Regular Season
Playoffs
Key Stat: Jaskin skated just 373 minutes this season, which was dead last among Caps players who were with the team since training camp. It’s the lowest total ice time he’s seen since he became a full-time NHLer in 2014.
The Good: Well, fortunately for 26-year-old Dmitrij himself, who is a restricted free agent (RFA) this offseason, you can’t exactly say his stock around the league has fallen as a result of this season.
After all, it’s hard for teams to change their opinion of you when they can’t even watch you play. And that’s been the story for Jaskin all season. When the Capitals and GM Brian MacLellan claimed Jaskin off of waivers from St. Louis on October 2nd, it was frankly a bit of a surprise to most of us in the Caps-O-Sphere. While the pipeline of forwards flowing south from Hershey may not be as robust as it once was, players like Riley Barber, Nathan Walker, Jayson Megna, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, and even Russian newcomer Sergei Shumakov all seemed to be likely candidates for the rotating fourth-line/healthy scratch role in Washington. So when another replacement-level winger joined the fray in Jaskin, the logic of the move was not immediately apparent.
It never did become apparent.
Spoiler: That was NOT a thing he could help with.
That said, Dima-With-a-J still has good size (6’3, 216 lbs) for the NHL, and will likely get other chances around the league when the Capitals almost certainly decide not to qualify him.
The Bad: Yikes. It’s a Tower of Bad-ble all the way down for Dmitrij in Washington this season.
First, there was this comment from Capitals’ head coach Todd Reirden, who never seemed too keen on signing Jaskin in the first place. After the Czech forward was on the ice for a power play goal-against, Reirden singled out Jaskin for criticism the next day in a way and with a tone of voice I never heard him use about anyone else:
Whether the criticism was fair or not, Jaskin’s hands of stone and inability to put pucks into the back of the net (2 goals, 6 assists) kept him off the ice for most of the season, suiting up for just 37 games.
In fact, it got so bad in Washington that Jaskin spent part of April – when ALL depth players should be getting ready for the playoff push, when injuries could call anyone into action at a moment’s notice – playing defense at practice, filling in to make the pairings even, serving his odd limboesque turn as a glorified plastic training pylon.
And whether the cause of this enmity between Reirden and Jaskin was indeed canicide, or just a coach and his GM not agreeing about the long-term viability of a player, Jaskin will most likely be very glad to be leaving Washington.
Even if it means he can’t eat any more precious metals with his buddies Ovi, Kuzy, and Dima.
The Video:
The Charts:
The Discussion: Is there any reason to bring Jaskin back next season? If so – what sort of cap hit would you like him to carry? Do you think Jaskin’s lack of production this year is due to his ceiling as a player, his fit into Washington’s system, or the result of being misused by Coach Reirden? What would it take for you to give him a “10” next year?
Other Jaskin Season Reviews: Peerless, RMNB
The Vote: Rate Jaskin 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.
Poll