Ben Shelley: Kings should reduce Drew Doughty's workload next season

From a GM perspective this makes sense, but no head coach will ever agree to do it. Coaches are responsible for winning games, and if you're going into the 3rd period in a close game (+/- 1 goal), there's no way you're not putting Doughty out on the ice for every important shift.

Might Walker or Roy step up and handle bigger minutes and harder matchups well? Possibly. But it's equally likely that their play will diminish as they get harder ice time. That will ultimately lead to more losses. At the end of the day McLellan is trying to keep his job and will do whatever it takes to win games. In this case, that is riding your future Hall of Fame defenseman for as long as he can handle it.

Nice idea in theory, but it will never happen.

Better yet, trade him at the deadline for a major haul!

I don't agree that the team is in a good position to lessen Doughty's workload. Relying on two 25-year-old almost-undrafted sophomores who significantly overachieved in their first full seasons is a bad position for a team to be in. Sure, as tkecanuck said, if you want to lose, you can give Roy and Walker more ice time, but I doubt that McLellan wants to lose. The organization needs much better players than those two before a coach would willingly put them out when he could put out Doughty, instead. It'll be years before that happens, IMO.

When the Kings return to play, Drew will have not played in around 9 months. He will be rested, healed, and raring to go. There is no need to rest or reduce his work load. Getting the young guys their minutes should be a priority, and I don’t think the Kings will be winning too many games anyway, but still, Drew is going to eat up minutes no matter what.

Ben Shelley: Kings should reduce Drew Doughty's workload next season
- Ben-Shelley.

No. He's still an elite D in this league. Best play him big minutes, and see what the trade market is on a 30 year old with 7 years left at 11M AAV. He is trade-able, and that may need to be explored.