Anze Kopitar, by one method of measurement, is a model of consistency. Dating back to his second season, all the way back in 2007-08, he has averaged 49, 50, 51, 51, 51, 49, 49, 50, 50, 50, 51 and 50 seconds per shift.
But despite that regularity, there have been recent calls for him to shed a few seconds whenever available in the name of preservation. John Stevens spoke about this several times last season, and on Saturday morning, Willie Desjardins also issued the call.
Kopitar averaged 47 seconds per shift on Thursday against Minnesota, a rate that actually spiked late when he remained on for roughly 90 seconds of a power play while the team trailed by one in the third period.
Ideally, Desjardins would like to see shifts come down by "about" 10 seconds, which means occasionally pulling players off the ice after a quick whistle, based on where the ensuing faceoff will take place. This sometimes helps limit the shift length of players like Adrian Kempe, who has the shortest shift lengths among team regulars with an average of 38 seconds. He averaged 41 seconds on Thursday. Nate Thompson and Tanner Pearson are averaging 40 seconds per shift; Thompson averaged 34 seconds on Thursday, Pearson 38.
At the other end of the spectrum is Drew Doughty, who's averaging 53 seconds per shift.
"Drew's a really good defenseman, and I think I want to make sure Drew has energy at the end of games and at the end of the season as well – it's important. But at the same time, we have to win games now, so that's a tough one, and that's true for all our players. I would think if Drew's between 22-to-25 minutes a night, I think that's probably where he'll end up playing. … Some nights, the way Drew plays, too, he's smart, he can play more minutes, and you see some of the top guys around 27, 28 minutes.
Desjardins said that it'll be beneficial if Doughty plays 25 minutes per night, but that might not happen often. The Kings are a low-scoring team that won't pull away from a lot of teams, which means they're going to be heavily reliant on impact players for a longer stretch of game span and might not have the freedom to roll lines and place caps on its stars.
Doughty's averaging 26:58 thus far, a six-second raise from last season. His high is a 29-minute average in 2014-15.