Follow @james_tanner123 The Washington Capitals have lost two of their better defenseman this summer, and Karl Alzner.
While Orlov, Niskanen and Carlson will return, it is, as of now, a mystery who will fill in the rest of the Capitals lineup.
One assumes that since they're paying Brooks Orpik $5 million dollars, that he'll be in the lineup. Taylor Chorny is an option. Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos are minor league options, but they aren't exactly anyone's idea of blue-chip prospects.
How the Capitals will fill in their blue line (unless they move Orpik) will be one of the most interesting things about the upcoming training camp. With almost no money to spend, they appear to be in quite a pickle.
Sure, Orlov, Niskanen and Carlson is one of the best three-man combos any team in hockey has, but you actually need six defenseman for an NHL game, so it's going to be curious to see what happens.
It was recently announced that Jyrki Jokipakka has been given a PTO, so I figured with him almost certain to be the teams fourth best defenseman at this point, I might as well write a little bit about him.
A 2011 late round pick, Jokipakka is 26 and 6'3 215.
He has played with the Stars, Flames and Senators, and averages about one point every give games over his 150 total career games spread over four seasons.
There really isn't much to go on with a player like Jokipakka - the scouting reports for him read like any typical bottom pairing NHL defenseman in 2017 "Good defensively, not much offense, can move the puck, could use his size better." That's pretty much the same scouting report for all low impact defenseman.
That's actually the best description for Jokipakka - "low impact." He doesn't score, and you only notice him when he screws up. Barring an 18 game stretch when the Flames acquired him, he has consistently rates of Corsi, Shots and Scoring Chances against, relative to his team.
He seems adept at moving the puck out of his own end and keeping it going in the right direction. With no flash and no offense, he's never going to cost much and is exactly the kind of player the Caps should be looking for.
As a left-handed shooter, he can compliment one of Niskanen or Carlson, should he make the team. Its not a very exciting pickup, but it's a smart one.