If you can score, you'll get more ice time. And if you get more ice time, you'll score more often.

Coaches and top players often struggle to find their way through hockey's Catch-22, searching for that elusive balancing act to make sure the top players get the ice time they deserve.

But do they deserve it? Is it really ice time well spent?

The Star's statistics guru, Andrew Bailey, ran some season-ending numbers for us relating time on ice to various offensive categories.

Based on a minimum 30 games played, here's a sampling of what we found.

Sidney Crosby, although he didn't win the scoring title due to injury, was the top point producer based on the total ice time he logged. Crosby registered a point for every 15:21 of his ice time.

With Evgeni Malkin scoring every 16:30, it gives the Penguins a remarkable 1-2 punch heading into the post season. The Dallas Stars might want to consider giving Mike Ribeiro more ice time. With a modest 83 points, Ribeiro ranked ahead of scoring leader Alexander Ovechkin, with a point every 16:52 compared to Ovie's 16:55.

Or perhaps they'll want to give Ribeiro less, since he also snuck to the top of the charts in terms of giveaways. Ribeiro gives the puck away once for every 15:55 of ice time, second to the Caps Alexander Semin (13:09). While Jason Spezza and Vincent Lecavalier tied on 92 points, Spezza accumulated his with less ice time. Spezza scored every 17:04; Lecavalier every 20:12, or 24th on the list.

Lecavalier's pace trails some unheralded LA Kings forwards, including Alexander Frolov (19:55) and Ladislav Nagy (20:10).

Ovechkin of course, got 65 goals this year to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. He certainly wasn't shy about shooting, firing a shot on average every 4:15 he was on the ice.

He was certainly more productive than Jason Blake, 15 goals. Blake managed a shot every 4:24, second to Ovechkin.

As for the Leafs, little-used John Pohl ended up the team's hits leader, registering a hit every 8:22 of ice time.

And Mark Bell, turns out, was the Leafs' master of the takeaway, ranking 54th. Pavel Datsyuk, however, with 144 takeaways, got the puck from the opposition once every 12:11 he was on the ice, a league best.

Some other notables: Winger Dwayne King played 61 games for the St. Louis Blues, and winger Tanner Glass played 41 for Florida. Neither ever gave the puck away, according to the NHL's official statistics.

Some big names able to hold on to the puck: rookie Jonathan Toews gave the puck away once every 149 minutes or so of his personal ice time and Colorado defenceman Adam Foote averaged 97:27 between giveaways.

ADVERTISEMENT

Iconocast is about learning and teaching without borders; we offer eMarketing, Internet Advertising, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Online Branding, and eMarketing News Services.

Iconocast Home Page

Contact Iconocast

Iconocast Health Articles

© 2003-07. ICONOCAST is a trademark of iconocast.com.