Dispelling 3 myths about the Washington Capitals
By Rohan Yaradi
Myth: Brooks Orpik is too slow for today’s game, and is the reason the Washington Capitals are struggling.
On New Year’s Eve 2018, as the Washington Capitals were in the midst of their best stretch of the season, Brooks Orpik made his return to the lineup after missing 27 games with an injury. Since then, the Caps have gone 6-8-4, with Orpik playing in all but one of those games.
Naturally, as an older, stay-at-home defenseman in a young man’s league, Orpik seems to have been pegged with some of the responsibility for this slump. Undeniably, there have been instances where the eye-test seem to confirm that he is a liability to the Capitals at this stage of his career.
It may come as a shock, then, to hear that he has actually been one of Washington’s most effective players so far this season. Per Natural Stat Trick, Orpik is second only to Jonas Siegenthaler among Caps defensemen in High Danger Shot Attempts Percentage (HDCF%).
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Relative to the rest of the team, Orpik’s HDCF% is +11.28. Only Siegenthaler and Dmitrij Jaskin have a better Relative HDCF% while playing at least 25 games. Despite being vilified for his lack of offensive ability, Orpik has been among the most effective Capitals at driving offense.
To be fair to his critics, this level of proficiency was completely unexpected of Orpik, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, bought out and signed by Washington in the offseason. Last year, his Relative HDCF% was -8.58, worse than only Madison Bowey among Caps defensemen.
When the Capitals re-signed Orpik in the offseason, there were questions due to his current status as being “old and bad,” as Jeb Biggart of MSN.com put it:
"The 37-year-old defenseman has scored just five goals since 2012, and his defensive play has been dreadful as of late… His numbers look much worse with his past AAV of $5.5 million, but his new contract is far more fitting considering his lackluster defensive play."
Given the similar preconceptions many fans had about Orpik coming into the season, as well as the fact that Washington’s downturn came after his return, it is not surprising that he has borne some of the blame for their play of late.
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If Orpik is not the reason for the slump, though, who (or what) is? I would argue that the team’s downturn is more due to the loss of Christian Djoos to compartment syndrome, who just played his first game back since December 11th against the Arizona Coyotes.
Djoos was Washington’s best defenseman last season, posting a Relative HDCF% of +8.20, and before his injury this year he had maintained his positive play. It is not surprising that the bulk of the Capitals’ struggles occurred while one of their best defensemen was out.
Now that Djoos is back, I would expect the Washington Capitals to show marked improvement going forward. Considering how effective he was last year while playing with a struggling Brooks Orpik, just imagine how good that pair will be now that they are both healthy and playing well.