Brooks Laich 2014-2015 Season Review

Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals had a successful season in 2014-2015. Here at Stars and Sticks, we’ll analyze each of the Washington Capitals and their season. Yesterday, we looked at the answer to the second line center position, Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is a restricted free agent.Today, let’s take a look at the longest tenured Capital, Brooks Laich.

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2014-2015 Season Review: Brooks Laich

THE GOOD: Brooks Laich played 66 games after coming off a groin injury that plagued him for the longest time. He also started dating Julianne Hough, so that’s good too. Spending most of his time in the bottom 6, Laich registered 7 goals and 13 assists for a total of 20 points, but you knew that because it’s simple math. He followed that up with a goal and an assist in the playoffs, in which he played all 14 games. Of course, I didn’t expect much for a dude coming off of a serious injury that hampered him for a long time.

All seven of Laich’s goals came at even strength, two of which were game winners. 11 of his 13 assists came at even strength, while the other two were split one a piece short handed and on the power play. Laich was 11th on the team in shots on goal, which isn’t that great considering the only players below him are Jason Chimera, Tom Wilson, and Jay Beagle, with Chimera and Wilson playing more games than Laich. Laich was 13th in average time on ice averaging 14:43.

Just seeing Laich play more than half of the season is very relieving. Laich often said that he didn’t feel any discomfort this year, and that the games he did miss were due to a completely different injury. Although he’s 31, Brooks Laich is still one of the most respected guys on the team, and still a fan favorite.

Also, raise your hand if you saw Brooks Laich getting more individual scoring chances per 60 minutes at even strength than every Caps forward other than Ovechkin, Burakovsky, Fehr and Beagle. Now put it back down you liar. Brooks Laich led all forwards with 53 blocked shots. The value of blocked shots is kind of debatable, but the fact is, he turned potential shots on goal (and therefore, potential goals) into nothing more than an individual Corsi event. That has value. Despite leading the Caps forwards in short handed ice time per game, Brooks Laich was arguably the Caps most effective penalty killer among forwards, though one could make a solid case for Beagle. Usually one would expect the “most effective player” and the “most used player” during penalty kills to not be the same person, but that was the case with Laich.

Overall, I’d call this season a success for Laich. He proved that the groin injury is hopefully behind him. I think he needed that for his confidence.

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The Bad: Brooks Laich is getting sort of old. He’s 31 years old (that’s an old 31 considering his injuries) with a cap hit of 4.5 million and isn’t a UFA until 2017. With a cap hit that large and plenty of guys to re-sign, many fans believe that a buyout is the way to go, and those fans are wrong. NHL buyouts aren’t simple. The Caps wouldn’t just get $4,500,000 back because they bought out Brooks Laich. A buyout would make Brooks Laich’s cap hit $1.3 million a season for the next four seasons. They would save roughly $2.67 million a year for two years as far as the cap hit. After that, they’d lose $1.3 million per season for the next two. So meh, probably not worth buying out Brooks Laich. Also, you’re probably replacing him with a worse bottom six forward. Keep in mind that he failed his exit physical last April so amnestying Brooks Laich last off-season would have been at best a really low blow by the Caps (and probably illegal).

Brooks Laich’s possession stats weren’t impressive. He had an even strength Fenwick For percentage (FF%) of 49.6 which was 11th among Caps forwards and an even strength Corsi For percentage (CF%) of 49.8% was also 11th. However, looking at his deployment (ninth in offensive zone start percentage), that’s to be expected.

Future Outlook: I’m hopeful that Laich can get some of his form back in the next two seasons, but it’s unlikely. Still, Laich is a well respected player in the organization and has always been a leader among the team. I do see Laich retiring at the end of his contract, simply because of his injury history and his age. I don’t see Laich leaving the bottom six next season either.

I’m slightly optimistic about Brooks Laich’s future. He has the chance to work on improving as a hockey player this off-season. For the last several, he has had to worry more about getting healthy or getting back to NHL level conditioning. Now? He can focus on improving and maybe being that guy who the Caps signed to that extension.

Discussion: Do you think a Brooks Laich buyout is still the way the organization should go? Do you think Laich’s career is at the end, or are you slightly optimistic that his injury is behind him?

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