17 – The differential between the number of penalties drawn and taken by the Capitals this season. That’s the best in the league by a significant margin; the next closest is Winnipeg with a differential of 12. Through their first 18 games, the Caps have drawn 91 penalties – second only to Minnesota (92) – and taken 74 of their own.
Of those 91 penalties, 21 of them have been drawn by the pesky duo of Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd. Hathaway has the team lead with 11, and Dowd is right behind with 10 – both of which put them in the top-12 in penalties drawn in the league, with Hathaway’s rate of 2.96 penalties drawn per 60 checking in as the fourth-highest rate of any skater.