Regular season
Playoffs
Key Stat: The Capitals played 12 sets of back-to-back games in 2018-19, and Copley was called upon to play the second leg of those matchups eight times, finishing with a record of 4-3-1 in those games.
In addition, he played both games of consecutive matchups twice this year (on 11/13-11/14 and 1/14-1/15) and lost the second leg both occasions.
The Good: At the age of 27 in what was technically his rookie season, Copley won over 60% of his starts posting a 16-7-3 record in 24 starts with a 2.90 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
The Bad: To evaluate Copley’s performance, the easiest point of comparison is to look at Capitals backup net-minders from the past several years:
Based on the numbers, Copley’s stats were securely in the “average” range, despite his winning record. However, he routinely drew the tough assignment of the second game of back-to-back matchups (where he won more than he lost.)
Also, on a personal note, I recapped more games in which Copley got the start than did Braden Holtby, and I never once spelled “Pheonix” correctly on the first attempt.
The Video:
The Chart:
The Discussion: With Braden Holtby’s long-term future with the Caps in question, do you see Copley as being next in line for the starter’s role? What kind of challenge do you think netminding prospects Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov present to Copley’s job in DC? What would it take for you to give him a ‘10’ next season?”
The Vote: Rate Copley below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.