Ahead of the Hershey Bears in tonight's Calder Cup Finals, next up on our Washington Capitals player report card series breaks down the odd season of Matthew Phillips that saw his journey take a weird turn.
Phillips had a good preseason and it was good enough to imprss the coaches to make the team out of training camp. The basic stats with the Caps are that he recordd five points in 28 games with a goal and four assists along with a plus/minus of -3.
That one goal just so happened to come against his old organization that drafted him in the Calgary Flames.
Waivers
In March during the trade deadline madness the Caps placed Phillips on waivers to only get picked up by the division rivial Pittsburgh Penguins where he went scoreless in three NHL games. The Caps would reclaim him only for Phillips to appear in another NHL game against Carolina.
In the AHL he appeared in nine regular season Bears games where he recorded six points in nine games with three goals and three assists.
Calder Cup Playoffs
In the playoffs, Phillips has been scoreless for six games. He has yet to score in the Calder Cup Finals so he's certainly due for a big performance tonight with the series tied at one game apiece in Coachella Valley tonight at a 10 p.m. eastern puck drop on AHLTV and Monumental Sports Network (in the DC market). You can listen to the game worldwide by clicking the link here with Zach Fisch on the call.
I want to give a good grade to Phillips due to his speed. He has it in him to score a big goal tonight. At just 26 at center he could be a top six the Caps need if they want to get younger and with the salary cap news that recently came out. At 141 pounds he's a "whippersnapper" that is appreciated in Hershey and was appreciated when he was with Calgary's AHL affiliate.
Once again puck drop for the Bears game is at 10 p.m. if you live on the east coast and 7 p.m. if you live out west.