Yes, but minutes played are also a big factor;
Shattenkirk attests to this.
Quote:
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"Personally, my minutes have gone up this year from 20 to 22, and even that little difference is noticeable. I definitely feel it after games. Adding another seven minutes onto that is almost unthinkable."
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With Gio out, that's a massive workload that has to be replaced. The man was already playing 25+min a night. Hartley had Wideman and Russell eating up a lot more minutes than they'd been playing and it definitely affects their on-ice performance. If Ryan van Asten hadn't done such a great job conditioning the team, we might not have made it in.