The Washington Capitals acquired Nick Jensen at the trade deadline to bolster their defense. Whether Jensen can continue to grow into the defenseman the Capitals need remains to be seen.
The Washington Capitals acquired Nick Jensen from the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline to help their struggling defense.
In the 17 games prior to Jensen’s arrival, the Capitals’ defense was averaging 3.88 goals against. Once he arrived, the Capitals saw their goals against average drop to 2.55 goals per game. Moreover, Jensen’s biggest contributions came on the penalty kill, which was a moderate 79 percent before he joined. In Jensen’s first 11 games as a Capital, the penalty kill improved to 89 percent.
Yet despite his moderate success, Jensen never really lived up to the expectations that he could be a key acquisition like Michal Kempny was in the team’s magical run last year.
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Fans will remember that Jensen had a particularly poor postseason plagued with questionable turnovers and too many instances of being out of position on defense. His +/- was -2 in the Capitals lone playoff series, compared to 3 during the regular season with Washington.
However, the biggest flaw to Nick Jensen’s game was his lack of offensive production during his time in Washington. Prior to joining the Capitals in February, Jensen recorded 15 points (2 goals, 13 assists) in 60 games with the Detroit Red Wings, which was tied for his career high in points at the time.
Yet during his 20 games as a Washington Capital, Jensen failed to record a single goal and only contributed five assists, bringing his 2018-19 season total to 2 goals and 18 assists.
While the Washington Capitals don’t expect John Carlson-level offensive production from all their defensemen, Jensen’s ability to contribute on the offensive side is something that will need to improve going forward.
Grade B-: While his play for the Washington Capitals was fairly average after joining the team at the trade deadline, his four-year, $10 million contract extension is still favorable and may lead to the departure of older defensemen on the Washington Capitals roster such as Brooks Orpik or those blueliners with slightly higher price tags such as Matt Niskanen.
Nick Jensen’s ceiling is high and he showed grit this season (remember that no-call on the high stick that left Jensen’s face bleeding), but he’ll need to up his game considerably next year in order to be the player the Washington Capitals hoped he would be when they acquired and extended him.