Drew Doughty was an absolute iron man for the Los Angeles Kings last season. In the aftermath of Slava Voynov's domestic violence arrest, the Kings were simultaneously left shorthanded by Voynov's absence and handcuffed by his cap hit. With the league seemingly reticent to make any final determinations on the Russian defender's status, the Kings were forced to roll with a limited number of defensemen and it all-too-often fell to Doughty to pick up the slack and the excess ice time that had suddenly materialized.
Fortunately for Doughty, it seems the team is working hard to limit his on ice minutes in 2015-16. Doughty recently indicated to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca that the Kings made it clear to him in his exit interview with team brass that they want to drop his minutes from the 28 per night he was averaging last season to around 25 minutes.
Of course, with Voynov self-deporting to Russia, that may be much easier said than done for Darryl Sutter and John Stevens, especially when a game is close or the season is in its latter stages.
The recent signing of veteran Christian Ehrhoff could potentially pay big dividends, but it's uncertain what kind of effect that'll have on Doughty as the final likely pairing of Brayden McNabb and Matt Greene doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Greene provided mediocre impact last season for the Kings to the tune of about 15 minutes of ice time on average and three goals and six assists for the year. McNabb's output was much the same, his average time on ice only a handful of seconds higher than McNabb.
Even Ehrhoff, well-established NHL talent though he may be, isn't a certainty to provide relief for the thin Kings defensive corps. Performing as part of a talented, if ultimately disappointing Penguins team last year, the now 33-year-old Ehrhoff managed just and three goals, 11 assists in about 21 minutes of ice time per night.
If things break in the Kings favor, Doughty should be able to reduce his minutes. But if anything falls the wrong way or an injury occurs to the wrong piece, Doughty will be right back to plowing through his best NHL years at an inadvisably heavy pace.
