Should there be concern with the way Noah Dobson is playing down the stretch for the New York Islanders.
New York Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson had been keeping pace with the league's best blue-liners for most of this season, with eight goals and 58 assists for 66 points in 75 games.
But lately, his game has tailed off.
With just two assists over his last 10 games and no goals over his last 13 outings, he has fallen out of the Norris Trophy conversation, which he was in for much of the season.
Over these last 10 games, Dobson has been on the ice for 11 goals against, tied for the most on the team with forward Brock Nelson.
Dobson played most of those games alongside veteran Adam Pelech, a pairing head coach Patrick Roy used in critical situations.
The youngster has played the last few games with fellow youngster Alexander Romanov, who has struggled with his decision-making recently, which impacts Dobson's on-ice numbers, as well.
In the Islanders' 2-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night, it was Dobson who coughed up the puck on a pinching attempt inside the offensive zone that allowed for an odd-man rush, which put the Islanders down 1-0 early in the first before they came back in the third for the win:
Mistakes are going to happen, but at this juncture of the season, a turnover, especially one that leads to a goal, could be the difference between making the playoffs and watching the playoffs on television.
The power play has struggled mightily for most of Roy's tenure, and Dobson's failures to keep pucks in the offensive zone and get points shots through have certainly played a factor.
Twitter user Golf Man used NaturalStatrick.com to crunch the numbers, using Dobson's shots on goal on the power play and dividing them by shot attempts.
These numbers ring true after Dobson didn't take a shot on the power play against Chicago.
If you look at how other teams have dominated against the Islanders on the man advantage, it's from getting point shots through screens, and if the shots aren't coming, that's going to impact the effectiveness, which it has.
Against Chicago, Dobson played the third-fewest minutes amongst defensemen.
While we can speculate that the 23-year-old is dealing with some sort of minor injury, his struggles could really be just from mental and physical fatigue.
In a similar fashion to what we saw with Ilya Sorokin late last season and most of this season, the abundance of minutes and pressure can certainly get to a player, especially when it's a grind game in and game out.
Early in the season, Dobson was doing it all for New York.
Because of injuries to fellow defenseman Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, and Sebastian Aho, Dobson played close to 30 minutes a night, filling in on the penalty kill and even playing his off-side for the betterment of the team.
Through 75 games, Dobson has averaged 24:56 minutes per game, the seventh-most in the NHL, playing a total of 1,869:43 minutes, the fifth-most in the NHL this season.
He has blocked more shots this season (169) and laid the body more than ever (83), possibly impacting his effectiveness right now.
"Maybe (the decrease in minutes) is an adjustment for him, but I mean, it's good for the team to have everybody healthy," Roy said Thursday afternoon in Columbus. "Noah just needs to play within what he is, and he's a very good puck mover who moves the puck very well.
"He's been playing a lot with Pelech as a pairing. He, maybe, could defend a little bit better, but I mean, he's an offensive defenseman, and he's been doing just that for us."
Despite being in the NHL for five years already, Dobson is still a young kid who, due to COVID-19, has played just three full NHL seasons.
The defensive growth we've seen this season has been more impressive than the offensive flair, which has allowed first Lane Lambert and now Roy to rely on him in key situations.
Every season has ebbs and flows, and right now, Dobson is struggling. However, with eight more to play before the regular season comes to a close, there's still time for him to find his game.
Dobson, who inked a three-year deal worth $12 million in the summer of 2022, is eligible to sign a long-term extension after July 1.
There's no question that he's going to get paid and is likely to ink an eight-year deal, as we saw with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.
He deserves it, but once that does happen, New York will need him to be as consistent as possible, especially since his contract, along with the other long-term deals, including Sorokin's $8.25 million AAV hitting the books next season, will limit other moves that can be made to bolster the team.
Dobson has a bright future, and whether the Islanders make the playoffs or not, one would think that he's learned a lot about himself, mentally and physically, this season.
