NHL Defensemen 2018/19 Salary vs Ice Time

We are nearing the half way point of the 2018/19 season, and I decided to take a look at the relationship between average ice time for defensemen against their salary so for this season (minimum 10 GP), entry level contracts not included. The scatter plot is below, with a trendline.

We can use the trendline to calculate an expected salary based entirely on ice time at this moment in the season. The next big question is, which defensemen are the farthest above and below expectation? Note that we are not counting any other variables that measure quality of play, just how often that player is being deployed (which can itself be an indicator of good or bad play). Teams deep on the blue line may not need to deploy their top D as often, while other teams are forced to play certain guys more than they want to, out of necessity. 

Above Expected Salary

Every player on this list is returning good value for what they are paid, with guys like Josi, Jones, and Klingberg among the best value contracts in the whole league. There are no false-positives among these bargains, except for maybe Jensen. He's not a great defensemen but the Red Wings are being forced to over-play him due to injury and all-around shittiness of their back end. Lindell was vaulted into a greater role when Klingberg was injured, which inflated his ice time, but he's still great value. Nate Schmidt is able to handle a heavy load. He must keep himself in great physical condition. Always says his prayers and eats his vitamins... 

Below Expected Salary

It's worth pointing out that not every player on this list is being overpaid. In the case of Subban, Nashville is so deep on defense that they don't need to play him more. On almost any other team his ice time would be higher (on some teams much higher). It's a similar situation for Vlasic, and to a lesser extent Myers. It's unlikely that Tampa dropped Hedman's minutes because he's playing poorly, or because they are too deep. Victor was on IR earlier in the season, so the team is probably just trying to manage his minutes, save him for the playoffs.

In the case of Phaneuf, Shattenkirk, Seabrook, Boychuck, Kulikov, and Staal; the low playing time is more likely attributable to their quality of play (or fewer situations where they are effective). It's possible that Seabrook can't handle the heavier workload anymore. Chicago doesn't have great D depth, so if BS could physically sustain a greater workload, I'm sure they'd be happy to give it to him.