From Alexeyev to Wilson, we’re taking a look at and grading the 2023-24 season for every player who laced ‘em up for the Washington Capitals for a significant number of games during the campaign, with an eye towards 2024-25. Next up, Nic Dowd.
The Bio:
#26 | Center | Shoots: Right
Height: 6’1” | Weight: 193 | Born: May 27, 1990
Birthplace: Huntsville, AL | Acquired: Signed as a free agent on July 1, 2018
Cap Hit: $1,300,000 | Signed Through: 2024-25 | Expiry Status: Unrestricted Free Agent
The Scouting Report (via CapFriendly):
Report: February 2024 | Rating: 82 | Projection: Third Line
- Dowd is a reliable, middle of the lineup, forward who competes and plays with pace.
- He continues to average around 16:00 TOI. Dowd is deployed at ES and PK.
- He leans match-up / checking forward but also chips in with some depth offense.
- Through 45GP he had posted 8G-8A and was a (+8) defensively.
- His contract runs through 24/25. The cap hit is $1.3 million.
- A reliable, bottom six, veteran forward.
The Stats:
The Charts:
The Key Stat: Nic Dowd skated a career-high average of 15:12 per game this season, almost a whole minute more than the high he set in 2020-2021. Dowd also ranked second among forwards in shorthanded TOI per game with 2:16, despite also being second on the team in minor penalties (more on that below).
The Good: Ever the defensive forward, Nic Dowd was called on to match up against opponent’s top lines quite often this season. Dowd took 90.3% of his faceoffs in the defensive zone this year, second only to linemate Beck Malenstyn by 1.9%. Whenever HC Spencer Carbery could manage the matchups, Dowd was often trusted with shutting down players like Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak, and Nathan MacKinnon.
Despite being deployed primarily in defensive situations, Dowd also put together a decent season offensively. He had 22 points (12G, 10A) in 65 games, tied for the third-best points total of his career. This was a bit of a drop from last season (13G, 12A) but still solid for a fourth-line center who spends so much time on the penalty kill and no time on the power play. A key piece of his offensive game this year? A whopping 19.7 S%, which was third-best on the team.
Speaking of the penalty kill, Nic Dowd was once again an important piece of the Capitals’ PK unit. Similar to his even-strength usage, Dowd was often killing penalties against opponents’ PP1 units. He did a lot of net-front defending when the Caps were a man down, something that Washington’s PK lacked when Dowd was off the ice.
Oh and one more thing: Nic and his wife Paige announced in April that they are sponsoring Judy, a future service dog in training, through America’s VetDogs with the proceeds of their Dowd’s Crowd program. How can that not bring a smile to your face?
The Bad: For a player so vital to Washington’s penalty kill, Nic Dowd sure does take a lot of penalties. His 19 minor penalties were second-most on the team, behind Tom Wilson. While he did offset that a bit by drawing 15 penalties, it’s still not great to have one of the team’s best defensive forwards in the box so often when the PK is out on the ice. His jump from 26 PIM in 2023-2023 to 47 this season is a bit of a concerning lack of discipline, especially because he had improved so notably from 44 PIM in 2021-2022. If this is a roller coaster, hopefully next season is another drop.
The Video:
The Discussion: Do you think the Capitals should have traded Dowd at this year’s deadline? How do you think playing with a reliable player like Dowd impacted his younger linemates like Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aube-Kubel? And finally, what would it take for you to give Dowd a 10 next season?
The Vote: Rate Nic Dowd 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 – so 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.