Looking At The Washington Capitals Defense In The Series vs Islanders

Defense was one of, if not the biggest question mark on this Washington Capitals team coming into the playoffs.

The defense was an issue all season, that leading to the Washington Capitals going out and getting a top four defenseman in Brenden Dillon at the trade deadline. Has that acquisition helped? Has the Capitals defense improved?

Not if you’re looking at the stats. So far in these playoffs, including the round robin games, the Capitals have allowed 15 goals while 5v5. That’s tied for fourth most in the NHL, and the teams around them have played at least a full game more, some even more than that. Then only teams that have allowed more goals while 5v5 are the Chicago Blackhawks (22), the Columbus Blue Jackets (16) and the Arizona Coyotes (16). Vegas and Boston have also given up 15 goals while 5v5.

Defense might have been the question mark coming into this playoff year, but it’s not solely to blame for the situation the Capitals find themselves in, that being down 0-3 or now 1-3 in their playoff series against the Islanders. While the defense hasn’t been that great, they haven’t scored very much while 5v5 either. They have just 7 5v5 goals since play resumed earlier this month. Alex Ovechkin has scored 3 of those 7 as well.

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There is plenty to blame for the Capitals struggles. But the defense was the biggest question mark for most of this season. So lets take a look at the Capitals defensemen and see how they are doing.

We will only be looking at the series vs the Islanders here and all of these stats will be 5v5 as usual.

John Carlson

40% – Corsi%

38% – Scoring Chance%

22.73% – High Danger Attempts%

Carlson was dominant to start the 2019-20 season. He has not had a great full season though. I have my opinions on him winning the Norris Trophy. I don’t know who else should win it, but playing well for half a season doesn’t scream out award worthy to me. To make matters worse, his iffy play has come with him into the playoffs so far.

While on the ice John Carlson spends more time in his own zone that the opponents zone. The Caps have 48 shot attempts for and 72 against when Carlson is one the ice. The attempts also lead to 19 chances for and 31 against as well as 5 high danger attempts for with 17 against.

To make all that worse, the Capitals do not have a 5v5 goal when Carlson is on the ice. They have been scored on 6 times though.

If the Capitals want to go far in the playoffs they will need the best guy on their defense to get going both offensively and defensively. In the playoffs, you need your best players to be your best players. Carlson is one of their best players, and their best player on defense. He needs to be one of the best Capitals going forward.

Dmitry Orlov

51.80% – Corsi%

50% – Scoring Chance%

31.03% – High Danger Attempt%

If Carlson is number one on the Capitals defense, Dmitry Orlov is number two. His stats look a lot better than Carlson’s, but there is still plenty of room for improvement as well.

With Orlov, the Caps have 72 shot attempts for and 67 against, that puts him above the 50% mark which is good. While on the ice the Caps have 36 scoring chances for and against which puts him right at 50%. The Islanders get to the middle of the ice and into the high danger areas a lot better than Washington and it shows for pretty much every Capitals defenseman. When Orlov is on the ice the Capitals have 9 high danger attempts for and 20 against.

Brenden Dillon

44.62% – Corsi%

50.77% – Scoring Chance%

37.93% – High Danger Attempts%

The biggest deadline acquisition, at least on the defense is a bit of a mixed bag, at least statistically. While on the ice the Capitals have 43 attempts for and 50 against. The scoring chances look better, with Brenden Dillon on the ice the Caps have 33 chances for and 32 against. Then the high danger chances do not look good. 11 attempts for and 18 against.

The Capitals have the most high danger attempts for when Dillon is on the ice than any other Capitals defenseman. The next high is Orlov with 9.

Nick Jensen

56.99% – Corsi%

51.16% – Scoring Chance%

33.33% – High Danger Attempts%

Nick Jensen is the last Caps defenseman to play in all four games in this series. Using that logic I suppose he’s the last of the top four defensemen.

Of the guys who have played in all four games of this series Jensen is the best when looking at the stats. He has the highest shot attempts percentage and scoring chance percentage. While Jensen is on the Caps have 53 attempts for and 40 against. They also have 22 chances for and 21 against, and have 6 high danger attempts for with 12 against.

Jensen is one of just three Capitals defensemen to be on the ice for a goal for. Washington has scored one goal while Jensen is on the ice and have conceded just one goal. The other guys to have goals while on the ice are Orlov (3) and Dillon (2).

Jonas Siegenthaler

48.94% – Corsi%

45.45% – Scoring Chance%

22.22% – High Danger Attempts%

Jonas Siegenthaler has played in three of the four games in the series against the Islanders. His percentages look worse than the actual stats, as most are just a couple away from being at 50%

The shot attempts are 23 for and 24 against, the scoring chances are 10 for and 12 against and the high danger attempts are the worst with just 2 for and 7 against. The numbers to know for Siegenthaler I suppose are this. While on the ice the Capitals have not scored a goal, they have allowed three goals.

Michal Kempny

40.68% – Corsi%

32% – Scoring Chance%

33.33% – High Danger Attempts%

Michal Kempny has potentially been the most disappointing Capitals defenseman. After being so good during the Capitals run to the Stanley Cup in 2018 he has not been able to recreate that success. Thanks to his struggles he’s played in just two of the four games.

While on the ice Washington has 24 attempts for and 35 against. They also have just 8 chances for and 17 against with 4 high danger attempts for and 8 against.

Once a no doubt player on the Capitals defense has now turned into a player fighting for a jersey every night. Here’s to hoping he can regain his form sometime soon.

Radko Gudas

64.44% – Corsi%

70% – Scoring Chance%

75% – High Danger Attempts%

Radko Gudas was a great addition to the Capitals defense early in the season. As the year went on his play started to go down a bit and here we are, he is also fighting for a spot every game. Stats wise he is no doubt the Capitals best defenseman. It’s not all about stats though.

With Gudas on the ice the Caps have 29 attempts for and 16 against. Of those attempts, 14 of them are scoring chances for Washington and 4 of them are chances against. They also have 3 high danger attempts for with just 1 against.

Martin Fehervary

61.90% – Corsi%

44.44% – Scoring Chance%

0% – High Danger Attempts%

This is basically just showing the stats from the one game Martin Fehervary has played in which was Game 3. The stats don’t look to bad however, even with two of the three being below 50% and one being a goose egg.

The Caps have 13 attempts for and 8 against with Fehervary on the ice. They have 4 chances for and 5 against and zero high danger attempts for and just one against.

While he hasn’t played very much, the stats look good. Better than most and better than the top guys on this team. We’ll see if he can get back into this series in the future.