3 – Number of Capitals defensemen with a plus-minus rating of +10 or above, with John Carlson (+11) leading the way along with Radko Gudas (+10) and Michal Kempny (+10). There are currently only six defensemen in the entire NHL sitting at +10 or better, and the Caps have half of them; Nashville’s Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm (+11) along with Boston’s Zdeno Chara (+13), round out the crew.
Unsurprisingly, those three Caps’ blueliners also all crack the top 20 among NHL defensemen in five-on-five PDO (minimum 100 minutes):
We know, we know, plus-minus is one of those stats that people like to dismiss – but while not necessarily valuable in measuring individual success, they can be good indicators of team performance. That the Caps have three defensemen with such high plus-minus numbers is a pretty good sign that, as a team, things are going well on both sides of the puck.