The Capitals didn't technically do anything on the actual trade deadline day. They made their impact two days early when they made, arguably, the only significant trade of the entire deadline.
The NHL trade deadline is a joke in the salary cap era. The TV networks embarrass themselves by getting on the air at 8 am and blowing smoke all day long.
When the big stories are 1) Will He or Won't He, Staring Radem Vbrata and 2) Jerome Igninla you know you're in trouble.
The Capitals don't care. They should be happy. They were the best team in the NHL. Then they added the best available player. Their rivals responded by adding the likes of Mark Streit and Lauri Korpikoski. Good luck with that.
In his debut last night, Shattenkirk paired with Nate Schmidt, and together they posted a 60% CF rating. Hopefully Orpik remains out and the Caps don't bench Schmidt in his favor.
Overall - because he didn't always pair with Schmidt - Shattenkirk posted a 55% in 16 minutes of 5v5 ice time. The Caps as a team dominated the Rangers to a tune of 58% and a 4-1 victory.
The Caps pairings were:
Carlsson / Alzner Shattenkirk / Schmidt Orlov / Niskanen
The lowest in ice time was the Orlov/Niskanen pairing, though they contributed assists to all three 5v5 goals the caps scored.
The worst - in my opinion - pairing is their top pairing - which got around 23 total minutes while the other two pairings basically had the same ice time (approx 17 minutes).
That being said, it's the first game. Who knows how it's going to go? The Capitals have an insane blue-line, by far the best in the NHL....yes, better than both Anaheim and the Predators...so they can't really go wrong with their deployment. My guess is you'll see them a bit more equal as they get used to their new player.
all stats stats.hockey.analysis.com and corsica.hockey