ST. PAUL, Minn. — It’s been less in-your-face than a 12 months in the past, in half because he’s scoring fewer targets and principally because he’s not taking anybody by shock.
But if not for Evan Bouchard getting out to a triple-digit scoring tempo, we’d possible be speaking about the Matthew Schaefer-Quinn Hughes matchup here in the Twin Cities on Thursday night time as a matchup between two of the leaders for the Norris Trophy.
Yes, actually. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Schaefer already ought to be in that dialog with Hughes, Bouchard, Zach Werenski and Cale Makar when we debate the league’s greatest defenseman.
Just look at Tuesday night time in Nashville. Schaefer performed a career-high 32:16. The Islanders’ shots-for share was over 20 p.c greater in his minutes on the ice than when he was off the ice. He performed all 5 minutes of time beyond regulation, turning into the first individual to do so since the stat has been tracked. He got one breather during these 5 minutes, because of a penalty that he drew. He also had an help.
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