A Minute-By-Minute Look At The Caps

Warning: This is a monster of a post. Grab a sandwich (you have time to run down to Breadline for a ham and cheese, and they have WiFi there anyway).

Two weeks ago, we took a look at the Caps' blueline in terms of certain stats, and on a "per shift" basis, in an effort to see who did what with the ice time they were given.

Today, we'll expand that type of evaluation to all skaters (actually, the 23 of them who played in the NHL last year and are most likely to play for the Caps this year - so no Nicklas Backstrom or Josef Boumedienne, but the young trio of Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann and Jakub Klepis is included, as is John Erskine, who, like Flash and Klepis, has not yet signed for 2007-08). Also, Michael Nylander's, Viktor Kozlov's and Tom Poti's stats are obviously with their 2006-07 teams. Finally, it's worth noting that all of these stats merely tell you how effective the players are/were relative to their teammates - not the rest of the League (that's a project for another day) - so the utility is more in thinking about who deserves playing time than how good the team will be.

With those particulars out of the way, let's dive right in with minutes-per-point. There are no huge surprises at the top (or at the bottom), with Alex Ovechkin, Nylander, Alex Semin, Chris Clark and Kozlov lead the way, with blueliners (Steve Eminger, Mike Green, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn and Jeff Schultz) bringing up the rear. The surprises are in between. For example, Matt Pettinger was 6th - if his shoulder is (and can stay) 100% healthy, that bodes incredibly well for the third line. Speaking of the third line, Boyd Gordon was 7th in minutes-per-point, despite getting only 3:50 of power play time all season - AO gets more than that on a 5-minute major powerplay. In fact, Gordon had fewer minutes in between points than Poti. Would you have guessed that? And of that trio of youngsters noted above, Klepis out-produced Flash and Fehr in this stat.

On the other hand, we all know that Brian Sutherby's production was disappointing last year, registering only 17 points after a 30-point 2005-06 campaign. But Brooks Laich produced just one more point in a handful more minutes, and both trailed Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear and Ben Clymer (and all five of those forwards scored better than number one defenseman Brian Pothier). Feeling crowded on that fourth line yet? And does it speak to how well Erskine played that he finished ahead of the likes of Eminger, Green and Jurcina, or is it an indictment of those three? A combination of the two, I'd say.

But enough about points. Lets get to hits. Here are your top five hitters-per-minute:

1. Donald Brashear
2. Alexander Ovechkin
3. John Erskine
4. Matt Bradley
5. Milan Jurcina

And the fearful fivesome at the bottom:

19. Tom Poti
20. Boyd Gordon
21. Alexander Semin
22. Tomas Fleischmann
23. Michael Nylander

Just how averse is Nylander to hitting? Try 669th in the League in hits. Sure, it's not his game, but you'd think you'd accidentally run into more than 12 guys over the course of a season. That's not to say Nyls is not tough - there aren't a ton of 34-year-olds who played 79 games last year - but when the Sedins are out-hitting you, it may be time to cowboy up and throw the body every now and again.

Taking a look at penalty minutes-per-minute of ice time, you can see why Jakub Klepis needs to learn some discipline before he can be an NHL regular:

1. Donald Brashear
2. John Erskine
3. Brian Sutherby
4. Matt Bradley
5. Jakub Klepis

When you consider that under half of each of the top four's PIMs come from minor penalties (i.e. more often than not these players were not leaving the team shorthanded when they were sent to the sin bin or the shower), it tells you a lot about why Klepis found ice time hard to come by, despite decent production. In a similar vein, Alex Semin had 90 PIMs last year - the result of 45 minor penalties and "good" enough for 7th on this list (Morrisonn was sixth). Without question, Sasha needs to reduce the minor penalties going forward.

How about the guys who kept their noses clean? Take a look at this list and, again, think about how well it bodes for the third line:

19. Tomas Fleischmann
20. Jeff Schultz
21. Viktor Kozlov
22. Matt Pettinger
23. Boyd Gordon

Boyd Gordon committed seven minor penalties all year. That's it. Fourteen PIMs. That's one minor for every 160 minutes or so of ice time, or a penalty every ten games. Awesome, and precisely what you'd hope for from him. After all, what good is one of your best penalty killers if he's spending time in the box?

If you haven't noticed the recurring theme of how underrated Boyd Gordon is, you will in a minute, because we're about to look at the guys who protect the puck. As I mentioned in the post on defensemen, puck-movers and playmakers are going to turn the puck over - Jaromir Jagr led the League in giveaways last year, for example. But your better-rounded players will also steal pucks, and a couple of guys rank high on both lists (Ovechkin and Martin St. Louis are two such skaters). But players need to know their roles, and that's where our next stat - takeaways-minus-giveaways-per-minute - comes in. Here are your top five Caps:

1. Boyd Gordon
2. Matt Bradley
3. Brian Sutherby
4. Viktor Kozlov
5. Brooks Laich

And the players who were the most, um, generous with the puck:

19. Jakub Klepis
20. Brian Pothier
21. Steve Eminger
22. Mike Green
23. Jeff Schultz

Guys like Ovechkin, Nylander and Semin are in the middle of the pack, which is perfectly acceptable from your skill guys. Poti is seventh - which is relatively meaningless in and of itself, but he did have an impressive ratio for an offensive defenseman (and better than a number of prominent rearguards) - and Kozlov at fourth is certainly worth noting, for a player of his skillset. Of course, both of those chaps played for a better team than the Caps last year, so take it for what it's worth. But damn... Boyd Gordon...

On the negative side, it's another strike against Jake Klepis and another reminder that Brian Pothier was a bit overmatched last year. Ben Clymer fared only slightly better than Klepis, which certainly doesn't help his cause, as he isn't the type of player that should have such a bad ratio (see where fellow checking-liners score, for example, though recall that Clymer did have a handful of games as a blueliner at the outset of last season).

So there you have it - a look at who did what with their ice time last year. It doesn't necessarily tell us too much that we didn't already know: Boyd Gordon is a stud, and, with Matt Pettinger and a rightwing to be determined, the Caps should have their best third line since the Steve Konowalchuk-Jeff Halpern-Mike Grier/Ulf Dahlen days; Jakub Klepis needs a lot of work; the defense needs to be better, and should be, with the addition of Tom Poti, the maturation of some of the younger kids and everyone in a role for which they're better-suited. Did anything else jump out at you? And how was that sandwich?

Want to check these stats out in a little more detail? Check out this Google Spreadsheet.