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.
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.
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:
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.
That’s enough doom and gloom. Moving on to more jovial matters.
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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
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