Washington Capitals 2014-2015 Season Review: Jay Beagle
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Continuing our season reviews for each Washington Capitals player, let’s look at Jay Beagle and throw him a bone
The Washington Capitals had a successful season in 2014-2015. Here at Stars and Sticks, we’ll analyze each of the Washington Capitals and their season. Yesterday we took a look at Nicklas Backstrom and how despite being underrated, we still love him. today we lake a look at Jay Beagle‘s season.
Washington Capitals 2014-2015 Season Review: Jay Beagle
THE GOOD: Jay Beagle came into the season as the same fourth line, penalty killing dog that we all know and love. This season, however, he brought a little more bite to his game for the Washington Capitals. He set a career high in goals and assists with ten a piece while tying his career high for games played with 62. He was third among Washington Capitals forwards in ice time per game on the penalty kill (1.89 minutes).
Beagle saw his best year Corsi wise for the Washington Capitals (minimum 20 games played), with an even strength CF% of 49.9. While above 50% is what you’d like to see in this case, 49.9% is not too shabby at all considering Beagle had a 46.4% offensive zone start percentage. Beagle was been a penalty killing machine and scored some big goals this season for the capitals. Beagle scored the game winning (and only) goal for the Washington Capitals in game three against the New York Rangers in round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That goal summed up his season, as bounces went his way all season long.
Beagle had his second highest face-off win percentage (and his highest in any season with more than 42 games played) with a 57.3% face-off win percentage. Beagle drew a ton of defensive zone starts for the Washington Capitals because of this and he earned the right to do so with his work in the face-off circle. He also saw a career high in ice time per game (12.9 minutes per game).
People tend to say that Jay Beagle is defensively responsible when he actually isn’t. He deserved that reputation this year, as he was the fourth best Washington Capitals forward at suppressing shot attempts against with a rate of 51.39 CorsiAgainst events per 60 minutes at even strength.
THE BAD: While Jay Beagle had a decent season, he missed a chunk of games due to a late season injury. When he was deployed as a third or fourth liner, Beagle was an adorable guy who was a ton of fun to root for. When he was a top six forward, he was awful. Beagle got to see a little bit more time with Alex Ovechkin on the top line, posting similar results to when Adam Oates tried it last season.
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It’s no secret that Beagle is not one of the Washington Capitals best offensive forwards. He had the third lowest CorsiFor events per 60 minutes at even strength (51.12) among all Washington Capitals forwards. Then again, offense has never been why Jay Beagle gets ice time.
Beagle is an unrestricted free agent, and may not find himself in a Capitals uniform again. I’m sure management would love to have Beagle back, he’s a solid 4th line center that can get the gritty goals and win key face-offs in his own end of the ice. In theory, he should be able to do that for a cheap price, but the free agent market is unpredictable. Money is tight for the Capitals this off-season with some big players to re-sign, and whether or not Beagle is one of them, we just aren’t sure.
FUTURE OUTLOOK: If Beagle remains in Washington, I only see him going up from here. He’s getting better and more reliable. If the price is right and Beagle is never a top six forward for the Washington Capitals, I would have absolutely no problem with bringing back the Beags. He’s fun to root for and I’m not ready for the Beagle dog puns to die just yet. I can’t envision any team giving him a ton of money, but free agency tends to bring out the worst of front offices.
GRADING ON A CURVE: On a scale of one to ten, how would you rank Jay Beagle’s 2014-2015 season with the Washington Capitals relative to what you’ve come to expect from him? Did he fall short of your expectations? Did he meet them? Did he exceed them? One represents falling very short of them, five represents barely meeting them, ten represents far exceeding them.
Take a gander at the Beagle review from our pals at Russian Machine Never Breaks.
Tomorrow, we take a look at Troy Brouwer.
Next: Washington Capitals 2014-2015 Season Review: Here's To The Good Times