# Hockey Shifts **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 18, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158 "2010-11-18T22:44:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/1 "2010-11-18T22:44:43Z")
How long is a typical shift for a hockey player? How does it change as tehg palyer gets older? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/2 "2010-11-18T23:46:18Z")
Under a minute, although there are no guarantees. You can get stuck out on the ice for long than you’d like when you’re defending. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/3 "2010-11-19T00:09:34Z")
You can get average time on ice per shift for every player[here](http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20112ALLAASAll&sort=avgTimeOnIcePerShift&viewName=timeOnIce). Not as useful as the length of the average shift for the whole league, of course. Coaches tend to preach 30-40 second shifts, especially for forwards, but as you can see the top players tend to be out there a lot longer. I doubt that average shift length would change as a player gets older. Players are deployed in set lines, so they’ll all change at once. An older player isn’t going to be jumping off the ice half-way through a shift. What’s more likely is that the player gets fewer shifts as he gets older. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/4 "2010-11-19T00:09:41Z")
Here’s an interesting view of the [evolution of the shift length](65 The average seconds played per shift by Alex Ovechkin(notes) of the Washington Capitals through 11 games this season, with a 20.3 shift per game average. He led the NHL last season with an average of 66 seconds per shift. A look back at Ovie’s ice time, on a seconds-per-shift basis: 2009-10: 66 2008-09: 64 2007-08: 65 2006-07: 53 2005-06: 54 The length of Ovechkin’s shifts has become an issue this season for Coach Bruce Boudreau, who clearly doesn’t understand that Russian Machine Never Breaks.) in the last decade or so. Shifts are getting shorter over time with a few exceptions, most notably Alex Ovechkin (numbers per [Yahoo](http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Stunning-Numbers-Ice-time-hoarders-and-terrible?urn=nhl-282176)): 65 The average seconds played per shift by Alex Ovechkin(notes) of the Washington Capitals through 11 games this season, with a 20.3 shift per game average. He led the NHL last season with an average of 66 seconds per shift. A look back at Ovie’s ice time, on a seconds-per-shift basis: ``` 2009-10: 66 2008-09: 64 2007-08: 65 2006-07: 53 2005-06: 54 ``` The length of Ovechkin’s shifts has become an issue this season for Coach Bruce Boudreau, who clearly doesn’t understand that Russian Machine Never Breaks. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/5 "2010-11-19T00:09:49Z")
One of the classic rules of thumbs for guys in a really competitive game is to try to keep the shifts for forwards at 45 seconds, when you have a choice. Your top line may stay out longer to make something happen, Or if there is bug something happening at either end it is kind of bad form to abandon it. 90 seconds is about the longest you ever see unless they are under full pressure and just can’t get off. there are only 3 sets of D(and some teams only really roll 2), Plus in the second period they are really far from the bench, and it is harder to get changed. 2 minute plus shifts end up fairly common in that situation. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/6 "2010-11-19T00:13:55Z")
Sorry, link didn’t work. [Here.](http://www.behindthenethockey.com/2010/2/10/1270271/shift-length-change-since-1997-98) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/7 "2010-11-19T01:07:32Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > You can get average time on ice per shift for every player[here](http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20112ALLAASAll&sort=avgTimeOnIcePerShift&viewName=timeOnIce). Not as useful as the length of the average shift for the whole league, of course. Coaches tend to preach 30-40 second shifts, especially for forwards, but as you can see the top players tend to be out there a lot longer. > > I doubt that average shift length would change as a player gets older. Players are deployed in set lines, so they’ll all change at once. An older player isn’t going to be jumping off the ice half-way through a shift. What’s more likely is that the player gets fewer shifts as he gets older. By “older” I meant: kids vs. HS/College vs. NHL. Thanks to all for the info though. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-shifts/561158/8 "2010-11-19T01:52:47Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > By “older” I meant: kids vs. HS/College vs. NHL. > > Thanks to all for the info though. I can’t prove it, but I believe that in juniors/college, the star players will play a lot more than NHL stars. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mario Lemieux was on the ice 40-45 minutes a game when he was a junior in Laval…[you don’t put up four points per game](http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0014211984.html) in any league just by taking a regular shift.