Washington Capitals: Replacing Jay Beagle on faceoffs is tough
By Ron Juckett
As the Washington Capitals move forward, they will struggle finding someone as capable on the draw as Jay Beagle. Who will fill the need?
The Washington Capitals will miss Jay Beagle.
No, they will not miss the three-years and $12 million handed out by the Vancouver Canucks. Talk about an overpay. Beagle’s 12:27 a night on the ice will get filled and his 22 points is a low bar to hop over.
But, no one comes close on the roster to Beagle’s ability to win faceoffs. Last year, he won 58.5 percent or 584 out of 998. The next highest success rate for those taking 100 or more puck drops is Nicklas Backstrom. Although his 51.2 percent is in the Caps favor, it is not stellar.
Worse is Evgeny Kuznetsov’s 44.2 win percentage over 1,018 faceoffs. Bad things happen, especially in your own zone, when you cannot win the draw.
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Washington hopes that either Chandler Stevenson or Andre Burakovsky can fill Beagle’s role killing penalties. Both forwards won over 54 percent of faceoffs but combined to take 106. Backstrom received 1371 alone.
Any penalty killer can replace Beagle’s shot blocking and checking abilities. No one was equating Beagle with Tom Wilson in the physicality department. With Stephenson and Burakovsky a decade younger than the departed Beagle, they should be quicker and more agile.
Again, it comes down to winning draws.
Last season, the Caps killed 80.3 percent of penalties. They also drew 19 more shorthanded-situations than average, 269 to 250. The NHL penalty-kill rate was 79.82 percent. Washington was slightly above-average. A Beagle faceoff win helped when they needed it.
Nic Dowd, who the Caps signed as a free agent, is average on the draw. In three NHL seasons, his win rate is 49.1 percent. Although he figures to anchor the fourth line, those faceoff numbers will not cut it.
With Washington’s cap space gone, signing a faceoff specialist is not happening this year. As Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly settled in with new contracts, the physical part of the Caps game is squared away. Helps that Brooks Orpik returns to crush checks too.
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But, the Washington Capitals will miss Jay Beagle’s ability to control the start of a possession. They hope Stevenson, as a natural center, will learn on the fly. Until he gets there, others will fill the need. Penalties happen, but they need not hurt.