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Alex Ovechkin Enters COVID Protocol; Tom Wilson To Replace At All-Star Game

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The Washington Capitals have announced that Alex Ovechkin is unavailable for tonight’s game, as he has entered the league’s COVID protocol. The team has also already ruled out Ovechkin’s participation in the All-Star game, based on a positive test result. The team has recalled Brett Leason and Pheonix Copley–who will fill in for the injured Vitek Vanecek–from the taxi squad.

That’s the second All-Star captain that has been forced out of the game, following Nathan MacKinnon’s recent injury that will keep him out of the festivities. Ovechkin was set to captain the Metropolitan Division, a role that will now have to be filled by someone else. According to Emily Kaplan of ESPN, Tom Wilson will be going to the All-Star game in Ovechkin’s place.

More importantly, he’ll also miss tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers and be unable to add to his outstanding season totals. The 36-year-old superstar has 29 goals and 29 assists on the year, a scoring rate that had him on pace for his fifth 100-point season and first in more than a decade. Arguably already the greatest goal-scorer of all time, Ovechkin is once again leading the league in even-strength tallies and trails only Chris Kreider and Leon Draisaitl in overall goals.

Given the reduced isolation period, Ovechkin could very well be cleared in time to play on February 8, the first game back for the Capitals after the break. In the meantime, hockey fans won’t get to see him go up against Connor McDavid tonight or participate in events like the hardest shot competition on Friday night.

Washington’s Vitek Vanecek Leaves Game, Emergency Backup On Bench

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Washington Capitals goaltender Vitek Vanecek will be out for the remainder of the team’s game tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins with an upper-body injury, the team announced. Taxi squad goalie Hunter Shepard, who was in the building, is on the bench as the emergency backup.

Vanecek collided with Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen in the crease during the first period, in what looked like a helmet-to-helmet collision. Both Kapanen and Vanecek initially stayed in the game, but Vanecek was pulled shortly after, presumably by a concussion spotter, in favor of Ilya Samsonov.

The 26-year-old Czech netminder has split time with Samsonov this season, posting a 10-6-5 record and .916 save percentage to go along with two shutouts. Tonight was his 23rd start of the season. He’s been the better of the two goalies, however, and it will be a huge blow to the Capitals if he misses time.

If Vanecek does miss time, the team will likely call up Zachary Fucale from Hershey. In his first four NHL games this season, he has a .924 save percentage.

Roman Josi, Evgeny Kuznetsov Headed To All-Star Game

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The NHL announced today that in light of injuries to the Central Division’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Metropolitan Division’s Adam Fox, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi and Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov will serve as their replacements at the 2022 All-Star Game in Las Vegas next weekend. Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski will replace MacKinnon as Central Division captain.

Josi heads to the game as Nashville’s second representative, joining goaltender Juuse Saros. The 2020 Norris Trophy winner has a spectacular 43 points in 43 games this season, enjoying what’s on pace to be the best offensive campaign of his 11-year-career. He’ll be the team’s second defenseman alongside Colorado’s Cale Makar.

Kuznetsov is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance campaign, seeing increased production back alongside Alex Ovechkin. His 43 points in 42 games put him on his first point-per-game pace since the 2017-18 season in which Washington won the Stanley Cup. He’s seeing heavy usage this year, playing over 21:25 per game under head coach Peter Laviolette.

 

Capitals Looking Into Marc-Andre Fleury

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While the Capitals are quite comfortably in a playoff spot (13 points ahead of Detroit for the final Wild Card slot), they’re also within striking distance of first in the Metropolitan as they were five points out of first heading into tonight’s games.  They’ve managed to accomplish this on the backs of Alex Ovechkin and one of the strongest offensive groups in the league even with goaltending that has been near the middle of the pack.

Accordingly, it appears they’re at least exploring a potential upgrade between the pipes as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that they are looking into the possibility of acquiring Blackhawks goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Washington is currently platooning youngsters Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov with Zach Fucale getting into a handful of games this season and they’ve played to a 2.56 GAA with a .908 SV%.  Those numbers are actually similar to what Fleury has put up this season (2.76 GAA, .913 SV%) although Chicago has had some struggles on the back end that have to be taken into consideration.

It was only last season that the 37-year-old won the Vezina Trophy, recording a 1.98 GAA with a .928 SV% with Vegas who decided to move Fleury to Chicago over the summer to free up some salary cap space with his $7MM AAV coming off the books.  The Blackhawks gave up very little in return, the rights to Mikael Hakkarainen, who was released three weeks later.

Accordingly, in the right environment with a chance of a long playoff run, Fleury could represent a notable upgrade and it’s understandable that Washington is at least looking into this possibility.  He’d certainly give them a boost for the stretch run while allowing Chicago to bring back a lot more than what they gave up to get him.

That said, making the money work will be a challenge.  Washington has just over $2MM in cap space, per CapFriendly, and that’s due to Anthony Mantha being on LTIR.  If he’s unable to return before the end of the regular season, that could, in theory, be applied towards Fleury’s price tag but if the winger can return, that will basically make the Caps capped out in order to get back into cap compliance.

Chicago can retain up to 50% and if the Capitals are willing, a third team could get involved and retain 50% of the remainder (25% of the full deal) to help mitigate the cap impact although some further work would need to be done to get compliant.  It seems unlikely that GM Brian MacLellan would want to part with either Vanecek or Samsonov to accommodate a few months of Fleury and if that’s the case, they’ll have to find a way to afford to carry three goalies the rest of the way.

Fleury has a 10-team no-trade list in his contract and it’s unknown if Washington is on there.  Even if it is, it’s quite likely that Chicago would give the veteran a chance to approve or nix a deal to the Capitals or anywhere else after they worked with him to get him to agree to join the Blackhawks in the first place.

Regardless of whether or not this works out, it appears Washington is trying to think big in terms of shoring up their goaltending situation which will make them a team to watch for in the weeks leading up to the March 21st trade deadline.

Dmitry Orlov Suspended Two Games

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The Department of Player Safety has handed out a two-game suspension to Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov for his knee-on-knee hit on Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers last night. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that while Ehlers is attempting to move around Orlov on this place, this is not a case where an exceptionally sharp or sudden movement by a player receiving a hit turns a potential full body check into a leg-on-leg contact. The two players are moving slowly enough that Orlov has time to recognize that Ehlers is changing position, and he responds to this by thrusting his arms and knee out wider to attempt to get a piece of Ehlers.

While this is a common response from defensemen, on this play the only contact Orlov is able to make is direct, forceful, knee-to-knee contact. If Orlov wants to initiate contact on this play, he must ensure that he is able to make more substantial upper-body contact, rather than having the force of the blow concentrated on his opponent’s knee. 

The fact that Ehlers suffered an injury on the play was taken into consideration. Jets head coach Dave Lowry already ruled the forward out for the rest of the team’s road trip and explained that he is undergoing further evaluation to determine the extent of the injury. Orlov was also not penalized by on-ice officials.

Though he does have a suspension on record, the league decided that Orlov does not have any relevant disciplinary history in this case as his previous ban was for boarding in 2014. Now, he’ll have a second suspension on the books, one that will be taken into account when determining punishment for any similar incidents. Orlov will miss games against the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators in the coming days.

Dmitry Orlov To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The Washington Capitals could be down a key defenseman in their next game, as the Department of Player Safety has announced a hearing for Dmitry Orlov. The potential supplementary discipline stems from a hit late in the third period of last night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

With Nikolaj Ehlers circling in the Capitals zone, Orlov delivered a knee-on-knee hit to take the Jets forward off the puck. Ehlers immediately crumpled to the ice holding his knee, needed to be helped off by a member of the training staff, and has already been ruled out for Winnipeg’s next game. Head coach Dave Lowry explained to reporters after the game including Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet that he expects Ehlers to miss more than just one game but is still being evaluated.

There was no penalty called on the play, but the DoPS appears to be making sure Orlov receives some sort of punishment. A suspension is the likely outcome of any hearing, though not guaranteed. The 30-year-old defenseman has been suspended in the past for boarding, an incident that will be taken into account in the league’s decision.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Washington Capitals

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In the spirit of the holiday season, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season approaches the midway mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Washington Capitals.

What are the Capitals thankful for? 

Young depth.

Make no mistake, the Capitals are still one of the most veteran teams in the league, relying mostly on the same core that took them to the 2018 Stanley Cup. But this year has been a little different on the fringes of the roster, where young players are starting to make a difference. Connor McMichael (21), Brett Leason (22), and Aliaksei Protas (21) have all been regulars this season, adding some entry-level contracts to the mix up front. Martin Fehervary (22) has also worked his way into the top-four on defense, giving the team another extremely cheap option.

It’s that inexpensive depth that allows the Capitals to spend so much on their top names, including more than half the cap on the top-six forwards. For everyone mentioned above except Leason, who is an RFA at the end of the season, those entry-level contracts will still be in effect for next year as well, when they should presumably play an even bigger role.

Who are the Capitals thankful for?

The Russian Machine.

Alex Ovechkin is having the best offensive season of his career at age 36. Through 39 games he is now on pace for 113 points, which would be one more than his career-high set in 2007-08. He’s currently the leader for both the Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies; no one has won both in the same season since he did it in 2008. While it’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll actually win them, this performance is an absolutely incredible accomplishment for one of the league’s all-time greats.

Not only is Ovechkin dominating on the ice and helping the Capitals win, but he’s also one of the most marketable stars in the league. His pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record–Ovechkin needs just 138 to catch the Great One–is a storyline that every hockey fan can appreciate and get invested in. Signed to another five-year deal last summer, it appears it will only be a matter of time before Ovechkin is at the top of the goal-scoring mountain.

What would the Capitals be even more thankful for? 

More consistency from Ilya Samsonov.

When Samsonov came over from the KHL, he was lauded as one of the best goaltenders in the world that wasn’t currently in the NHL. After all, he had been a first-round pick by the Capitals in 2015 and had put up outstanding KHL numbers since he was a teenager. In his rookie season in North America he struggled in the minor leagues, but there was still plenty of optimism about his future.

After three up-and-down seasons, the question is starting to be raised about whether he’s really the long-term answer in Washington. Samsonov has just a .903 save percentage in 21 appearances this season and though that has resulted in a strong 13-4-3 record, it’s certainly not instilling a ton of confidence in fans that want another Stanley Cup. Samsonov has provided -4.0 goals saved above average, 18th-worst among all goaltenders in the NHL this season. This Washington team is good enough to contend and Vitek Vanecek has been a decent complementary option, but Samsonov taking the next step could really push them over the edge into a dominant group.

What should be on the Capitals’ wish list?

A scoring winger.

There’s basically nothing the Capitals can do this deadline without moving money out somewhere else, but if they could, adding offense on the wing would be priority number one. In a perfect world that role is filled by Anthony Mantha, coming back from shoulder surgery and stepping directly into the top-six. But Mantha isn’t even expected to start skating until next month and is still “nowhere close” to a return according to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic.

The other options just haven’t been quite good enough to this point. Outside of Ovechkin and Tom Wilson, the Capitals’ best offensive winger to this point has been Conor Sheary with 10 goals and 19 points in 31 games. T.J. Oshie has been hampered by injury and illness all season, so he should easily climb to that third spot at some point, but that still leaves a hole where more secondary scoring needs to come.

Again, it will be extremely difficult for the Capitals to make an addition without shedding salary but there is actually a bit of opportunity there. Michal Kempny still costs $1.375MM against the cap despite being on the taxi squad, while Mantha’s placement on LTIR currently opens a bit of space that they could use in the interim. If Ovechkin wasn’t scoring at a career-best place, the offense would probably be a big talking point in Washington. Fixing that problem before it really becomes one may be prudent.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

John Carlson, Conor Garland Enter COVID Protocol

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The Washington Capitals got some good news when Dmitry Orlov and Carl Hagelin were activated ahead of today’s game, but it won’t be all roses. John Carlson has been added to the COVID protocol and is unavailable today.

Of note, Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic tweets that Carlson was actually late to the warm-up for yesterday’s game while awaiting test results, but ultimately played in the game. The veteran defenseman played nearly 24 minutes in the Capitals’ victory over the New York Islanders.

With Carlson coming out, Orlov will be in and skating on the top pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk. Alex Ovechkin is now the only player on the entire Capitals roster to play in every game. Washington takes on the reeling Vancouver Canucks this afternoon as they continue their chase for the top of the Metropolitan Division.

It’s not great news from the Canucks either though, as Conor Garland has also been added to the protocol just ahead of game time. The 25-year-old Garland has been one of the Canucks’ most consistent players this season, scoring 24 points in 37 games while being a strong defensive player. Taking him out of the lineup will only hurt Vancouver’s chances of turning things around, especially since his removal came so close to puck drop.

Poll: Is The Eastern Conference Playoff Picture Already Complete?

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It doesn’t make for much of an exciting stretch run, but it just might be the truth and The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington isn’t afraid to make the claim: less than halfway through the 2021-22 NHL season, the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots appear to be locked up. While the eight in place can certainly jockey for position, Harrington believes that those teams currently in the postseason in the East will stay in postseason position and those not, including his Buffalo Sabres, have nothing left to play for this season. Do you agree?

The conference standings do paint a pretty bleak picture for the playoff race, as the gap between the eighth and final playoff spot and the next closest competitor is sizeable. In terms of both absolute points and points percentage, the Boston Bruins sit in eighth in the East with 46 points and a .657 points percentage, holding the second wild card spot if the postseason started today. In ninth place in both categories are the Detroit Red Wings, but calling it a distant ninth is generous. Detroit has 39 points on the year, just seven back of Boston, but having played four more games than the Bruins the Red Wings are actually just a .500 team, 157 percentage points back. Every other team outside the playoff picture is under .500 and they are all chasing a Bruins team that is 8-2 in their past ten games, riding a five-game winning streak. Just ahead of Boston are the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also 8-2 in their last ten. The only other teams in the conference that are not 200+ percentage points ahead of Detroit are the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.

[See: Eastern Conference Standings]

Statistically, there don’t appear to be any clear underachievers outside of the playoff picture primed for a late push either. All eight teams not in a playoff spot in the East have a negative goal differential, with the top mark being the Columbus Blue Jackets at -15. In contrast, the worst differential among the playoff teams is the Rangers’ +17 and they are the only club below +20. Hardly any of the non-playoff teams hold a spot in the top half of the league in any major statistical category either. The New York Islanders are ninth in goals against per game and eleventh in penalty kill efficiency, the Blue Jackets are tied for twelfth in goals for per game, the New Jersey Devils are thirteenth on the penalty kill, and the Ottawa Senators are tied for fourteenth in power play efficiency – end of list.

Yet, can the playoff picture really be sealed up this early? The law of averages suggests that a current playoff team is likely to slump while a current non-playoff team is likely to hit their stride in the second half. In fact, this may have already begun. While the Bruins and Penguins have been surging, the Capitals are just 4-3-3 in their last ten games and struggling to find consistent goaltending and defensive play. The Capitals’ record is also buoyed by a league-leading nine overtime points and their abysmal 30th-ranked power play is a major stain on their playoff resume. If there is a pretender in the East, it could be Washington. The Rangers may also be due for some regression in the second half. New York has exceeded expectations thus far and have somehow found ways to win despite trouble scoring. Their 2.85 goals per game is tied for 18th in the league, behind the likes of Columbus and New Jersey and just .01 ahead of Ottawa. On the flip side of the playoff picture, the Islanders are one of the biggest disappointments of the season. A conference finalist last year, the Isles looked to be building a true contender. While they are still playing a good defensive game, the team has had no luck offensively this season. Yet, with a league-low  30 games played, the Islanders could have time to find their game and fight their way back into postseason consideration. At least on paper, the Philadelphia Flyers should also be better than their current record, while the rebuilding Red Wings and Blue Jackets should be happy with their performance so far this season but would be even happier to get their young rosters into a postseason battle.

It is hard to remember a conference having no battle for playoff position in recent memory, especially so early in the season. While it looks like that could be the case this year in the East, is that actual a realistic expectation? Is the current gap in the standings just too wide to overcome? Or is there enough potential for one or two teams in the playoff picture to collapse while one or two on the outside find a way back? Vote now and comment on which teams, if any, could drop out of the playoff picture and who might replace them.

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