New York Islanders Lines Based on Average Ice-Time

Every game day we get the New York Islanders lineup with 20 names placed in various order from first to fourth line. But, lines change over the course of a game. So what’s the Isles forward lineup look like based on average ice time?

We see the lines every game for the New York Islanders. John Tavares is always up top at center, as he should be. Surrounded by a random teammate on each wing. Followed by take your pick for the next nine spots on the lineup.

Since about the second week of the season we’ve seen Andrew Ladd on that fourth line or even third line. But what does that actually mean?

Generally as you go down the lines the lower the minutes get. But we’ve seen that that isn’t necessarily the case under a Jack Capuano regime.

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Just this year alone we’ve seen Ladd named to the fourth line but playing in excess of 16 minutes that night. More than many of his counterparts on the team who aren’t on the fourth line.

So, if Ladd I named to the fourth line, but playing somewhere between 16-18 minutes a night what is he?

That question lead me to create this lineup based on Islanders average time-on-ice. Where does each player sit given the average time they spend on the ice.

The Lineup

This lineup is in no particular positional order. It doesn’t matter to the islanders coaching and management staff that a center play center, then it wont matter to me in this experiment either. The lineup is just groups of three, plus that 13th forward that in and out of the lineup.

Tavares (20:41) – Bailey (18:56) – Ladd (16:34)
Nelson (15:53) – Clutterbuck (15:35) – Cizikas (14:49)
Strome (13:54) – Kulemin (13:51) – Chimera (13:36)
Lee (12:53) – Prince (12:26) – Beauvillier (12:02)
Quine (10:49)

Did you think Ladd would end up on that first line? I think we all knew that Tavares and Bailey would come in and one and two respectively. But Andrew Ladd at second is a mighty surprise.

This is someone that, for the most part, has been floating between the bottom six of the Islanders offensive lineup. But yet cracks the top line in average ice-time.

How about Anthony Beauvillier at 12:02 not abler to crack the third line? He’s been on the “top line” for the last few games now, but is only averaging 12:02?

Meaning one of two things. One, is that his ice-time to start the season was so minuscule that his top line minutes are pushing his average up. Or, two, he’s still playing between nine and 15 minutes a night. Even though he’s on the “top line”

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So, what does this tell us? Not a whole lot more than we already knew. Jack has a tough time trusting someone who can’t legally drink a beer. And that Andrew Ladd has still been misfiring despite given significant ice-time.