While the 2023-24 everyday lineup for the Blue Jackets is far from being set, there are several interesting stories to follow throughout Mike Babcock's first season as the bench boss in Columbus. One of those storylines will be the ice time the players receive, specifically established veterans like Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Weresnki, and Patrik Laine along with young players like Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, and Cole Sillinger. Let's take a look at Babcock's teams in the past to see if there's any precedent in the ice time he doles out.
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Babcock took over a Mighty Ducks team in 2002-03 that had an average age of 27.7, just below the league average of 28.1, and like most coaches, had defensemen fill the top-four spots in time on ice. However, what's interesting is that 28-year-old Paul Kariya (20:17), the team's leading scorer, was not the TOI leader among forwards. That honor belonged to 31-year-old Steve Rucchin (20-38--58) with a 21:05 average TOI. For context, only nine forwards played at least 21 minutes a night in 2022-23. In terms of younger players, the Mighty Ducks had four players 22 or younger play at least 41 regular season games, with 19-year-old LW Stanislav Chistov and 21-year-old Alexei Smirnov playing 13:35 and 8:50 a night, respectively. On defense, 22-year-old Vitaly Vishnevski and 22-year-old Kurt Sauer logged 14:10 and 18:33 per game, respectively. In 2003-04, Anaheim had just two players under 22 years old play 41 games, with Chistov recording a 12:10 ATOI and Joffrey Lupul playing 13:37 a night.
Detroit Red Wings
Babcock took over a veteran-laden Red Wings squad in 2005-06, with the youngest player to play at least 41 games being 24-year-old Brett Lebda and the team's average age being 32.1. Babcock relied heavily on his defense, with 35-year-old Nicklas Lidstrom and 36-year-old Mathieu Scheider leading the way in ice time at 28:07 and 24:31 a night, respectively. The team's three leading scorers were 27-year-old Pavel Datsyuk (17:53), 25-year-old Henrik Zetterberg (18:57), and 37-year-old Brendan Shanahan (16:35). These themes continued throughout Babcock's tenure in Detroit, and while it wasn't a place for young players to shine, it's not because anything Babcock did or didn't do. The rosters he coached did not feature young players for the most part.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Babcock inherited a much different situation with Toronto in 2015-16 than he did upon arriving in Detroit with the Maple Leafs rebuilding into what they are today. In Babcock's first year in Toronto, 21-year-old Morgan Rielly led the team with a 23:14 ATOI playing all 82 games and 19-year-old William Nylander played 16:20 a night over 22 games. Babcock's second season with the Leafs, 2016-17, marked the rookie seasons of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, both of whom were 19 years old. Again, Rielly led the team with 22:10 ATOI while Matthews was first among forwards in ATOI (17:38), Marner was third (16:49), and Nylander was eighth (16:01). Time on ice increased for the trio of Matthews-Marner-Nylander as they got older, with Marner (19:49) leading the team's forwards in TOI in 2018-19, John Tavares' (19:05) first season with the club.
The moral of the story here is that the best players will play. Werenski, Gaudreau, Laine, Boone Jenner, Ivan Provorov, and Damon Severson will likely be among the team leaders in ATOI, but another thing is also clear. If they don't play well, don't be surprised if they spend some time on the bench. Fantilli, Johnson, Marchenko, and Sillinger will have to earn their playing time, but if they play well, their age is not going to prevent Babcock from giving them appropriate minutes. As the season progresses, there will likely be a better idea of how Babcock will allocate ice time for this young roster.
