After beating the Ducks on the weekend, the Capitals have won seven of their last eight games and are in first place in the Metro.
Tonight, they get back T.J Oshie, who has missed the last six games with a concussion. (Also known as an upper-upper body injury).
(Aside: I built a backyard rink for my son, who is five and obsessed with the NHL. He fell down and landed on a bump near the edge of the rink. Through his tears, he announced that he had a 'lower body injury,' which I thought was hilarous).
Oshie - who signed a bizarrely expensive contract coming off of a shooting percentage based 33 goals - has impressed this season. I didn't think he'd match his totals from last year, but he still has an impressive nearly 30 goal pace. (Accounting for injury, he was on a 40 goal pace last year).
Oshie has a 52% CF and only three even strength goals, but he's pretty much been giving the team exactly what they expect (right down to missing several games). With him back in the lineup, they are clearly a better team.
While Oshie is giving pretty much what has been expected, one player who has impressed me during nearly every Capitals game I've watched this season is Christian Djoos.
Djoos is second on the Caps in raw possession stats and has a +6.5% relative Corsi to his team. He's only got five points in 25 games, but when he plays the Capitals almost always have the puck.
Unfortunately, Trotz doesn't seem to share my enthusiasm and only uses him as the 5th most used defenseman, giving him just under 14 minutes per game. Other than Orlov, he is the only Capitals defenseman who is coming in under 30 shots allowed per 60.
Djoos plays mostly with John Carlson, and together the pairing has a 58% CF. Kind of makes you wonder what this team would look like if they'd paid a first rounder to keep Nate Schimdt and signed Shattenkirk instead of Oshie.
Then again, when you have the best goalie in the NHL - so underrated - maybe you think you can skimp on D: who knows, really, what they were thinking?
Even though the Capitals are rolling, I still can never understand what Trotz is doing. Tonight, for example, he is set to play Carlson with Orpik and Djoos with Bowey.
Both Orpik and Chorney have CF%s in the mid 40s. They are not NHL defenseman.
Oh well, as long as Holtby keeps kicking ass, the Caps will be an awesome team, despite Trotz. Still, it's frustrating to see a great rookie defenseman sabotaged with a terrible partner.
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