For Devante Smith-Pelly, the Cup hangover had a cost.
54 | games played |
10.9 | time on ice per game |
4 | goals |
4 | assists |
45.8 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
46.1 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage, adjusted |
42.1 | 5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted |
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:
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.
What’s next for DSP? What do you think are Brian MacLellan’s conditions, and can DSP meet them?
Read more: Japers Rink
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