From Beauvillier to Wilson, we’re taking a look at and grading the 2024-25 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 2025-24. Next up, Rasmus Sandin.
The Bio:
#38 | Defense | Shoots: Left
Height: 5’11” | Weight: 189 | Born: March 7, 2000
Birthplace: Uppsala, SWE | Acquired: Traded to the Caps on Feb. 28, 2023, for Erik Gustafsson and a 2023 first-round pick
Cap Hit: $4,600,000 | Signed Through: 2028-29 | Expiry Status: Unrestricted Free Agent
The Scouting Report (via EP)
The Stats:
The Charts:
The Key Stat: +13. What a difference a season makes. Or perhaps, defensive pairings. Sandin played almost 600 minutes with John Carlson at 5v5 this season. Second most was Matt Roy at 392 minutes. Perhaps the big thing here is he didn’t play almost 400 minutes with Nick Jensen this season.
The Good: Sandin played in all 82 games. Health is no small feat, knock on wood. He hit a new career total in points with 30, 4 goals and 26 assists. Of those assists he had more primary 14 than secondary 12. All while averaging less than 20 minutes a game. Although he did not make someone’s prediction for 30 assists. Sandin also rated better defensively this season. His HDCF% was 53.50 and he was even for HDGF% at 50. He was also on the ice for more defensive zone draws than offensive draws, 488 to 431. And more shift starts 220 in the defensive zone than offensive zone 142. An uptick from last season where he was even at 149. Sandin was also positive with the players he played the most with. Sandin and Carlson together had a CF% of 50.26. Sandin had a higher CF% with Trevor van Riemsdyk at 50.77 with 278 minutes played together.
Sandin is a passer and a skater. His ability to start the breakout is an asset for the team. Per allthreezones Sandin is positive in retrievals leading to exits per 60, at 1.51. When he touches the puck in the D zone the team exits the zone more. Not just getting the puck out but actual exits. And his skating ability can help with offensive zone entries with control. He’s well above league average in zone entries/60 at 3.16 but perhaps more importantly controlled entries at 2.65.
Another positive, Sandin only took 10 penalties (one major) while drawing 11.
The Bad: Sandin’s offense didn’t take as much of a jump in a full 82 game season. While he did average less ice time and have more points, with a full season, 30 assists and close to ten goals should be achievable. Some of that has to do with the addition of Jacob Chychrun. He is the clear left handed offensive Dman. But a healthy Caps blue line means Sandin and Martin Fehérváry are battling for ice time as both had averaged around 19 minutes of ice time per game. Certainly different usage for the two, but Fehérváry wasn’t too far off in points at 25, and one more goal than Sandin.
Sandin’s defense improved but he also had a CF% score of 49.92. And per allthreezones Sandin’s worst stat is when an opposing player comes into the D zone against Sandin at -2.12. That could be system if the Caps sit back at the blue line or Sandin is bad at defending the rush.
And of course the playoffs. Fehérváry out with injury was a big loss and forced Sandin to play tougher minutes and paired with Roy through most of the playoffs. His only point, an assist, was in the third game in the series against Montreal.
He has also taken the most hits of any defensemen at 154. If he is to stay healthy, the fewer hits the better.
The Video: Sandin stops Aleksander Barkov’s wrap around attempt
The Discussion: Sandin is perhaps a little bit stuck. Right now he isn’t an elite scoring defenseman and he probably isn’t someone you want to have to face tough minutes. But where does that land him? Is he a top four defenseman? Has he reached his ceiling? Or can he still improve? And who should he be paired with for optimal deployment?
The Vote: Rate Rasmus Sandin 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.
