Top 4 D - Time on Ice

[Archie Lee]

The Sabres have the highest paid top 4 D that is left in the playoffs.  Only Minnesota comes close.  Our top 4 D make more combined than the entire D for Anaheim, Vegas, Carolina, and Montreal.

Of the D-men for the teams left in the playoffs, here is where our top-4 are in time-on ice per game:

14th: Dahlin, 23:30 per game

20th: Byram, 22:16 per game

22nd: Samuelsson, 21:07 per game

26th: Power, 20:16 per game

Again, that's of the 7 teams left in the playoffs.  For the entire playoffs, Power is not in the top 50 for time on ice per game.  

We haven't played a lot of OT hockey, so that is a factor. There could also be injuries that we don't know about.

But why is Mike Matheson playing 2 more minutes a night on average in this series, than Dahlin?  Quinn Hughes played 34 minutes last night and is averaging over 30 per game.  Faber is averaging near 30.  Jackson Lacombe is playing 26 minutes a night. Jacob Trouba, 24 minutes.  Brett Kulak is averaging more time on ice per game than Power.  

Our turnaround this year coincided with the injury to Timmins.  That combined with Kesselring's injuries and struggles, forced the Sabres to play our top-4 big minutes.  That's not a slight against Timmins, Kesselring, Metsa, or the new guy, Stanley. All are quite capable bottom pairing D-men on a 100 point NHL team. But our top 4 became our identity.    These guys need to play 25, 26, 27, 28 minutes a night, starting tonight.  Otherwise, why have we built our team this way?   Goodness, what are we saving them for? 

Edited May 12 by Archie Lee

[Punch]

I think we're going to see that come to fruition tonight if Kesselring plays. Kesselring and Timmins will probably not skate much together (if at all) and we'll see extra shifts out of the top 4.

[LGR4GM]

9 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

The Sabres have the highest paid top 4 D that is left in the playoffs.  Only Minnesota comes close.  Our top 4 D make more combined than the entire D for Anaheim, Vegas, Carolina, and Montreal.

Of the D-men for the teams left in the playoffs, here is where our top-4 are in time-on ice per game:

14th: Dahlin, 23:30 per game

20th: Byram, 22:16 per game

22nd: Samuelsson, 21:07 per game

26th: Power, 20:16 per game

Again, that's of the 7 teams left in the playoffs.  For the entire playoffs, Power is not in the top 50 for time on ice per game.  

We haven't played a lot of OT hockey, so that is a factor. There could also be injuries that we don't know about.

But why is Mike Matheson playing 2 more minutes a night on average in this series, than Dahlin?  Quinn Hughes played 34 minutes last night and is averaging over 30 per game.  Faber is averaging near 30.  Jackson Lacombe is playing 26 minutes a night. Jacob Trouba, 24 minutes.  Brett Kulak is averaging more time on ice per game than Power.  

Our turnaround this year coincided with the injury to Timmins.  That combined with Kesselring's injuries and struggles, forced the Sabres to play our top-4 big minutes.  That's not a slight against Timmins, Kesselring, Metsa, or the new guy, Stanley. All are quite capable bottom pairing D-men on a 100 point NHL team. But our top 4 became our identity.    These guys need to play 25, 26, 27, 28 minutes a night, starting tonight.  Otherwise, why have we built our team this way?   Goodness, what are we saving them for? 

This is a self fulfilling prophecy. Guys like Matheson are playing more than Dahlin because the Sabres also have Samuelsson, Byram, and Power. Matheson is probably playing both PP and PK minutes as well as being sent out late to protect the lead. Quinn Hughes plays as much as he does because Hughes and Faber are that defense. Again, it has to do with Buffalo essentially have 2 top pairs. It means 2 fewer shifts for Dahlin a game. 

[Archie Lee]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

This is a self fulfilling prophecy. Guys like Matheson are playing more than Dahlin because the Sabres also have Samuelsson, Byram, and Power. Matheson is probably playing both PP and PK minutes as well as being sent out late to protect the lead. Quinn Hughes plays as much as he does because Hughes and Faber are that defense. Again, it has to do with Buffalo essentially have 2 top pairs. It means 2 fewer shifts for Dahlin a game. 

Our top 4 d-men are all averaging less TOI per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. They are not losing ice time to each other. They are losing ice time to Timmins and Stanley (again, not a knock on Timmins and Stanley, as they are a perfectly fine 3rd pair). 

[Pimlach]

8 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

The Sabres have the highest paid top 4 D that is left in the playoffs.  Only Minnesota comes close.  Our top 4 D make more combined than the entire D for Anaheim, Vegas, Carolina, and Montreal.

Of the D-men for the teams left in the playoffs, here is where our top-4 are in time-on ice per game:

14th: Dahlin, 23:30 per game

20th: Byram, 22:16 per game

22nd: Samuelsson, 21:07 per game

26th: Power, 20:16 per game

Again, that's of the 7 teams left in the playoffs.  For the entire playoffs, Power is not in the top 50 for time on ice per game.  

We haven't played a lot of OT hockey, so that is a factor. There could also be injuries that we don't know about.

But why is Mike Matheson playing 2 more minutes a night on average in this series, than Dahlin?  Quinn Hughes played 34 minutes last night and is averaging over 30 per game.  Faber is averaging near 30.  Jackson Lacombe is playing 26 minutes a night. Jacob Trouba, 24 minutes.  Brett Kulak is averaging more time on ice per game than Power.  

Our turnaround this year coincided with the injury to Timmins.  That combined with Kesselring's injuries and struggles, forced the Sabres to play our top-4 big minutes.  That's not a slight against Timmins, Kesselring, Metsa, or the new guy, Stanley. All are quite capable bottom pairing D-men on a 100 point NHL team. But our top 4 became our identity.    These guys need to play 25, 26, 27, 28 minutes a night, starting tonight.  Otherwise, why have we built our team this way?   Goodness, what are we saving them for? 

Interesting stuff.   Looking at the results after the Boston series and this would be perceived as good news and good balance after the first round. 

Win tonight and tie the series 2-2 and again this is not that big deal and our top 4 should have some gas left.  

Why other teams are playing certain players more is all situational but most teams do not have a top 4 that matches ours.  

Is top 4 playing time the reason that the Sabres are down 2-1 right now?   I can think of many other things that are going wrong  -  the power play,  the forecheck and lack of offensive zone time, missed opportunities when shots are there, but mostly the loss of total team defensive structure leading to many odd man opportunities for Montreal.  The later is more on the forwards than the defenders.  

To your point, this is a critical game.  Realistically the series hinges on winning tonight so yes, play the crap out of our Top 4, especially Dahlin and Byram.  

The Sabres need to stay out of the box and that might happen.   PK means more ice time for Timmons and Stanley.  

 

[LGR4GM]

20 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Our top 4 d-men are all averaging less TOI per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. They are not losing ice time to each other. They are losing ice time to Timmins and Stanley (again, not a knock on Timmins and Stanley, as they are a perfectly fine 3rd pair). 

Too much game management from the coaches perhaps? 

[triumph_communes]

24 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Our top 4 d-men are all averaging less TOI per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. They are not losing ice time to each other. They are losing ice time to Timmins and Stanley (again, not a knock on Timmins and Stanley, as they are a perfectly fine 3rd pair). 

Interesting

 

fix this coaches 

[SabreFinn]

It has not been anything to focus on as long as they made it to the second round and also won first game against Habs. I think they will get tougher minutes the rest of this round. 

[Scottysabres]

53 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Our top 4 d-men are all averaging less TOI per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. They are not losing ice time to each other. They are losing ice time to Timmins and Stanley (again, not a knock on Timmins and Stanley, as they are a perfectly fine 3rd pair). 

I’d like to see the defensive zone time numbers put up along side of the puck possession numbers next to the defensive pairings TOI. I haven’t looked at these numbers but the past 2 games the Sabres have gotten shelled in their own end and puck possession is the core factor in that. The Habs know how to win puck battles, hang on to the puck, their players are always moving, finding open space. And nearly all of this starts at the face off dot. Yes the Sabres give-aways are killing them but their inability to get initial control at the face off dot puts them on the defense immediately. 

Edited May 12 by Scottysabres