If you want minutes, you have to prove you deserve them. Make yourself better on the PK, where he’s averaging eight seconds a game. You want more time, excel on those special teams.
You excel, you’ll get increased time, and others minutes will get managed more. He doesn’t need to be better than Muzzin or Rielly, just good enough to deserve to be there more.
I like the kid, but hope for more from him.
As
@kb said, easier said than done.
It's not like our PK sucks, or has a weak link, so there is literally no incentive for Keefe to try out an unproven option like Dermott at this point. As I said, if someone falls off of a cliff or gets hurt, then he has a chance. None of those things have happened at this point. Now maybe he can get a shot on the PP at some point, but Keefe seems to want to run with the vets there too.
Weegar did not "earn" his minutes. He was given them when they had no other choice and he did not suck, so he continued getting them. Literally the same thing that took Holl from a 12 minute guy under Babcock to a 20+ minute guy under Keefe. Dermott has only been given those chances when Muzzin and Rielly were hurt, but he lost them as soon as they were healthy again.
Dermott is facing the same kind of issue that Liljegren is facing right now except he is trying to crack the top 4 instead of any spot in our top 6. I don't think you can watch Liljegren in the AHL right now and say he is "not good enough" for at least an extended look in the NHL but he has yet to even receive a game because we'd have to take out Bogosian, Holl, or Brodie; all of which have performed well for the vast majority of the season.