Connor McIceTime

Photo credit:Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

5 years ago

As the saying goes you can never have too much of a good thing and Connor McDavid can most certainly be described as a good thing, a very good thing.

Todd McLellan hasn’t been afraid to use the leagues most dangerous weapon as often as possible so far this season. McDavid currently leads the league in ice-time among forwards playing 24:34 a night. The only other forward in the league over 23 minutes a night is his partner in crime Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers have had to work overtime on three occasions this season but it’s still a heavy workload for those two players. I’m not here to say McDavid is being over-played, I’m just here to point out how busy he has been.

McDavid played over 28 minutes against the Penguins including 11 minutes in the third period alone. He was on the ice for 20:43 at even-strength, 5:18 on the power play and a team leading 2:25 on the PK.

On the other side of the ice, Sidney Crosby played 17:46 at even-strength, 2:46 on the PP and just one second on the penalty kill.

IS IT NECESSARY?

Oct 16, 2018; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) skates past Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey (44) in the third period at Bell MTS Place. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports

Hard to argue it isn’t necessary right now for a couple of different reasons. Prior to the Penguins game the second, third and fourth lines hadn’t pissed a drop of offence so it was McDavid or bust. A steady diet of Stanley Cup contenders hasn’t allowed McLellan to find some gravy time for the third and fourth lines. I’m sure as the schedule weakens and the Oilers find themselves in control of some games the totals for McDavid will be more reasonable.

The top five scorers in the league last year were McDavid, Giroux, Kucherov, Malkin and MacKinnon. Only McDavid and Giroux played more than 20 minutes a night.

Here’s a look at how much those other players have been used so far this year.

Giroux 11pts in 9gms, 20:18 (19th among forwards)
Kucherov 7pts in 7gms, 18:35 (79^th)
Malkin 13pts in 7gms, 18:07 (77^th)
MacKinnon 15pts in 9gms, 21:34 (8^th)

As you can see Giroux, Malkin and Kucherov are playing less in the early stages of the season while the likes of MacKinnon and McDavid are well above last years pace.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone but once again points to the fact that it’s necessary for the Oilers and Avs to run their high-end talent a lot in the early stages of the season in hopes of getting off to a solid start. The Pens, Bolts and Flyers, on the other hand, have some depth offensively.

If Draisaitl can continue to play like he did on Tuesday McLellan will eventually be able to find some spots for McDavid to rest.

ALL-TIME IMPACT

Nov 9, 2017; Newark, NJ, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) skates with the puck against New Jersey Devils defenseman Andy Greene (6) during the first period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

While I do expect McDavid’s average time on ice to come down by at least a minute by the end of the season it is interesting to see how often players have managed to carry his current workload for an entire season.

Over the past 20 years, only six players played more per game than the 24:34 we’ve seen from McDavid so far this season and no player has averaged 25-minutes a night over a full-season since 2001.

The most recent to hit the mark was Ilya Kovalchuk with the Devils during the 2012-2013 campaign. The Devils sniper did it during the lockout-shortened season and finished with 31 points in 37 games.

The trend in 98-99 was apparently to play the balls off your superstars. Paul Kariya, Joe Sakic and Jaromir Jagr all played over 25 minutes a night that season. Kariya finished with 101 points, Sakic had 96 and Jagr lead the league with 127 points; which is pretty impressive considering he was probably in his early forties. It’s worth noting that Jagr was in ninth NHL season while Bure and Sakic both were in the 10^th year of their careers. McDavid is much younger so he may be able to handle these types of minutes a little bit better.

Pavel Bure is the only player to surpass the 25-minute mark twice. He did it with the Panthers in 00-01 and again the following season split between Florida and New York. The Russian Rocket’s 26:52 with the Panthers in 00-01 was extremely necessary as he finished with 92 points, 55 more than Viktor Kozlov who was second on the team in scoring. Bure had 59 goals; nobody else on the Panthers had more than 37 points. McDavid doesn’t have much offensive support but it certainly isn’t as bad as what Bure was dealing with.