively with Mark Scheifele out of the lineup I wouldn't get too excited.

Name	Pos	Team	GP	Playoff %TOI	Playoff TOI	Season % TOI	Season TOI	% Δ
TREVOR LEWIS	C	WPG	8	13.1	8:54	16.3	9:51	-3.2
NATE THOMPSON	C	WPG	8	12.8	8:40	16	9:40	-3.2
PAUL STASTNY	C	WPG	6	26.6	18:42	28.9	17:25	-2.3
MATHIEU PERREAULT	L	WPG	8	18.3	12:24	19.4	11:42	-1.1
JOSH MORRISSEY	D	WPG	8	38.8	26:18	39.1	23:34	-0.3

Josh Morrissey's big loss in this postseason was on power play. He, like many of the players on the above list, lost time, but unlike them did not make it up anywhere. Neal Pionk was the primary beneficiary of Morrissey's decline and saw limited improvement, but unfortunately for him still was manning the second unit – though without Scheifele the units appear to have been distributed a bit more evenly.

Next week – the Final Four.

That's all for now. Stay safe out there.

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