Quote:
Originally Posted by cannon7
Right. So NHL teams never pair lesser defenceman with better ones to spread out their defensive depth. Got it.
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They might, but the lesser defenseman wouldn't be second on the team in even strength icetime (19:07/game which was more than Rasmus Andersson's 18:47/game).
I really do not think that the coaches or management view Miromanov the same as Pachal, Hanley, Solovyov, Kuznetsov, etc.
Even Strength Ice-time from March 9 to April 18
Pachal 13:41
Solovyov 15:12
Hanley 13:17
Okhotiuk 13:00
Gilbert 8:39
The profile you're describing (weak player paired with a good defenseman and sheltered with offensive zone starts) is Nikita Okhotiuk. He was paired with Andersson for 30mins of ice time and did okay with a 50%xGF. In the 70 minutes he played with Pachal he struggled a bit with a 47.4%xGF. He started in the offensive zone 58.4% of his shifts.
Miromanov started in the offensive zone the least of any Flames defensemen and as I shared in the OP, he did not struggle with xGF% with anyone. In fact his lowest xGF% was with Weegar at 53.5%.
Icetime and zone starts from NHL.com and xGF% from Moneypuck.