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Washington Capitals: Top 5 players to get excited for

By Michael Marzzacco

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 06: Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks on before a game against the New York Islanders at Capital One Arena on April 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 06: Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks on before a game against the New York Islanders at Capital One Arena on April 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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#5 Radko Gudas

PHILADELPHIA, PA – APRIL 06: Danny Ashbee the Son of the late Barry Ashbee presents Radko Gudas #3 of the Philadelphia Flyers with the Barry Ashbee award for the teams outstanding defenseman prior to an NHL game against the Carolina Hurricanes on April 6, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – APRIL 06: Danny Ashbee the Son of the late Barry Ashbee presents Radko Gudas #3 of the Philadelphia Flyers with the Barry Ashbee award for the teams outstanding defenseman prior to an NHL game against the Carolina Hurricanes on April 6, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Radko Gudas is the newest defenseman in town, the replacement of Matt Niskanen. We’ve seen him on the ice for seven seasons including quite frequently in the last four years in Metropolitan Division matchups with the Philadelphia Flyers.

I’m particularly excited to see more of a physical presence on the ice from the blueline with the Gudas addition as well as someone who can come in and stick up for a teammate should anybody target another.

Make no mistake about it, Matt Niskanen will be missed in that Washington Capitals locker room. He was always around to give an honest answer whether the Capitals won big or lost big. That accountability and taking responsibility among losses that are team efforts is a quality not found in many people.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Caps upgraded their defense with the Gudas addition. Analytically, it looks like it. Last season Gudas had the fourth-best Corsi-For percentage on the Flyers among defensemen at 49.56% and the third-best Fenwick-For percentage at %50.21.

Matt Niskanen on the other hand had the seventh-worst Corsi-For percentage among Capitals defensemen that played in at least 33 games at 47.15% (via Natural Stat Trick).

We’ll see who winds up next to Gudas when opening night begins.

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