The New York Islanders have lost two members of their defense group this offseason and while they’re still in good shape defensively, members of the blue line will need to take on larger roles to compensate for the losses. One of the players we can guess will tasked with an increased role is Nick Leddy.
Leddy’s ice time has dropped a bit over the last few seasons from more than 22:30 per game to down around 21 minutes. However, the key factor in this has been his decreased role on the power play.
With the emergence of Devon Toews, Leddy’s role on the man advantage was much more limited. Here’s how drastic of a drop we saw in Leddy’s power play time this season, measured in minutes per game:
2017-18: 3:16
2018-19: 2:48
2019-20: 1:10
Toews was playing over two minutes per game on the power play this past season, the most of any defender on the team and with him gone, someone needs to take those minutes. Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech and Andy Greene (if he returns) are more suited for the penalty kill, leaving the Islanders with few options for the power play. While Ryan Pulock and likely Noah Dobson will get larger roles, you can bet that Leddy will be used quite a bit more on the man advantage as well.
Back in the 2017-18 season, Leddy was the Islanders' leader in power play time, averaging over three minutes per game. We shouldn’t expect to see that drastic of an increase in his ice time but it’s pretty clear that we’ll see him play more minutes on the power play. Noah Dobson is going to be a key part of the power play in a year or two, but the Islanders will likely turn to Leddy for the beginning of the year.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How many minutes per game will Nick Leddy average on the power play next season?
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