Devante Smith-Pelly: 2018-19 season review

For Devante Smith-Pelly, the Cup hangover had a cost.

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

Last summer, I said this of DSP:

Smith-Pelly is replacement-level player who is irreplaceable. He’s a marginal player who delivered the margin of victory for a championship.

Smith-Pelly’s playoff performance was the stuff of legend. Seven goals and one shimmy dance later, he was in high demand as a free agent. But the turned down more money and better term to stay with his team.

That’s probably the moment everything went wrong. Through a network of innuendo, Smith-Pelly reportedly showed up to camp out of shape, though he personally denied that accusation. Once the season began, Smith-Pelly’s play time dropped by 90 seconds per game. His penalty-kill work, in particular was the worst on the team. Here are opponent rates (per hour) for common penalty-killing forwards:

Never the quickest skater, Smith-Pelly seemed to have trouble zoning opponents out of high-danger areas when down a man, as this HockeyViz graph illustrates:

So, in February, the Caps decided to put Smith-Pelly on waivers (reversing an earlier decision to do the same for Dmitrij Jaskin). Smith-Pelly’s decision to stay loyal to his team instead of making more money elsewhere proved to have been maybe a bit unwise — as did whatever his off-season training regimen was.

Smith-Pelly did great in Hershey, while Washington’s bottom line continued to languish. I was glad to see DSP return for the playoffs, but he couldn’t quite recreate the magic, going oh-fer in three games before elimination.

Smith-Pelly will soon turn 27 years old. An unrestricted free agent, he’s now a full year out from that mythical championship run. He’s got a spotty season in the rear view, and his earning ceiling is certainly lower now than it was in the summer of 2018.

But if you don’t see Devante Smith-Pelly as a genuine person of character and a deserving NHLer capable of great things, then you don’t know DSP.

DSP on RMNB

• The season started badly — with DSP missing preseason games because was reportedly not in shape. Smith-Pelly said it was not a conditioning issue. The team was cagey about the details.
• Smith-Pelly left a November game against the Islanders early after blocking a shot.
• On February 20, the Caps put Smith-Pelly on waivers, contradicting an earlier report that they would waive Dmitrij Jaskin. The team was cagey about the details.
• Smith-Pelly excelled in Hershey, scoring a lot of points and recording a hat trick in March.
• The Caps brought Smith-Pelly back in April, and he played in Game Five.
• Brian MacLellan said he is open to bringing back Smith-Pelly “if certain requirements are met.” He was cagey about the details.
• On his role to fans in DC: “To hear people chanting at the parade, and to see a lot of people of color at the parade, wearing jerseys in the crowd, cheering. It’s amazing to see.” To that point, the next few bullets:
• One year after being subjected to racist taunts in Chicago, Devante Smith-Pelly started the game against the Hawks.
• Smith-Pelly participated in a winter coat drive.

• Smith-Pelly spent time with a student who wrote him a letter calling him a hero.

• When a U14 team faced racist taunts like Smith-Pelly got last year, he and John Carlson invited the team to visit the Caps. In January the team came and were given the royal treatment.

• Finally, because I had to:

Your Turn

What’s next for DSP? What do you think are Brian MacLellan’s conditions, and can DSP meet them?

Read more: Japers Rink