The New York Islanders dropped a fourth straight game Monday night, falling 3-2 in a shootout to the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center.
The loss once again featured a ridiculous performance from Matthew Schaefer, playing over 30 minutes again while registering another point.
That extends his new points streak to three games, and gives him points in 9 of the Islanders' last 10.
He's up to 5 goals and 17 points in 17 games.
As ridiculously good as he is, his ice time deployment should ring some alarm bells.
It's not realistic to call on the 19-year-old to continually play over 30 minutes. Through 17 games, Schaefer's average time on ice is over 27 minutes.
Thus far, Schaefer has shown he can handle it, but the question of burnout and fatiguing the defenseman should be at the forefront of any conversation.
Right now, the Islanders have played 17 games. They've won 7 and lost 10. In the games where Schaefer has played 27 minutes or more, the Islanders are 2-3-3.
They've yet to win in regulation when Schaefer's above 27 minutes of ice time.
It's not proven to be a winning formula. Below 27 minutes the Islanders are 5-3-1, a better record.
It's not just about Schaefer, either.
Entering this season, Schaefer's partner Logan Stanley never averaged above 17 minutes per game.
Over 17 games with the Islanders, he's averaged more than 21 minutes. While Stanley's been a complete and total resounding success for the Islanders, the question quickly becomes whether or not this is sustainable over the course of a full season.
The Islanders are also leaning heavily on Adam Pelech, especially during penalty kills with no other defenseman having the trust he's got on the backend in those situations.
While Pelech's ice time is in line with his career averages, he needs help on the kill.
Tony DeAngelo, who has played in the top four all year, has also wound up overextended especially since the Ryan Pulock injury.
Pulock left early in the first period against the Minnesota Wild. The Islanders won that night in overtime.
Since then, the team is 0-2-2 in his absence.
When DeAngelo played 18+ minutes, the team is 1-3-3 on the year.
No one stat can be a catch-all for something like that, but it's showing where New York's weaknesses lie.
Overextending their defensemen, on the whole, is hurting more than it's helping.
The team needs to add a defenseman the team and Head Coach Peter DeBoer trusts.
Ben Hutton could be that. He scored last night, and played over 14 minutes in a game. In his season debut Saturday, he topped 16 minutes.
Still, Hutton's last topped 15 minutes per night in 2023-24, where he played just 41 games.
Matthew Kessel's done that twice in his 11 games, while Scott Mayfield has not done it in his six games. He came close once, playing 15:51, but has four of six games below 13 minutes in ice time.
It's very easy to spout off that the Islanders need to make an addition and acquire a defenseman.
However, it's become more necessary.
Alexander Romanov's season-ending injury has once again left the Islanders in a spot where they now lean heavily on their top four, while the bottom pairing becomes relatively untrusted.
If Pelech, Stanley, or Schaefer ever have to miss time, the Islanders would have significant trouble filling those voids.
This isn't an article where it says the Islanders should go out and land Simon Edvinsson, though he'd be a significant help.
This is just as simple as finding a blueliner the team can trust to handle minutes, and in case of an injury, play an even larger role.
Maybe Hutton is that, but he hasn't played a top-four role since the 2020-21 season, which he split with the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
It's easier said than done, for sure, but the Islanders could desperately use some blue line insurance.
Pulock's return will help restore some balance. The question then becomes whether or not it brings enough.
