Washington Capitals: Battered and Bruised, the Caps Need Connor McMichael on the Power Play
By David Atlas
Connor McMichael passes the eye-test and advanced analytics back it up. With the rookie on the ice, the Capitals dominate play. What more does the coaching staff need to see?
The Washington Capitals are one of the most top heavy teams in the NHL right now. The team is missing the entirety of it’s second-line as well as their top penalty-killer, Nic Dowd. Without the likes of Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, and Anthony Mantha it’s no surprise that the team is relying heavily on their top line. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Their usually-feared power play unit is an embarrassment, sucking life out of the game and letting the opposition hang around when they ought to be the executioners. The solution is simple: Connor McMichael.
Thursday night was another perfect example of the man-advantage’s ineptitude. The Capitals were 0-for-4 including a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity that came midway through the second period. Already up, 2-0, a goal or perhaps even a pair would have put the Caps firmly in the driver’s seat. Instead, the unit failed and let the Detroit Red Wings hang around. The Capitals played an excellent defensive game and wound up winning 2-0, but if the Wings came back to steal a point or even two, it wouldn’t take a genius to look back to a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity and point to that failed opportunity as the tipping point in the game. The Caps had the Wings on the ropes and couldn’t deal the finishing blow.
The coaching staff evidently doesn’t see it like that. The team controls 5-on-5 play and generates a lot of opportunities on the man-advantage because of it. Washington is seventh in the NHL when it comes to total number of power plays. But once they go a man-up, the problems begin.
The Capitals’ power play unit is operating at a 17.02 percent clip, good for 20th in the NHL. Sure, they’re missing Oshie and Backstrom who are two crucial members of the power play unit but it’s the coaching staff’s poor personnel decisions that are what’s holding this unit back. John Carlson has been the team’s worst defender and has been downright awful on the power-play. It is long overdue for Justin Schultz or Dmitry Orlov to get a chance to quarterback the top unit. And then, there’s Conor Sheary, who is a good player in his own right, but has no business being on the Capitals top power play unit.
Connor McMichael, who has shown himself to be NHL-ready is much more talented offensively than Sheary and deserves to take his spot on the team’s top power play unit. With McMichael on the ice, albeit in limited ice-time, the Capitals ooze puck possession and generate loads of scoring chances. McMichael has only scored two goals and three assists but has an expected Goals For of 64.81 percent, better than Evgeny Kuznetsov (56.58 percent) and Alex Ovechkin (56.46 percent). McMichael also leads the team in Corsi For Percentage at 56.46 percent and High Danger Chances For Percentage at 67.44 percent. Connor McMichael passes the eye-test and advanced analytics back it up. With the rookie on the ice, the Capitals dominate play. What more does the coaching staff need to see?
Hot. Zach Fucale and the Washington Capitals shutout Red Wings. light
If McMichael isn’t on the top power play unit and the Capitals keep letting teams hang around instead of taking advantage of the power play chances they get to finish games, they’re going to start losing crucial standings points in the tough Metropolitan Division and what’s most frustrating is that the answer is right in front of our faces.