The Washington Capitals play the Rangers tomorrow, which means Kevin Shattenkirk will be playing his old team.
Here is what Barry Trotz had to say about Shattenkirk:
Full quote from Barry Trotz on Kevin Shattenkirk: pic.twitter.com/tTo1OvoIm6
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) December 7, 2017
This is ridiculous. Shattenkirk scored 56 points last year.
There are 31 teams in the NHL and each team has a top pairing. If Shattenkirk isn't a top pairing defenseman, that would mean that there are 62 better defensemen in the NHL, which is an idea so ridiculous it's hardly worth discussing.
Sure, he's not the greatest defensive defenseman, but he tilts the ice in his team's favor (he has a possession rating of between 52% and 55% over the last five seasons prior to this one) and he scores a ton.
I can see if you want to say he's not a top-ten defenseman. After that though, it just seems like trolling. Kevin Shattenkirk is definitely a top pairing defenseman.
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In last night's game the Capitals dusted the Blackhawks by a score of 6-2.
The Caps scored three goals on their first seven shots, and that was all she wrote.
Then, after that, the rest of the team went to the locker room and Braden Holtby held down the fort for the rest of the night, making 37 saves in another excellent performance.
Tom Wilson scored two goals, and Nick Backstrom ended his 19 game goal scoring drought. It's nice and all that Backstrom ended his streak, but Wilson got four points. Yowzer. That's almost a third of his total points for the season in a single game. Way to go Tom!
Ovechkin's four pont night puts him in 12th in the scoring race, and he's first in goals with 21.
Overall, it's always fun to beat the champs and the Caps just keep rolling along despite dressing 1/3 of a lineup that no one but hardcore hockey nerds has ever even heard of.