Young players must be protected from heavy minutes
Teams that give young players big minutes do not lose because of it – but most still choose not to.
Data through 2025/26
PartlyNLData through 2025/26 · NL
Youth-heavy third: avg finish
7.7place
Least youth-heavy third: avg finish
5.7place
Fribourg 2025/26 (21.8% U23 ice)
2place
What the data says
NL 2023/24–2025/26: under-23 players got 11.8% of skater ice time (under-21: 4.9%). Correlation between U23 share and points per game: −0.09.
The most youth-heavy third finished 7.7th on average vs 5.7th for the least youth-heavy – yet Fribourg-Gottéron gave U23s 21.8% of ice time in 2025/26 and finished 2nd.
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