Michal Kempny: 2018-19 season review

Michal Kempny‘s thighs were critical to Washington’s Stanley Cup championship, and those same thighs were ruinous to their hopes to repeat.

By The Numbers

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 season. A short description of each chart:

Peter’s Take

While it was happening, I was pretty wishy-washy about Michal Kempny’s sophomore season with the Washington Capitals. But once it was over I realized I was hung up on the wrong stuff and failed to appreciate everything that was working — which was a lot.

I was fixated on penalties, which Kempny had a problem with. He got busted for 30 minors, most among the Caps defense by far and a huge spike upwards for him personally. When the Caps were slumping during the midseason, Kempny’s discipline without the puck was a real factor in why.

But that’s just one tangible detail, and I should be more careful not to let it obscure an overall successful outing. Kempny and Carlson were a high-event pairing, meaning both teams got a lot of shot attempts when they were on the ice. And though the Caps got a larger share of those attempts, when you account for shot quality they didn’t do quite so great.

Here are HockeyViz heatmaps for the Caps (left) and their opponents (right).

That big red blob at bottom right means that Carlson and Kempny had a hard time keeping pucks out of the slot. But beyond the balance of offense and defense, the left-right split of each map is pretty interesting. On offense, we can see a red blob along the left side of the blue line: that’s Kempny making a ton of shots from the point. And on defense, we can see Kempny successfully calming opponents on his side of the ice. (The same isn’t true on Carlson’s side.)

That’s all a roundabout way of saying that I think Michal Kempny was a good influence on John Carlson. But Christian Djoos has also proven himself to be the same. I wonder if, going forward, there might be a better way to combine these talents. Aside from needing to get more careful with his stick, Kempny might be up to the job of top-pair shutdown defense.

That’s assuming he’s healthy come October. As you’ll see below, this season was a punishment parade for Kempny, even before he tore his hamstring — ending his season and effectively quashing the team’s repeat hopes.

A massive bummer, but Kempny’s future is still bright, as long he takes care of himself this summer.

Kempny on RMNB

(See if you can detect the theme here.)

• Kempny was elbowed by Robert Bortuzzo in the preseason. Bortuzzo was suspended as Kempny missed time, forcing the call-up of Jonas Siegenthaler. Kempny said he blacked out and suffered memory loss after the hit. He returned for the third game of the season.
• In November he blocked a shot… with his face … and spat blood.

• Kempny scored a big goal in November, his second game-winner in as many games, but was injured in the celebration by Travis Boyd.

• In February, Kempny was again blood after being hit in the face by a puck during warm-ups.

• In March, Kempny was hit in the face by Lias Andersson. Kempny stuck a tampon up his nose to slow the bleeding.

• It stops being funny here. Later in March, Kempny was injured by Cedrick Pacquette.

• Kempny tore his hamstring. He would miss 4-6 months. He spotted using crutches at the White House.
• On his injury: “I just felt pop in my leg. I felt really big pain.”

Your Turn

I know we’ve done this a bunch already, but hit me with those D pairings. Writing these reviews is helping me organize my thoughts.

Read more: Japers Rink