Washington Capitals Report Card: Matt Niskanen
Now that the Washington Capitals season is over, it’s time to assess each player. We’ll start off with defenseman Matt Niskanen.
Washington Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen was an important piece to the their 2018 Stanley Cup championship run.
In their attempt to repeat, parts of Niskanen were absent. The voice in the locker room was still there. It is best shown if you see a Niskanen postgame interview where he always gives blunt honesty.
If the Capitals played badly or even if Niskanen himself had a bad game, he’s never afraid speak up. That character trait alone shows how important having a guy like Niskanen is. But there was just something off about him in his play on the ice.
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Last season, Niskanen’s Corsi-For percentage was 49.84%, his expected goals was 52.90%, and high danger chances were 52.20%. This past year, Niskanen’s Corsi-For dropped down to 36.99%, his expected goals 44.44% and high-danger chances at 45.65%.
Niskanen typically played on the second line with Dmitry Orlov the last two seasons but the duo weren’t the shutdown pair they were a season ago.
In 2017-18 the Orlov-Niskanen Corsi-For percentage was 49.17%, expected goals (xG%) 43.56% and had a 46.68% in high-danger chances. In 2018-19m the Corsi-For was 48.12%. That doesn’t look like a significant drop off at first.
But expected goals dropped down to 35.4 percent. High-Danger chances weren’t much better with a drop down to 38.76 percent. All of these numbers were compiled via Natural Stat Trick.
Offensively in the non advanced statistical department, Niskanen’s numbers were similar. Eight goals is a one goal improvement. 17 assists is five less than the previous year and keep in mind this was a season with Niskanen fully healthy. He missed some extended time due to an upper-body injury in the beginning of the 2017-18 season that put him on long term injured reserve.
At this point in time, Niskanen’s future is unclear. There is a strong possibility that the Capitals will put the 32-year old defenseman on the trade block this offseason.
Niskanen has two years left on his contract and will make $5.75 million the next two seasons. It is likely the Capitals will move him to create cap space to re-sign some RFAs and have extra money to sign the UFAs.
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Grade C: While Niskanen didn’t have a complete down year, it was still a regression. Part of it, however, is due to age. He still was an important veteran in the locker room, however, and with the defense starting to get younger those guys will benefit from what they learned from Niskanen and Orpik.