Washington Capitals: Richard Panik is the most regressed player of 2020

One Washington Capitals player that had a down year was Richard Panik.

When Richard Panik was brought on board, he had some big shoes to fill on the Washington Capitals third line after the team traded away Andre Burakovsky and lost Brett Connolly to free agency. On the surface it looked like he was going to be a double digit scorer on a high flying offensive team like the Caps.

The Caps are the fifth NHL team Panik has played on. He started his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning before finding stops in Toronto with the Maple Leafs, the Chicago Blackhawks and finally the Arizona Coyotes before the Caps signed him as a free agent last summer.

In his final season with the Coyotes he had 14 goals. With the Blackhawks he had as much as a 22 goal season in 2016-17. This season with the Caps he only has nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points.

More from Editorials

• Alex Ovechkin will score 50 goals in 2023-24
• It’s time for Capitals fans to chill out with the Anthony Mantha hate
• The Capitals Have Several Potentially Bad Contracts
• Nic Dowd looks to show reliability
• Dylan Strome’s Contract Could Be A Steal For The Capitals

Throughout the season he was the subject of criticism and some fans even called for him to be traded at the deadline for more defensive depth. However trading away someone on the roster is not quite how General Manager Brian MacLellan rolls. He usually finds a way to scheme trade some draft picks for a diamond. This was shown after the team traded for Ilya Kovalchuk.

The Kovalchuk addition was a blessing for everyone on the Caps including Panik. This article isn’t intended to dump on him but rather show that he struggled on the third line. After Kovalchuk joined the team he was inserted into the third line moving Panik to the fourth line. This made Brendan Leipsic the odd man out but now he’s not even on the team anymore after inappropriate comments on social media.

Since moving to the fourth line, however, Panik has played much better and I believe he can still be an X-Factor come playoff time.

Panik’s advanced stats were solid on the third line, which has been the best line all season despite Panik having a down year. He had a 54.26 percent Corsi rating which was fourth on the team and a 51.65 percent scoring chance percentage. His high danger attempts percentage wasn’t that good, however, at 46.27 percent.

Since moving to the fourth line, Panik had two goals in seven games. He also recorded seven points at five on five. His Corsi rating also shot up to 60.32 percent.

Expect to see Panik on the fourth line when the season resumes and jumps straight into the playoffs. Although it looks like a demotion, it seems like he’s gelled well with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway and depth scoring will be a key if the Caps want to hoist the Stanley Cup again.