Kevin Shattenkirk was the jewel of the 2017 NHL trade deadline, which your Washington Capitals were able to secure in exchange for Zach Sanford, Brad Malone, a first round draft choice, and a conditional draft pick .
General Manager Brian MacLellan pushed all of his chips into the middle to get Shattenkirk but did not win the hand.
By The Numbers*
| 80 | games played |
| 19:56 | time on ice per game |
| 14 | goals |
| 41 | assists |
| 53.2 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
| 51.9 | 5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted |
Note*: In 19 games with DC, Shattenkirk scored 2 goals and added 12 assists in 20:12 TOI per game.
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows various metrics for the player over the course of the 2016-17 season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5-on-5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
- 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts
Chris from the Comments’ Take
Kevin Shattenkirk is going to a tough review – if only because the guy did not play a ton of hockey for the Caps.
From a purely statistical standpoint, Shattenkirk was an easy success. The New York native put up 14 points in 19 regular season games for the Capitals and led the defense in postseason points with 6. For a guy who wasn’t exactly getting a ton of ice time at even strength, I think those numbers are reasonably good for a player of his stature.
Now (contrary to popular belief) I don’t actually think that looking at numbers alone tells the whole story – especially here. I actually have a few issues with Shattenkirk based off of ocular observation alone. Shattenkirk came advertised as a power-play dynamo, but I don’t think he did really much at all to improve a Capitals power play that was stale at the time of his arrival and stayed stale throughout the playoffs. This could obviously be due to him not having a ton of time to adjust to teammate tendencies and the new system, but I also think that his weak shot and tendency to flub passes were notable. Was he more accurate than John Carlson? Probably, but I still prefer #74’s hard right-handed shot.
Shattenkirk was supposed to be the last piece of the puzzle to push the Caps into fantasy land. The land where DC sports teams win important things or even just reach the conference finals. I don’t think that he provided any real noticeable change to the lineup other than forcing Barry Trotz to make the bad decision to scratch Nate Schmidt. Luckily on that front, it all ended up fine in the end.
Shattenkirk is now an unrestricted free agent and I’d say with 99.9 percent certainty that he’s going to be playing elsewhere. His hometown New York Rangers, a team he has acknowledged as one of his preferred suitors, just bought out pylon Dan Girardi, the Bruins are looking to spend big on a defenseman, and I actually do think that the Las Vegas Golden Knights provide an attractive option as well. Shatty wants to prove that he can be the “guy” on a team’s blueline. I don’t think he can do that in DC.
Bon voyage and thanks for that one overtime goal against the Pens.
Shat on RMNB
- The Caps had acquired Kevin Shattenkirk and most of us were very happy about hockey… for the last time in 2017.
- We remembered the time that Shattenkirk and new teammate Justin Williams once dropped the gloves and tried to punch each other’s heads off.
- His old pal from back in St. Louis, TJ Oshie was very happy with his new/old teammate’s arrival.
- Our buddy Pat Holden came in hot right after the acquisition. He let us know that Shattenkirk is a real top pairing defenseman and that he is also an offensive force.
- Our other buddy Nathan warned us about what his arrival could mean for the ball of sunshine goodness that is fan favorite and great hockey player, Nate Schmidt.
- Shattenkirk’s arrival in DC got off to a hot start as the defenseman racked up an assist in three straight games.
- We also got to see Shatty destroy Jannik Hansen with a sick hip check.
- Then things stalled as Shattenkirk would receive his first career NHL suspension after a hit on Los Angeles Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel.
- In the end, Shatty did leave us with a lasting great memory on the ice before the world ended in Game Seven. He scored the overtime winner in Game Three to give the Caps and their fans some hope.
That’s enough doom and gloom. Moving on to more jovial matters.
- Kevin provided us with one of the quotes of the year during the playoffs when he said that the Caps were “too horny” to score on Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen.
- Kevin has a dog and she is adorable.
- We (meaning Cara and Ian) even created a new shirt design for the RMNB Store in Shatty’s honor! We also released a similar sign that you could download and print off the RMNB server.
- Things were less fun for this little Blues fan who was quite upset that her favorite team had traded Shattenkirk to DC.
- One last thing praising Shattenkirk, he knows where to vacation. Just ask the Oshies.
Your Turn
Do you want Shattenkirk back even if it means losing other integral pieces of the team? Overall, how do you rate Shattenkirk’s time with the Caps?
Read more: Japers’ Rink, Stars and Sticks
Headline photo: Amanda Bowen
