This is probably a good time to clear this up for me, because I see this a lot, but I don't see how EJ
wasn't on the Avs top pairing this year like he always is, when his partner all year in Girard led the team in ice time both overall and at even strength, and EJ was 2nd in both.
With EJ averaging 0:28 more at even strength than Makar and 1:35 more than Graves.
How could Graves-Makar have been the top pairing if they play that much less than Girard-EJ at even strength?
And what better objective measure of this is there than average TOI over the course of a season to weed out the variance? Especially at even strength?
TOI/GP
Girard - 21:19
Johnson - 21:03
Makar - 21:01
Graves - 18:57
Zadorov - 17:46
Cole - 17:42
ES TOI/GP
Girard - 18:49
Johnson - 17:39
Makar - 17:11
Graves - 16:05
Zadorov - 16:00
Cole - 15:17
SH TOI/GP
Johnson - 3:01
Graves - 2:48
Cole - 2:24
Zadorov - 1:42
NHL.com Stats