Nothing you say here sways me in the least.
That's surprising because this:
Of course more time on ice provides more opportunities to get injured - nobody can argue against that.
Seems to be quite a different point of view than this:
You can't pick and choose the games/plays that someone may get hit/hurt though so limiting minutes can't prevent injuries.
Your comment on me being out of touch with modern sports rings hollow as you dont offer any proof whatsoever. The other sports you mention don't correlate to hockey in any way either and you are picking extreme examples to support your narrative.
I picked examples off the top of my head, I'm not trying to cherrypick. There just happens to be examples in every other big 4 sport. If you choose to ignore them for whatever reason, fine. I don't think there's much I could do to convince you.
Worrying about a player getting injured is what is nonsensical.
It's the reason the NHL'ers may not participate in the olympics despite obvious brand and sport development advantages.
They play a contact sport with sticks and razors - risk of injury is implied before you step on the ice.
Risk of injury is inherent to any sport, this isn't limited to those that have sticks and blades.
Chabot getting more minutes is beneficial to his development in a season where the inevitable mistakes that occur have no negative impact.
I respect your opinion and disagree.
You should take a moment to ask yourself though, if more playing more minutes is so simply and directly related to development then why are other young defensemen not playing as much as Chabot?
Individual defensemen have logged 30+ minute games 27 times this season.
10 of those are Chabot. In fact, Chabot has logged 6 of the 10 highest TOI games this season.
Klefbom is tied for second in 30+ minute games with 3.
Rielly and Josi are the only other defensemen with more than a single 30+ minute games (two each).
No defenseman 24 and under has logged a 30+ minute game, and only Pionk (24 yo) has logged a game in the top 50 TOI performances of the season (50th).
Meanwhile, other young defensemen like Heiskanen, McAvoy, Chychrun, Werenski, Theodore, Hughes, Bear, and Hronek haven't logged any 30+ minute games.
Clearly some of these teams are higher in the standings and have better defensive depth, but you would think other teams would be taking advantage of this player development method if it were so simple.