When you shell out for a player like Quinn Hughes the way the Minnesota Wild did, you might as well get your money’s worth. And, as history demonstrates, the Wild have never been afraid to the skate the legs off a new toy.
Hughes leads the NHL in average ice time at 27:26 per night. Of course, playing big minutes is nothing new for the Norris-calibre defenceman, who logged all kinds of ice time with the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, his usage in Minny is almost the same down to the second as it was on the Pacific Coast: Hughes averaged 27:26 in 26 games with Vancouver and is playing 27:27 through 12 games with the Wild.
While Hughes was a huge get for Minnesota, he’s not the only whale of a defenceman the Wild have landed in relatively recent times and subsequently turned loose. Wisconsin boy Ryan Suter inked a massive contract to work in the Midwest in 2012 and by 2013-14, he was playing an absurd amount for the Wild. In fact, Suter’s average ice time in ’13-14 (29:25) and ’14-15 (29:04) represent the highest totals in a season for any player since the league began tracking average ice time in 1997-98, and Suter is the only player ever to average over 29 minutes a night.
Although his ice time isn’t quite Suter-level just yet, if Hughes finishes the year above 27 minutes per night, he’ll be the first player to log that many minutes since Dustin Byfuglien (27:27) and Drew Doughty (27:09) in 2016-17.
Of course, the Wild’s prized new possession isn’t the only player hopping over the boards at every turn this year. With that in mind — and with every team in the NHL having now played its 41st game of the season — we’re using this edition of the power rankings to honour a minute-muncher or two from all 32 NHL teams.
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.
1. Colorado Avalanche (31-4-7) Brent Burns turns 41 in March and only seven players in their age-35 season or older have more total ice time than the Avs defenceman this year. The oldest guy who has more is Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and he’s still two years younger than Burns.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (26-13-3) J.J. Moser is getting some Norris love at the halfway point, just signed an eight-year extension with Tampa and is leading the Bolts at 21:54 per night.
3. Dallas Stars (26-10-8) Miro Heiskanen has seen more total ice time than every other player in the NHL this year.
4. Minnesota Wild (25-11-8) There’s a real precedent for sending good defencemen over the boards in Minny. Since the start of his rookie year in 2023-24, Brock Faber has more total ice time than anybody in the NHL. Up front, Kirill Kaprizov (22:15) plays more than every forward in the league, save Connor McDavid (22:42).
5. Carolina Hurricanes (26-14-3) With Jaccob Slavin sidelined for much of the year, a few Canes blue-liners have had to step up, and Sean Walker leads the club at 22:48 per game. That’s basically six more minutes per night for Walker, who’s never averaged 20 per game in a full season.
6. Montreal Canadiens (24-13-6) Since Mike Matheson joined the Canadiens for the 2022-23 season, only five players — Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Drew Doughty and Miro Heiskanen — have averaged more ice than his 25:06.
7. Philadelphia Flyers (22-12-7) Cam York’s usage is up about three minutes per night from last year, to 23:00. Travis Sanheim is the only Flyer who plays more, at 24:32.
8. Detroit Red Wings (25-15-4) Moritz Seider is a horse, playing three minutes a night more than any other Wing. The big D-man is second only to Miro Heiskanen in terms of total ice time this season.
9. Buffalo Sabres (22-15-4) Rasmus Dahlin continues to be Buffalo’s go-to guy, leading the squad at 24:08.
10. New York Islanders (24-15-4) In the past 10 years, the only rookies to play more than Matthew Schaefer (23:46) are Brock Faber (24:58) and Owen Power (23:48).
11. Seattle Kraken (20-14-7) The Kraken have won eight of nine and Adam Larsson is logging big minutes during that span, playing nearly three more minutes per game (23:06) than any other Seattle skater.
12. Toronto Maple Leafs (20-15-7) When the Leafs picked up Troy Stetcher on waivers in November, who would have believed he’d land and play a reliable 20:30 per night?
13. Pittsburgh Penguins (20-12-9) Believe it or not, Bryan Rust — not Sidney Crosby — is the only Pens forward averaging over 20 minutes per game. That’s because, in addition to everything else, Rust sees 1:40 a night on the penalty-kill.
14. Florida Panthers (22-17-3) With Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk on the shelf, Sam Reinhart is seeing big minutes. In fact, only six forwards in the NHL are averaging more than Reinhart’s 21:15.
15. Edmonton Oilers (21-16-6) As you’d expect, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are first (McDavid, 22:42) and fourth (Draisaitl, 21:55) in ice time among forwards.
16. Washington Capitals (22-16-6) No active forward in the league has more total career ice time than Alex Ovechkin. The only defencemen with more are Brent Burns and Drew Doughty.
17. San Jose Sharks (22-18-3) Two first-year Sharks — defencemen Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg — lead the squad with the exact same amount of ice time, 21:37 a night.
18. Vegas Golden Knights (18-11-2) Mitch Marner is down about one minute per night (20:12) from what he was seeing with the Leafs the past handful of seasons.
19. Los Angeles Kings (18-14-10) The 22:42 Drew Doughty is playing this year is the lowest average of his career and he still leads the Kings by more than two minutes per game.
20. Ottawa Senators (20-17-5) Jake Sanderson entered the league playing over 21 minutes per night as a rookie and he just keeps going up. This season, he’s up to 25:19, more than all but four players in the NHL.
21. Boston Bruins (22-19-2) David Pastrnak sees just over 20 minutes per game, which is about two-and-a-half minutes more than every other Bruins forward.
22. Utah Mammoth (21-20-3) Mikhail Sergachev (24:21) plays about for minutes per night more than the next-busiest Mammoth.
23. Chicago Blackhawks (18-18-7) Connor Bedard is on the precipice of returning to a Hawks team that has won four straight. The only forwards playing more at even strength than Bedard (17:51) are Connor McDavid (18:14) and Kirill Kaprizov (17:59).
24. Columbus Blue Jackets (18-17-7) Zach Werenski (22:11) and Ivan Provorov (21:29) play more at even strength than everyone in the NHL except Quinn Hughes (22:44).
25. Nashville Predators (19-19-4) Roman Josi leads the way at 23:07, but that’s actually about two fewer minutes per game than he played last season.
26. New York Rangers (20-18-6) Adam Fox and his 23:34 per night are headed back to injured reserve, which is awful news for a New York team that might soon become a seller.
27. New Jersey Devils (22-19-2) The Hughes brothers are first and third in average ice for the Devils. Luke leads the way at 23:26 and Jack lands at 21:19, more than all but five forwards in the NHL.
28. Anaheim Ducks (21-19-3) Jacob Trouba is playing over 22 minutes per game for Anaheim, the most ice time he’s seen in a handful of seasons. He and team leader Jackson LaCombe (24:40) are the only Ducks seeing 20 minutes an outing.
29. St. Louis Blues (17-19-8) Second-year Blue Philip Broberg paces the squad with 23:26 per night.
30. Calgary Flames (18-21-4) Rasmus Anderson plays a team-high 24:09 per contest, so there will be some serious minutes to go around if the pending-UFA is dealt in the next eight weeks.
31. Vancouver Canucks (16-21-5) With Quinn Hughes gone, Filip Hronek is the workhorse in Vancouver now, with 24:44 a contest.
32. Winnipeg Jets (15-21-5) A sign of the secondary scoring problems in Winnipeg: Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor play just over 20 minutes per game, Gabe Vilardi sees nearly 19 and every other forward sees fewer than 15. (OK, Jonathan Toews is at 15:02, but you get the point.)
