Washington Capitals: A look at their defense going into the playoffs

The Washington Capitals defense needs to improve and step up.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Washington Capitals this season was their defense despite having the best defenseman in the NHL in John Carlson, who is vying for his first career Norris Trophy. The void that needs to be filled is a reliable second pair defenseman on the right side.

One player that struggled since his arrival in Washington was Nick Jensen as he struggled to adjust to his new team. Just before the season was paused however, he played well alongside Dmitry Orlov. What they need is a second pair right side defenseman.

On the left side the team is pretty much set. We loved the Brenden Dillon acquisition prior to the trade deadline and he’s done pretty well on his new team on the top pair to the left of Carlson.

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Michal Kempny, who struggled albeit from recovering from a hamstring injury that ended his season last year, moved down to the third pair. Your left side has Dillon, Orlov and Kempny. Jonas Siegenthaler is also a versatile blueliner who can play both left and right side defenseman.

The defense needs Jensen to continue to step up because if he doesn’t they’re in trouble. The odd man out here on the defense is Radko Gudas although he might be able to slot in at one of those round robin games to help head coach Todd Reirden get a clue for which personnel he needs on the blue line when elimination tournament play begins for the boys in red.

Jensen has outplayed Gudas for most of the season and will relied on to try to boost the top four which has struggled all season. The burning question as the team faces tough competition is will the personnel be enough to provide protection for Braden Holtby and Ilya Samsonov.

Both netminders had their share of struggles but part of it was bad defense in front of them. Having holes on defense is a weakness that the team has to fix if they want to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Before the pause, Reirden was going to play Dillon with Orlov on the second pair, moving Orlov to the right side for their game against the Detroit Red Wings that was canceled. Kempny was then going to be reunited with Carlson on the top pair while Siegenthaler and Jensen were on the third pair.

The Caps also have Gudas as an option as well as prospect Martin Fehervary who will likely join the team as a black ace. As the old saying goes, defense wins championships and here’s hoping the long rest helped a struggling defense heal for the playoff grind ahead.