Grading Travis Boyd’s final season with the Washington Capitals.
Travis Boyd is a speedy and effective bottom six forward. In his third Washington Capitals season he didn’t get the playing time he deserved as the Caps made new additions to the fourth line in Brendan Leipsic and Garnet Hathaway. It, unfortunately, made him the odd man out.
There wasn’t a lot to say about Boyd last season as he was a part time player that would slot in when Nic Dowd or another center was unavailable. When the 26 year old was on the ice he had the highest on ice goal percentage on the team 15-5.
In 24 games, Boyd had three goals and seven assists for 10 points. It was a drop off from his five goal season the year before but he had more games, there was no pandemic, and his role was much different than it was this past season.
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Inside the bubble in Toronto, Boyd had a goal in Washington’s round robin loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. He also filled in the center role with Nicklas Backstrom‘s injury in the New York Islanders series.
In the regular season, Boyd had a 54.03 percent Corsi For percentage, a 52.29 percent Fenwick For percentage, but a low 41.18 percent High Danger Chances For. In the playoffs his advanced stats were simply bad. A 42.22 percent Corsi For percentage, a 40 percent Fenwick For percentage and a 30 percent High Danger Chances For. Ouch.
Boyd however still has offensive firepower as a quiet sniper. He’s a low player but when he goes to the net he goes hard in the paint. Still his numbers weren’t enough for the Caps to bring him back. They didn’t extend a qualifying offer to him as a restricted free agent, allowing him to walk. He is now with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Boyd also only played four games with the Hershey Bears scoring four goals and adding two assists for six points. Not bad but he definitely deserved more playing time with the big club.
Grade C: Boyd gets an average grade for the average numbers he put up on a lack of playing time. Here’s hoping he gets a better opportunity on a young and hungry Maple Leafs team. The Caps weren’t going to bring him back in their cap strapped situation.