The biggest minute-muncher of the past 15-plus years looks as though he could be making his season debut sooner rather than later.
And as good as the Los Angeles Kings have been for much of this year, they should be that much better when their right-shooting rock of a defenceman, Drew Doughty, returns to action after breaking his left ankle in the pre-season.
Doughty, of course, has been Mr. Everything for the Kings for the duration of his career. And the things Doughty does, he’s basically always doing.
Since No. 8 debuted with the Kings in the 2008-09 season, he’s averaging 26:13 minutes of ice per game over 1,177 contests. That’s nearly a minute more of ice per night than the guy averaging the second-most in that span, Erik Karlsson (25:16).
The only player with more total time on ice since 2008 is St. Louis Blues veteran Ryan Suter, who turned 40 on Tuesday.
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In a five-year period starting with the 2014-15 campaign and ending with 2018-19, Doughty did not miss a game for the Kings. He logged the most total time on ice during that stretch, averaged 27:31 per night (second only to Suter’s crazy 27:36), had the fourth-most short-handed time on ice and the second-most overtime minutes.
Last season, during his age-34 campaign, Doughty saw 25:48 per game, more than everybody in the league, save Washington’s John Carlson (25:54).
So, with the Kings workhorse on the verge of getting back where he belongs, we’re using this week’s power rankings to highlight a minute-muncher or two for all 32 clubs.
1. Washington Capitals (32-10-5): John Carlson is still soaking up all kinds of time for the Caps. Carlson, who turned 35 a couple weeks ago, is playing 23:51 per night, basically three minutes a game more than the next-busiest Cap, Jakob Chychrun (20:48)
2. Winnipeg Jets (32-14-3): The real workhorse on the Jets is goalie and Hart Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck. No puckstopper has played more games (543) or total minutes than the big American since the start of the 2015-16 season. Once again, he leads all goalies in games played (38) and total minutes played this winter.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (29-16-3): Brent Burns, who turns 40 on March 9, is still playing 21:30 per game for the Canes. The only Carolina skater seeing more time is Jaccob Slavin (21:38).
4. Edmonton Oilers (29-15-3): Only 10 forwards in the league are averaging more than 21 minutes per night and two of them are Connor McDavid (21:58) and Leon Draisaitl (21:33).
5. Minnesota Wild (28-15-4): It looks like Kirill Kaprizov could draw back in for the Wild on Thursday night. The 27-year-old winger was seeing 22:37 per night before getting injured just before Christmas, more than every forward in the league save Nathan MacKinnon (23:11).
6. Toronto Maple Leafs (30-17-2): Mitch Marner’s 21:27 per night isn’t just the most of any Toronto forward, it’s more than any Leafs skater.
7. Vegas Golden Knights (29-14-4): Alex Pietrangelo (22:37) and Shea Theodore (22:00) get more ice time than any other Golden Knights and could see more of it skating on the same defence pair for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
8. Dallas Stars (29-17-1): Miro Heiskanen is a horse for Dallas, playing three minutes more per game than anybody else at 25:15. Wyatt Johnston, who is well off his 32-goal pace from last year, is still seeing the most of ice of any forward at 19:18 a game.
9. Los Angeles Kings (26-14-5): In Doughty’s absence, Vladislav Gavrikov (23:56) and Mikey Anderson (23:09) have stepped up to help fill the void. Both guys are playing about three minutes per night more than they did last season.
10. Florida Panthers (28-18-3): Pending UFA (and currently injured) Aaron Ekblad is seeing a team-high 23:32 per night. That’s about three minutes per game more than he skated last season, when fellow right-shot D-man Brandon Montour was still with the club. Gus Forsling is also playing over 23 minutes per game, which means he and Ekblad typically see about three more minutes per contest more than any other Cat.
11. Colorado Avalanche (28-19-2): MacKinnon is the only forward averaging over 23 minutes per game in the NHL (23:11). If he stays above 23 for the year, he’ll be the first forward to average that amount of ice per contest since Ilya Kovalchuk was seeing nearly 24 minutes per outing for the Devils in 2012-13.
12. New Jersey Devils (27-17-6): The Devils and Ducks are the only teams in the NHL without a guy who’s averaging at least 21 minutes per night. Defenceman Brett Pesce is the leader at 20:57 and he’s followed by closely by forwards Jack Hughes (20:54) and Nico Hischier (20:28).
13. Tampa Bay Lightning (25-18-3): Victor Hedman plays nearly two minutes per night more than any other Bolts skater and, since the start of 2016-17, only seven NHLers average more time on ice than his 24:25.
14. Montreal Canadiens (24-19-4): Lane Hutson is averaging 22:36 a night for the Habs. No other rookie in the league is seeing 20 minutes per game. In the past 15 seasons, only eight freshmen have averaged more ice time than Hutson.
15. Columbus Blue Jackets (23-18-7): Bow down to Zach Werenski, who — at 26:46 a night — is playing a full minute more than anybody else in the league.
16. Calgary Flames (22-16-7): Rasmus Andersson (24:19) and MacKenzie Weegar (23:25) pace the Flames from the back end.
17. Ottawa Senators (24-19-4): Jake Sanderson has been averaging nearly 22 minutes a night since his first shifts in the NHL. He’s leading the Sens this year at 24:26.
18. New York Rangers (23-20-4): At 21:33 a night, Vincent Trochek is playing nearly two minutes more per game than any other Rangers forward.
19. Philadelphia Flyers (22-20-6): Travis Sanheim clocks in with a team-high 24:36, nearly three minutes more per game than Cam York’s 21:29.
20. Boston Bruins (23-20-6): Charlie McAvoy plays 23:41 a night for Boston, basically three more minutes than any other Bruin.
21. St. Louis Blues (23-21-4): Cam Fowler has come over from Anaheim and put up 13 points in 18 games for the Blues while playing 22:55 a night. The only Blue who averages more ice time is Colton Parayko (24:27).
22. Vancouver Canucks (20-16-10): Quinn Hughes is a pillar for Vancouver (25:22) and getting Filip Hronek (23:23) back is also a big boon.
23. Utah Hockey Club (20-19-7): Mikhail Sergachev was brought in to play big minutes for Utah and that became even more the case when UHC lost D-men John Marino and Sean Durzi early in the season. Only Werenski is playing more per night than the 25:45 Sergachev is skating.
24. Detroit Red Wings (21-21-5): Moritz Seider has always been a big-minute guy for Detroit, but he’s jumped up to a whole other level this season, playing 25 minutes a night for the Wings. That’s basically four more minutes per game than anybody else on Detroit.
25. New York Islanders (19-20-7): There’s no denying what a huge blow the lower-body injury sustained by Noah Dobson earlier this week is for the Isles. Dobson was playing a team-high 24:01 a night for New York.
26. Pittsburgh Penguins (20-21-8): Since 2011-12, Erik Karlsson has averaged the second-most ice time per game in the NHL (25:45) and Kris Letang is No. 3 (25:19). (Doughty is No. 1 at over 26 minutes per game). This year, Letang leads the Pens with 23:35 a night, just ahead of Karlsson (22:47).
27. Seattle Kraken (21-24-3): Seattle inked Montour to lean on his legendary cardio and, sure enough, the first-year Kraken D-man is leading the team with 23:32 of ice per night.
28. Nashville Predators (17-22-7): The Preds have a pair of go-to workhorses. Roman Josi has played more total minutes since 2017-18 than everybody in the league save Brent Burns and Ivan Provorov, while Juuse Saros has seen more games (307) than every other goalie except Connor Hellebuyck (331) since the start of 2019-20.
29. Buffalo Sabres (18-24-5): Rasmus Dahlin (24:31), Bowen Byram (23:13) and Owen Power (22:23) all play a chunk more than any other Sabres.
30. Anaheim Ducks (18-23-6): With Cam Fowler gone, newcomer Jacob Trouba plays more than any other Duck at 20:57 per game.
31. Chicago Blackhawks (15-28-4): Seth Jones sees a team-high 24:40 from the right side, which is why you still wonder if — with a significant amount of retained salary — he might appeal to some other teams in a potential swap.
32. San Jose Sharks (14-30-6): Jake Walman is scoring at a 60-point clip and playing a team-high 22:42 for the Sharks. Not a bad summertime pickup.
