How has the Stars’ ice-time deployment changed under Pete DeBoer?

When the Vegas Golden Knights parted ways with Pete DeBoer last spring, it came as a surprise to many, including DeBoer. After making it to the semifinals in the two previous seasons, DeBoer’s Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 2022 as they were hammered by injuries. According to the website Man-Games Lost, Vegas lost 40.6 points in the standings last season, the most in the NHL.

Besides the obvious of missing talented players and their contributions, injuries have a domino effect. They impact lineup construction and deployment, something that is a significant part of DeBoer’s philosophy. Since his arrival in Dallas, he’s emphasized the importance of rolling four lines. Former Stars head coach Rick Bowness was much more matchup-driven in his deployment approach, particularly at home with the benefit of last change. DeBoer, while taking matchups into consideration, factors that in a lot less.

DeBoer’s philosophy centers around more self-evaluation. The best players play more, no matter the opposition. The elimination of a formal checking line means heavy, skill-deprived players don’t see an uptick in their ice time when going up against some of the top offensive talents in the NHL.

For example, Radek Faksa and Michael Raffl were two members of the Stars’ checking line last season and both finished in the top seven for the Stars in even strength time on ice. Raffl departed in the offseason, but Faksa is now 10th on the team in even-strength minutes, playing nearly three fewer minutes per game. When examining the differences between last season’s team and this season, ice time distribution is a significant factor.

Examining time on ice can be tricky because of the special teams plays a major role. For example, the Stars are fifth in the NHL in time spent short-handed, at 208 minutes. Those are minutes that their best scorer, Jason Robertson, is held off the ice because he’s not a penalty killer. That’s more of a discipline issue than a deployment issue. Because of that, we’ll break down the ice time deployment by even-strength minutes. Special-teams production and deployment is most accurately viewed through a separate lens.

Forwards

Through 35 games, the Stars have had 10 forwards play in every game. Roope Hintz missed just one game and Denis Gurianov, due to a combination of injury, performance-based scratches and a personal leave of absence, has played in 25 games.

Takeaways

• Robertson’s blazing first half of the season gets even more impressive when ice time is factored into the equation. While Robertson leads the Stars by a healthy margin, his ice time relative to other statistical leaders around the NHL is quite low. At even strength, Robertson’s two goals per 60 minutes is third in the NHL and his 3.44 points per 60 minutes is fifth (minimum 300 minutes). He’s doing that while ranking 37th in the NHL in even-strength minutes per game.

Robertson, who is third in the NHL with 50 points, has an ice-time average of 18:26. The next player on the scoring list who is averaging less than him is Hintz, at No. 21 with 38 points while averaging 17:23. The first player on the scoring list averaging less than Robertson who is not a Dallas Star is Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is 25th in the NHL in scoring with 37 points while averaging 18:12.

• The fact that Joe Pavelski is second on the Stars in even-strength time on ice at 38 years old is impressive. Pavelski’s production is a huge reason why he’s been so valuable for the Stars, but so is his availability. Pavelski hasn’t missed a game since before the COVID-19 pause and when he plays, he plays a lot.

• Tyler Seguin is having a sneaky productive season for the Stars. He’s fourth on the team in even-strength time on ice and also fourth in points at even strength with 20, just behind Pavelski’s 21 and Hintz’s 25. Where the Stars really need to see a jump from Seguin is in his goal-scoring. He only has five goals at even strength. Seguin is branded as a goal-scorer, so more pucks need to start finding the net off his stick.

• Breaking down the top-six is ​​interesting. Robertson is a distant first in ice time for the Stars and then there’s a cluster for the next four players. At no. 6 is 19-year-old rookie Wyatt Johnston. His work at even strength has been phenomenal. Johnston’s eight goals are only behind Robertson’s 18 and Hintz’s 12 on the Stars.

The gap between Johnston and No. 7 is also a decent margin. Essentially, although Johnston’s role has primarily been that of a third-line center, he’s being deployed as a top-six forward and is scoring goals as a top-line player.

• There are many factors contributing to Jamie Benn’s renaissance this season, and managing his usage is a big one. Benn’s even-strength deployment has never come close to being as low as it is this season. At 11:26 per game, the ice time is the lowest of Benn’s career. The next lowest would be the 12:44 he averaged per game as a rookie in 2009-10.

Aside from one season at 13:46 and another at 13:58, Benn has always averaged well over 14 minutes per game at even strength. As a power forward, those minutes add up and take a toll on the body, more so when a player gets older. At age 33 and approaching 1,000 games in the NHL, Benn’s body has gone through it. Reducing its usage has worked wonders. He’s still right behind Seguin for fifth on the team in even-strength points with 17, but he’s also fresh enough to be a productive part of the power play.

• Last season, among the 12 forwards who played at least 35 games, Faksa was No. 6 in even-strength minutes at 13:49 while Raffl was No. 7 at 12:41. Luke Glendening was used the least at 11:52 and was No. 10 on the team. This season, the fourth line is used like an actual fourth line and the player who averages the most ice time is Faksa, which is still 52 seconds less than the player who was used at least off of the same caliber of line last season.

Defensemen

The Stars have had a pretty stable outlook on the blue line this season, in terms of availability. Miro Heiskanen missed three games due to injury, Nils Lundkvist was a scratch for three games while Colin Miller was a scratch once. Other than that, those three along with Ryan Suter, Jani Hakanpaa and Esa Lindell have played in every game.

Takeaways

• Some things never change. Heiskanen led the Stars last season in even-strength time on ice at 20:57 and leads the team again this season at 20:15. Again, there’s a special-teams influence to be accounted for, as Heiskanen is averaging 2:53 on the power play this season compared to 2:18 last season and 2:07 short-handed this season, compared to 1:38 shorthanded last season. season. Overall, Heiskanen’s total ice time this season is 25:15, which is 22 seconds more than last season and would be a new career-high.

• Suter’s ice time has been trimmed by two minutes this season. He averaged 19:58 per game last season at even strength, which was No. 2 on the team, as is his 18:00 this season. DeBoer has talked about how Suter’s age and skill call for less ice time to allow Suter to be the best version of a player he can be at this juncture of his career, at 38.

If Suter’s minutes are to go down, they have to go somewhere else. At 22, Lundkvist is still developing and is more of an offensive defenseman. Lindell has been pretty good this season, but the issue for the Stars is that beyond Heiskanen and not counting the still-developing Lundkvist, they essentially have four bottom-pairing defensemen with ceilings as high as No. 4 defensemen.

• The biggest difference for the Stars in defensemen deployment between last season and this season is the balance, and how the bottom of the list looks in that. Last season, the Stars rode the top-four very heavily. Heiskanen was at about 21 minutes, Suter at about 20 minutes, John Klingberg at just over 19 minutes and Lindell at just under 19 minutes. After that, it was Hakanpaa at just under 14 minutes and then a collection of Joel Hanley (44 games), Thomas Harley (34 games) and Andrej Sekera (32 games) felling between 11 and 14 minutes.

This season, after Heiskanen and Suter, everyone is within a 45-second window.

(Photo of Pete DeBoer: Jerome Miron / USA Today)