All statistics below are taken from war-on-ice.

Note: I don't believe there's any difference in what Babcock, Holland, or Devellano want out of our 6D, and I think this is an important part of our strength as an organization, but for simplicity's sake I'll refer to what "Babcock-wants," instead of what "Babcock, Holland, and Devellano want."

When I was growing up NHL teams had clearly defined roles for their 6D. "1st-pair," "2nd-pair," and "3rd-pair." The 1st-pair played the most minutes(often more than half of each game), the 2nd-pair received significantly fewer minutes, & the 3rd-pair played infrequently by comparison.

Over the years the philosophy governing defense has evolved and with it has evolved the terminology used to describe defensemen. (Growing up I never heard the expression, "Top-4," for example.) Teams eventually began playing with a "Top-4" & a "Bottom-Pair," where the 1st-pair and the 2nd-pair recieved comparable TOI and the 3rd pair continued receiving lots of time on the bench. Currently in the NHL there are still teams that play a traditional 3-pairing system but most teams are using a variation of Top-4/Bottom-pairing.

I don't think Babcock wants to play with a TOP-4/Bottom-pairing. I believe Babcock wishes to ice a team where all 6D play relatively equal EV-minutes but he can't do that until he has 6 defensemen who are worthy of receiving "Top 4"-type of minutes. We don't have 6D good enough for that right now, we only have 5.

I think this is why Kindl ends up being a healthy scratch. He isn't good enough to receive "Top-4"-type of minutes.

Calgary, Detroit, & the NYR.

Calgary is a good example of a team that plays a system with a Top-4/Bottom-Pairing. Here's the EV-minutes(the first, smaller, number is 4x4 & the larger number is 5x5 in case anyone wishes to see the differing amounts) for Calgary this year:

Giordano (1.5 + 18.3) = 19.8

Brodie (1.4 + 18.9) = 20.3

Russell (1.7 + 18.6) = 20.3

Wideman (1.6 + 18.4) = 20.0

Smid (0.2 + 12.8) = 13.0

Engelland (0.1 + 11.8) = 11.9

Diaz (0.2 + 10.4) = 10.6

Notice how similar Giordano/Brodie are to Russell/Wideman & how infrequently Smid/Engelland/Diaz see the ice.

Here's Detroit's EV-minutes this season(including Ouellet and Marchenko if anyone's curious):

Kronwall (1.3 + 16.2) = 17.5

Ericsson (1.0 + 16.4) = 17.4

Quincey (1.0 + 16.4) = 17.4

DeKeyser (1.3 + 15.9) = 17.2

Smith (1.0 + 15.9) = 16.9

Ouellet (0.9 + 14.9) = 15.8

Marchenko (0.1 + 15.4) = 15.5

Kindl (0.8 + 13.2) = 14.0

Lashoff (0.2 + 11.7) = 11.9

Note how even though Smith has been on our 3rd-pairing all year long(with Kindl, Lashoff, Ouellet, & Marchnko) Babcock has found a way to get him more minutes than his partner so that he has similar totals to the rest of our 4D. To me this looks like a coach who wants to run a Top-6 but only has 5D "good enough" just as the NYR's TOI looks like a coach who wants to run a Top-4/Bottom-Pairing but only has 3D "good enough" to play Top-4 minutes:

McDonagh (1.0 + 17.4) = 18.4

Girardi (1.2 + 17.5) = 18.7

Staal (0.9 + 18.5) = 19.4

Klein (0.8 + 16.0) = 16.8

Boyle (0.8 + 15.6) = 16.4

Hunwick (0.9 + 14.5) = 15.4

Moore (0.7 + 13.4) = 14.1

Vigneault has had to make an effort to get Staal extra shifts with Klein or Boyle(or whomever) in order to give him the TOI of a Top-4 D. I don't think this is because Vigneault wants to play a system with a Top-3, I believe it's because he doesn't think anyone else on his roster is "good enough." Similarly, Babcock has made an effort to get Smith extra shifts here and there to get him minutes equivalent to what a "Top-4"-type of defenseman would receive not because he wants to run a system with a Top-5 but because he didn't/doesn't think that Kindl is "good enough" to play so many minutes.

Vigneault isn't the only coach faced with this sort of dilemma. In Montreal, Therrien has to find extra shifts for Emelin in the same way(and for the same reason) & in Washington Trotz needs to do the same with Niskanen because he doesn't think Alzner is "good enough."

Why not play Kindl?

Babcock doesn’t WANT a 3rd-pairing D that plays only 14’-15’(heavily-sheltered)EVmin/gm. Babcock wants all 6 D to play "top-4" type of EV-minutes, but he doesn't think that Kindl is "good enough" for that much TOI. This is what he said about having Ouellet or Marchenko when Marchenko was first brought up this year:

"We’re not going to keep one here to sit on the bench. The only way they’re staying here is if they’re playing 17 or 18 minutes a night, so we got to figure out what we’re doing."

Kindl is a good 3rd-pairing D. If we used a Top-4/Bottom-Pairing system, Kindl would be good enough to be on our team. Amongst D with at least 350’min this year:

CA60 = 40.7, 1st (BEST) in the NHL

CF% = 58.5%, 1st (BEST) in the NHL

CF%Rel = +5.1, 14th best in the NHL

Not all Corsi-events are equal, and a newish stat is trying to add another layer of context in order to evaluate players by tracking Scoring Chances. If we look at this stat we see more of the same:

SCA60 = 19.5, 2nd best in the NHL

SCF% = 58.0%, 3rd best in the NHL

SCF%Rel = +5.1, 19th best in the NHL

Kindl is a good 3rd-pairing D, but Babcock doesn’t want to have a pairing that weak on the ice. We can see most easily how Babcock thinks Kindl is only worth 3rd-pairing type of work by how he shelters Kindl:

ZSO% = 69.5%, 1st (EASIEST) in the NHL.

No other team in the NHL is trying to play all 6D 17’-18’EVmin/gm. Every other team has room for a GOOD 3rd-pairing D. I hope Kindl can be traded to another team and have a long and productive career with them.

Babcock's track record.

Kronwall (1.1+16.8) = 17.9

Ericsson = (1.1+16.8) = 17.9

Quincey = (0.8+17.1) = 17.9

DeKeyser = (1.1+16.4) = 17.5

Smith = (1.0+16.5) = 17.5

Kindl = (0.6 + 14.7) = 15.3

Lashoff = (0.2 + 12.2) = 12.4

2013-14:

We see the same pattern last year. Babcock gave "Top-4"-type of minutes to 5 of his defensemen but didn't trust Kindl at the same level.

Kronwall (1.3+17.0) = 17.3

Ericsson (0.9+17.5) = 18.4

White (1.1+16.3) = 17.4

Smith (1.2+15.2) = 16.4

Quincey (0.8+15.0) = 15.8

Kindl (0.8+ 14.8) = 15.6

Lashoff (0.7 + 14.6) = 15.3

DeKeyser (0.9 + 14.0) = 14.9

2012-13(includes DeKeyser if anyone's curious):

Top-3/Bottom-3. Babcock didn't trust Quincey(if I remember correctly) and neither Smith nor Kindl were trusted much more.

Lidstrom (1.4+17.4) = 18.8

White (1.3+17.9) = 19.2

Stuart (1.2+16.6) = 17.8

Kronwall (1.3+16.2) = 17.5

Quincey (0.8 + 15.6) = 16.4

Ericsson (0.6 + 14.5) = 15.1

Kindl (0.4 + 13.0) = 13.4

Smith (0.4 + 13.4) = 13.8

2011-12(includes Smith if anyone's curious & Quincey who only played 18gms after the trade):

Top-4/Bottom-Pairing. With the acquisition of Quincey there was a hope that things could change but we started to pile up some injuries right after the trade.

Lidstrom (1.2+15.7) = 16.9

Rafalski (0.9+15.8) = 16.7

Stuart (1.0+16.6) = 17.6

Kronwall (1.0+16.6) = 17.6

Ericsson (0.9 + 16.5) = 17.4

Salei (0.6 + 15.3) = 15.9

Kindl (0.3 + 12.6) = 12.9

2010-11:

This is the earliest we see an attempt at a Top-6 system & I think it's because of the improvement of Salei over Lebda. Salei is close to being "good enough," but Babcock didn't play him as often as the rest of his Top-5.

Lidstrom (1.6+17.1) = 18.7

Rafalski (1.6+17.8) = 19.4

Stuart (1.2+17.8) = 19.0

Kronwall (1.1+16.5) = 17.6

Ericsson (0.6 + 14.3) = 14.9

Lebda (0.6 + 14.3) = 14.9

Meech (0.2 + 10.5) = 10.7

2009-10:

Top-4/Bottom-Pairing.

Lidstrom (1.2 +16.0) = 17.2

Rafalski (1.4 +16.8) = 18.2

Stuart (1.1 +16.3) = 17.4

Kronwall (1.2 +16.4) = 17.6

Lebda (0.5 + 13.1) = 13.6

Lilja (0.2 + 13.6) = 13.8

Chelios (0.0 + 10.0) = 10.0

Meech (0.1 + 9.6) = 9.7

Ericsson (0.8 + 15.6) = 16.4

2008-09(includes Ericsson if anyone's curious):

Top-4/Bottom-Pairing.

Lidstrom (1.3 + 16.5) = 17.8

Rafalski (1.3 + 16.6) = 17.9

Stuart (1.0 + 16.4) = 17.4

Kronwall (1.1 + 15.2) = 16.3

Lilja (0.4 + 14.9) = 15.3

Lebda (0.9 + 14.2) = 15.1

Chelios (0.2 + 12.5) = 12.7

Meech (0.3 + 10.5) = 10.8

Ericsson (0.6 + 12.0) = 12.6

Quincey (0.4 + 10.5) = 10.9

2007-08(includes Quincey & Ericsson if anyone's curious):

Top-4/Bottom-Pairing.

Lidstrom (1.2 + 14.8) = 16.0

Schneider (1.0 + 14.1) = 15.1

Kronwall (1.0 + 14.2) = 15.2

Markov (0.7 + 14.0) = 14.7

Lebda (0.7 + 11.8) = 12.5

Chelios (0.5 + 11.2) = 11.7

Lilja (0.3 + 11.3) = 11.6

2006-07:

Here we see the standard Top-4/Bottom-Pairing along with Lidstrom getting a lot of extra shifts. Also of note is how low the minutes have become. It's might be surprising to realize how much the game has changed in such a short period of time, but there weren't as many EV-minutes in a game back then. Lidstrom also averaged 6.0 PPmin and 4.7 PKmin.

Lidstrom (1.1 + 14.2) = 15.3

Schneider (1.2 + 15.1) = 16.3

Lilja (0.8 + 14.2) = 15.0

Chelios (0.5 + 11.4) = 11.9

Lebda (0.6 + 10.1) = 10.7

Woolley (0.5 + 8.9) = 9.4

Fischer (0.7 + 13.8) = 14.5

Kronwall (1.1 + 13.2) = 14.3

2005-06(includes Jiri Fischer & Kronwall if anyone's curious):

Here is a Top-3/Bottom-3. {Or perhaps a Top-3/Bottom-2/dear-lord-it's-Woolley-back-there.}

Post Script. This fanpost was prompted by a short discussion I had on Kukla's Korner(where I comment under my pen name, alwaysaurie) recently about why Babcock doesn't like Kindl. Much of what I've talked about in this essay has also been brought up on WiiM by myself over the last couple of seasons, as well.