Grading Radko Gudas’ lone season with the Washington Capitals.
After Radko Gudas was acquired by the Washington Capitals in an exchange that sent Matt Niskanen to the Flyers many fans thought the Capitals came out on top of that deal. A year later we see that Gudas was always a short-term fix and his time in Washington can probably be described as average.
Gudas brought a big heavy-hitting presence to the Capital’s blue line for the 2019-20 season. He was second in hits for the Capitals with 164, which was the 12th most in the entire NHL. Gudas was only behind Brenden Dillon who had the 4th most in the NHL with 194 but played a majority of his season with the San Jose Sharks before the trade deadline.
Being the stay at home defenseman he is Gudas put up only 2 goals and 13 assists in 63 games. In that time Gudas posted a +15 plus/minus with the Caps this season and like most of the Caps players in the bubble playoffs, he was very average with a -1 plus/minus and 2 assists in 5 games.
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Given his experience in the league, the Capitals expected an edge and leadership in the defensive core. After losing Brooks Orpik, Gudas was almost like the next best thing. Obviously, you cannot replace a guy like Orpik and Gudas has proved that.
For the most part, Gudas did exactly what the Capitals expected, and unfortunately, like most Capitals players this year, when it came to the playoffs he felt short. He was a heavy-hitting, stay at home defenseman that was able to pair decently well with a young Jonas Siegenthaler for most of the season.
The Capitals and Gudas knew this wouldn’t be a long-term partnership as Gudas had said multiple times that he didn’t think he would be in Washington for another year because of cap space issues. Gudas was solid in his role and now he will bring his big-body style of play to Florida to Mentor some of their young blueliners.
Grade C+: Gudas was a solid player for the Capital’s defense this past season. He did everything you would expect of him but did not excel past expectations. He is slightly above average because he was a great physical presence and was top 15 in hits this season.