Capital Ups and Downs, Week 15: Stars Shine, Depth Drops Off

Your weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Braden Holtby		Another good week for Holtby overall, highlighted by a 31-for-32 win over the guy who used to hold his gig (Semyon Varlamov) and a 1-0 shutout over the rival. Holtby wasn’t necessarily at his best on Friday night in Nashville, but his 2-1-0/1.69/.940 week represented his seventh-straight two-win/one-loss week, a span over which he went 14-3-4/2.08/.931 which is, y’know, pretty good.
Justin Peters		In his first NHL action since Thanksgiving weekend, Peters stopped just 21 of 26 Dallas shots, dropping his season line to 2-4-1/3.52/.864 which is, y’know, pretty not good. There were mitigating circumstances in this one – the defense in front of him was bad, the team was playing the second game of a back-to-back set after a gut-wrenching loss the night before, etc., but the bottom line is Peters is virtually unplayable right now, which is a problem.
Defensemen
Karl Alzner		Six out of every ten even-strength shots attempted with Alzner on the ice last week were sent towards the opponents’ net and, wouldn’t you know it, three of the give even-strength goals scored with Alzner on the ice last week went in the opponents’ net. Neat. Alzner picked up assists in each of the weekend games to get him halfway to his career high (16) and draw within seven points of his single-season best in points, and has now gone 14 games since the last power-play goal-against for which he was on the ice (that’s in more than 27 minutes of shorthanded ice time).
John Carlson		Carlson’s underlying numbers weren’t bad at all, but the overlying ones were, including being on the ice for six of the ten goals the Caps allowed (two on the power-play) while picking up a single secondary assist on the week. Over the past 15 games, Carlson has been on the ice for more than twice as many goals-against as any Caps skater not named Brooks (22 of 34, or 65%).
John Erskine		Gotta think Big John might be seeing some ice time right now if he was healthy… so it may be best for the team that he isn’t.
Mike Green		Notched a couple of helpers in Nashville, but that was it for a week in which Green extended his goal-less streak to a dozen games and, more importantly, was the Caps’ second-worst possession defenseman, beating out only his partner, Jack Hillen, in that metric (granted, the raw numbers were still solid). Does he miss Nate Schmidt? His Corsi-For percentage with Schmidt is 54 and drops to 46 with Hillen (though Green’s Goals-For percentage spikes from 52 to 60 percent with Hillen versus Schmidt).
Jack Hillen		Hillen was the only Caps defenseman with a Corsi-For percentage under 55.9 percent overall (he was at 48.9), and even in Within-1 situations, he lagged far behind the rest of the D-corps. At this point, he’s dragging Green down with him, so the Caps really should be looking at their other options for that sixth defenseman.
Matt Niskanen		Committed the soul-crushingest of boners on Friday night in Nashville, almost literally handing the chance to win the game to James Neal, but… there really is no but. Bad, bad play by a good, good player (who had a two-assist week with good possession otherwise). Move along.
Steve Oleksy		Recalled from Hershey in the wake of the Schmidt injury, but has yet to see any action for the big club this season. That should change soon.
Dmitry Orlov		Still out and now missed in a way that he wasn’t when Schmidt was healthy and playing.
Brooks Orpik		Through the first 11 of the 12 periods the Caps played last week, they’d surrendered eight goals, and they all had one thing in common – yep, Brooks Orpik. Were they all Orpik’s fault? Of course not. But Orpik’s now been on the ice for 20 of the last 29 goals the Caps have surrendered… which is just four fewer than Braden Holtby has been on for.
Nate Schmidt		Since he got injured while playing in the AHL, Schmidt will receive his AHL salary – roughly 18% of his NHL pay – while he’s out. That’s almost literally adding insult to injury.
Forwards
Nicklas Backstrom		Had a goal and four assists, a Corsi-For percentage north of 60 (and just a hair under when the scores were within a goal), and won 53 percent of his face-offs. Another strong week for the Caps’ leading scorer, though it’s perhaps worth noting (as he took another two minors) that Backstrom is taking penalties at career-high per-game and five-on-five rates.
Jay Beagle		Scored against Colorado and the Caps out-shot opponents when he was on the ice. That’s solid work by a solid worker.
Troy Brouwer		Followed a strong week with a pair of power-play assists… and jack at even strength. Brouwer’s five-on-five Relative Corsi was bad, reflecting the fact that his line couldn’t get much of anything going and ended up outscored 2-0 for the week (in even shots). Brouwer’s Corsi-For per 60 at fives last week was lower than any top-nine forward’s (dramatically lower than the Backstrom or Fehr lines’), and his Corsi-Against rate second-highest on the team (just under Marcus Johansson’s; dramatically higher than the Backstrom or Fehr lines’). That’s a troubling combination.
Andre Burakovsky		The skill is clearly there and his line (well, really Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin’s line) is dominating possession – Burakovsky’s Corsi-For percentage last week was 65.2. So where are the points? They’ll come; the young Swede has probably been a bit too deferential with the puck, but did pick up a goal on Saturday night in his first game of the season with more than five shot attempts. Imagine that.
Jason Chimera		Assisted on Beagle’s tally and scored a goal – the only goal of the game, in fact – against the Flyers, but no Cap who played more than one game last week had worse possession stats or attempted fewer shots at five-a-side. Gotta wonder if Chimera’s days in D.C. are numbered.
Eric Fehr		Had just the one goal on the week, but rocked a team-high 65.8 Corsi-For five-on-five percentage (64.7 Within-1), and won 72.5% of his draws (including a ridiculous 15-of-16 in Dallas). Fehr missed Friday night’s game and, as far as the Caps were concerned, the feeling was very much mutual – the third line that started the evening managed just two shot attempts at fives, but was in double digits in each game Fehr played.
Marcus Johansson		Potted his 13th goal of the season (one shy of a career-best) while on the power-play in Nashville, but struggled at even strength (see the Brouwer note above). Shame, too, with this downturn coming on the heels of such a strong week in that respect.
Evgeny Kuznetsov		Snake-bitten? Perhaps. Kuznetsov has gone six games without a point and 11 without a goal, despite creating chances for himself and others. Unfortunately, some of those “others” wear different sweaters, as was the case in Nashville. On the plus side, his face-off percentage is all the way up to an acceptable 45.8 percent (just don’t lose ’em clean in the defensive zone, Kuzya).
Brooks Laich		Laich had a very solid week, possession-wise (63.2 CF%), but the results weren’t there. They will be, if he keeps it up.
Michael Latta		Started between Laich and Joel Ward in his return to Nashville Friday night… but didn’t end the night there. Latta was on the ice for two Caps shot attempts and six Preds tries, including a goal, and that was pretty much all Barry Trotz needed to see. Could Hershey be a better fit for him right now?
Alex Ovechkin		Four games, four goals, including the game-winner against the Avs, the Caps’ first and second goals against the Preds (to dig the Caps out of a two-zippy hole) and the Caps’ third goal against the Stars early in the third period (to complete the comeback from down three-cob). His possession stats were (are) super and his goals-for (and, as a result, plus-minus) are reflecting that. All systems go for Ovechkin.
Aaron Volpatti		So if the Caps don’t consider this guy a better option than Jason Chimera (and they probably shouldn’t)… what’s the endgame here?
Joel Ward		In the same boat as Laich – process looks good, results should follow.
Tom Wilson		Fired four shots on goal and picked up an assist against the Avs in what was perhaps his best game in weeks… but that’s not saying much. Since being demoted (for now) from the top line, Wilson has just that one assist and just three game with a shot on goal (seven without). Questions about Wilson’s usage and development are flying under the radar right now.