Washington Capitals Stars Of The Week: 1/5 – 1/12
The Washington Capitals in my humble opinion are in suffering from, what you might call, the mid season blues.
It’s not that uncommon, it happens to a lot of teams and I would say it happens a lot during this time of the year. A great team that in the middle of the season right around the all-star break kind of loses focus.
I think this last week can serve as some proof of this. Three or four games were played and the Capitals lost two of them, probably should have lost three of the four. The wins against a bad Ottawa Senators team and a struggling San Jose Sharks team, Washington should have lost that game to the Sharks if not for a historic last minute comeback.
The losses came against division rival Flyers and Devils. The struggles have come and they have revealed issues this team has. It’s nothing to freak out at yet. Why? Because it is stars of the week time.
It’s the absolute best time of the week in the entire world. World peace happens for a couple of minutes every week because of us. So let’s do it!
Lars Eller
If you’re looking for a MCP, or most consistent player of the year award for the Washington Capitals you might have a slam dunk winner in Lars Eller. Even when the Capitals don’t really show up as a team I always seem to notice number 20 on the ice.
This week wasn’t a huge stats week for Eller. He had just the one goal which came in the thrashing of one of the leagues worst teams.
His advanced stats were pretty good though. He was ninth in Corsi% on the team this week with a 53.52% rating. While on the ice the Capitals had 19 scoring chances and had 14 scoring chances against. That mean he had a 57.58 scoring chance percentage, that was second on the team this week behind someone we’ll mention in a minute. On the down side, with Eller on the ice the Caps had eight high danger chances for and 10 against.
Individually, Eller did have a good week though. He led the team in individual scoring chances with 11, the next highest being the two men we’ll mention later with 10. He also had a solid four high danger chances for which tied for second on the team. The leader in that stat this week was Mr. Tom Wilson who had 5.
He also led the team in takeaways this week with four. On top of all that he won nearly 56% of his faceoffs this week, winning 19 of 34 draws.
It was another solid week for one of if not the most consistent Cap. Thanks to that he once again cracks our stars of the week.
Nicklas Backstrom
Now for the first of two men that Lars Eller was fighting for “top spot” on stars of the week, if there is such a thing. Backstrom was one of four players who tied for the team lead in points this week with three. The other three being Tom Wilson, Jakub Vrana and John Carlson.
The reason I took Backstrom over a couple of other guys was because his advanced stats were better. In one case they were much better which is why Backstrom will make this list and why the other guy will not.
Backstrom this week was fourth on the team in Corsi% at 56.04%, he was behind only Dowd, Hathaway and Kempny. He was alone in first in scoring chance% this week at 59.19%, Eller was second as we mentioned before. With Backstrom on the ice the Capitals had 29 chances for and 20 against. The Caps had seven high danger chances for and seven against with number 19 on the ice.
Backstrom was among the team leaders in individual scoring chances as well having 10 of those, tied for second, behind Eller. He also had two high danger attempts.
It wasn’t the flashiest week but he put up points and his stats were very good as well. In down week in terms of results for the team, I think Backstrom is a solid choice for our stars of the week.
T.J. Oshie
Before we get to why he is in our stars of the week, I think Congratulations are in order for one of the Capitals most popular players. If it wasn’t clear that Oshie is a fan favorite in D.C. it should be now. Fans voted the former St. Louis Blue into the all-star game in St. Louis. It will be his first all-star game.
Now back to stars of the week business. The NHL all-star had two points this week, both being goals. Again, it could have been someone else here but the advanced stats told the difference for me this week.
With Oshie on the ice the Capitals had 41 shots attempts for and 33 against, that means his percentage was 55.41%. The scoring chances had the Caps at 21 and their opponents at 18 for a 53.85%. Washington had just four high danger chances for with six against with Oshie on the ice however. He was on the ice for four goals and two against though, while the high danger chances might have gone against Oshie and the Caps the goals were on the plus side.
T.J. had a good week individually too. He was towards the top of the team in scoring chances with 10, tied with Backstrom for second behind only Eller’s 11. He had two high danger chances as well.
He had a pretty good week on the stats sheet, his advanced stats look pretty good and you can now call him an NHL all-star. If he’s an all-star I guess you can call him one of our stars of the week.
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The middle of the season is almost upon us. While game 41, the official mid point has come and gone, the all-star break I think is widely considered the halfway mark. There’s just three games left until that point. We’ll see if the Capitals can rebound before the break.