5 strategies the Capitals should do after the holiday break

4 of 5

Aliaksei Protas, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /

#2 Let the kids play

This goes hand in hand with let everybody eat. Why not let the youth get more ice time? Like we mentioned in the power play slide, what is there to lose? You might as well see what you got based on who’s available.

Martin Fehervary currently leads the rookies in averaging 19:01 minutes of ice time. Next up is another defenseman: Dennis Cholowski who averages 13:45 minutes of ice time. Next in line is finally a forward with Aliaksei Protas with 12:46. Then there’s the following: Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (11:54), Connor McMichael (11:13), Hendrix Lapierre (9:35), Garrett Pilon (9:25), Beck Malenstyn (9:03), Brett Leason (8:50), and Joe Snively (6:53). We included every rookie in this exercise so you can get a gist of their ice time, or lack thereof.

Looking at these numbers why is Protas getting more ice time than McMichael? Probably because he’s getting the power play time while McMichael isn’t. The fact none of the forwards are averaging at least 15 minutes is a little alarming. You gotta balance out the ice time between the veterans and the youth. That’s what keeps the engine running on the good teams from October to the summer.

We might see some changes however with this recent stretch that is coming up.

Home/Editorials