Opportunity can play a big part in how much or how little a player produces. With that in mind, I’ve examined average time on ice for all skaters that played at least 10 games last season and 10 games this season, to see which players are being used differently than last season. There have been 72 players to play at least two minutes more per game. Sometimes its a natural progression for a young player to take on a bigger role, but it can also be a result of a team needing to fill holes created by injuries or a team investing significant ice time in an offseason acquisition. Here are the 15 players with the greatest average increase of ice time per game this season: INCREASED TIME ON ICE PER GAME PLAYER TEAM POS 2013-14 ATOI 2014-15 ATOI DIFF. Brent Burns San Jose D 16.81 23.32 +6.50 Filip Forsberg Nashville LW 11.41 17.12 +5.71 Boone Jenner Columbus C 14.08 19.43 +5.35 Riley Nash Carolina C 12.67 18.02 +5.35 Clayton Stoner Anaheim D 13.33 17.86 +4.53 David Savard Columbus D 17.83 22.35 +4.53 Sami Vatanen Anaheim D 17.45 21.83 +4.38 Jack Skille Columbus RW 8.66 12.98 +4.32 Jake Muzzin Los Angeles D 19.03 23.23 +4.20 Yannick Weber Vancouver D 11.92 16.10 +4.19 Alec Martinez Los Angeles D 15.68 19.71 +4.02 Trevor Daley Dallas D 21.15 24.97 +3.82 Roman Polak Toronto D 17.34 21.12 +3.78 Chris Phillips Ottawa D 19.23 22.98 +3.75 Nikita Nikitin Edmonton D 17.11 20.68 +3.56 On the other hand, here are the 15 players with the greatest decline in average ice time: DECREASED ICE TIME PER GAME PLAYER TEAM POS 2013-14 ATOI 2014-15 ATOI DIFF Cody Hodgson Buffalo C 18.14 14.13 -4.02 Nate Schmidt Washington D 18.69 14.65 -4.04 Anders Lee N.Y. Islanders LW 15.72 11.63 -4.09 T.J. Galiardi Winnipeg LW 14.61 10.49 -4.12 Kyle Brodziak Minnesota C 16.22 11.76 -4.46 Marcel Goc Pittsburgh C 16.33 11.67 -4.66 Matt Halischuk Winnipeg RW 11.34 6.46 -4.88 Tuomu Ruutu New Jersey LW 14.57 9.61 -4.96 Brad Richards Chicago C 18.68 13.60 -5.08 Sven Baertschi Calgary LW 14.11 8.97 -5.14 Mike Santorelli Toronto RW 18.56 13.24 -5.33 Steve Ott St. Louis C 18.23 12.76 -5.47 Vincent Trocheck Florida C 18.89 13.00 -5.89 Grant Clitsome Winnipeg D 19.79 13.75 -6.04 Matt Stajan Calgary C 18.37 12.13 -6.25 For a full list of players with more than a two minute difference per game compared to last season, click here. From Thursdays game... HEROES Filip Forsberg – The Nashville rookie scored the only goal, and had nine shot attempts (only 2 SOG), in a 1-0 overtime win against Edmonton. He’s the top rookie scorer in the league with 10 goals and 23 points in 22 games, but is also a prime candidate for regression because his on-ice shooting percentage is awfully high. Among skaters with at least 200 minutes of 5-on-5 play: HIGHEST ON-ICE SHOOTING PERCENTAGE PLAYER TEAM POS ON-ICE SH% Rick Nash N.Y. Rangers LW 13.5% Mike Santorelli Toronto RW 13.3% Cody Franson Toronto D 13.3% Filip Forsberg Nashville LW 13.3% Tyler Seguin Dallas C 13.2% Pekka Rinne – Nashville’s defensive backbone stopped all 37 shots he faced against Edmonton. Rinne is once again playing at an elite level, tied with Jonathan Quick and Craig Anderson with a league-leading .932 save percentage. Viktor Fasth – Edmonton’s goaltender turned aside 24 of 25 shots he faced in the 1-0 loss, the most saves he’s recorded in a game this season while allowing fewer than two goals against. His .900 save percentage through 10 games is disappointing, though better than Ben Scrivens (.887). ZEROES Paul Gaustad – The Predators’ checking centre, along with LW Eric Nystrom, started fewer than 10% of his shifts in the offensive zone against Edmonton, but two shot attempts for and 10 against (16.7%) is a tough way to spend 8:39 of ice time. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Mike Fisher – Played his first game of the season for the Predators, returning from an Achilles injury, and delivered solid possession stats (16 shot attempts for, 8 against, 66.7%) in 12:44 of ice time against Edmonton. Mark Fayne – With Justin Schultz scratched, the Oilers played Fayne a season-high 23:07 at Nashville, and Fayne responded with nine shot attempts (6 SOG). Oscar Klefbom – Inserted into the Edmonton lineup, Klefbom had the best possession stats (19 shot attempts for, 7 against, 73.1%) in the game. Matt Hendricks – Left the game after playing all of 42 seconds, suffering a lower-body injury after blocking a shot from Nashville’s Shea Weber. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Best Adidas Basketball Shoes 2019 . TSN platforms will broadcast 75+ live games per season – tripling the networks current slate of MLB games. With the new deal TSN retains rights to ESPNs SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL and, for the first time, acquires rights to ESPNs MONDAY NIGHT BASEBALL and WEDNESDAY NIGHT BASEBALL. Adidas Basketball Shoes Discount .com) - Joe Pavelski scored twice to lead the San Jose Sharks in a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers to split a home-and-home set. http://www.cheapnmdsneakersireland.com/. Yet heading to New York, the Habs remain positive as it all comes down to the one main ingredient that the organization has built its team on - character. Yeezy Powerphase Ireland . Switzerland faces Belgium or Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals in April. 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Overall, the eighth-year guard averaged 25.0 points and 8.0 assists as Toronto finished the week with a 3-1 record. For Lowry, the recognition is long overdue. "He is one of the best point guards in the league right now," Dwane Casey said in Denver Thursday evening, hours after the all-star reserves were announced and Lowry, despite his body of work this season, was left off the list. DeRozan, a first-time all-star, was voted in by the coaches and will deservedly represent the Raptors in New Orleans later this month but Lowrys case should have been just as, if not more, compelling. Since the early-December trade of Rudy Gay, Lowry has come out of his shell, emerging as the teams leader. Hes been the Raptors most reliable contributor and a big part of the post-trade resurgence. Toronto has won 19 of 29 games since moving Gay, recording 20 or more assists in 23 of those contests. "Me personally, I thought he should have made [the All-Star team]," DeRoozan said Thursday.dddddddddddd "Especially [with] what he means to this team. There are not too many players that are doing the things he is doing." Lowry, sincerely happy for his teammate, shrugged off the coaches oversight, concerning himself with team success over individual accolades. Similarly, he downplayed a couple nominations for earlier Player of the Week awards and will likely do the same after winning one, but after putting the team on his shoulders this past week, the honour comes well deserved. With DeRozan sidelined for the first time this season, nursing an ankle injury, Lowry engineered a thrilling victory over the surging Nets in Brooklyn to begin the week. In that game, Lowry become the first player this season to record at least 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals, something only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant accomplished last year. The 27-year-old is also having a career year from beyond the arch, connecting on 16 of his 36 attempts from three-point range last week. Lowry goes into Mondays game in Utah needing nine more threes to match his career-high for treys in a season (129). Hell also chase down Morris Petersons franchise record for most three-pointers made in a single campaign (177). Lowry became the fifth Raptor to win Player of the Week, joining Chris Bosh, Vince Carter, Mike James and Jalen Rose. Also left off the All-Star squad, Suns guard Goran Dragic - Lowrys former teammate in Houston - captured the award in the West. ' ' '