Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
I’m just not convinced that protecting Kylington justifies either losing Hanifin or playing Tanev out of the top 4
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Sutter at 5v5 tends to roll things pretty evenly - it's more about matchups than it is about ice time.
Last year it was:
Hanifin-Anderson: 15:21 TOI/GP
Kylington-Tanev: 14:25 TOI/GP
Zadorov-Gudbranson: 13:17 TOI/GP
So less than two minutes total separated all three pairings last year, and that was with less depth on defense overall.
Generally you play about 48-50 minutes at 5v5 each game, last year the Flames main d-pairs combined to average 43 minutes per game, and the other 5 minutes is pairings caught in a change or coming off a PP/PK.
So I wouldn't be surprised if the plan is to roll all three pairings quite equally.
Hanifin-Anderson: 15 minutes
Kylington-Tanev: 15 minutes
Zadorov-Weegar: 15 minutes
That probably gives Sutter three pretty even pairs that covers 45 minutes of ES TOI, and my guess is he might pretty comfortable with any of those pairs on the ice.
Weegar-Tanev is likely your starting PK pair and will get lots of ice time there, Hanifin and Andersson was our second PK unit last year and i'd be shocked if that were to change.
Weegar, Anderson, and Hanifin probably also get PP time. So your top 4 is going to make up their total TOI on special teams.
In the playoffs I could see them "loading up" a top 4, but I think he's going to want to roll everyone pretty equally in the regular season.