The Washington Capitals had a lot of success in the 2010s.
The Caps won the Stanley Cup in 2018 and were the NHL’s winningest team. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin scored the most goals (437) and Nicklas Backstrom had the most assists (537).
During the last decade, we also saw a lot of players come and go. Because I’m feeling sentimental, here are the Capitals’ statistical leaders from the 2010s.
These are top ten lists. All totals below were amassed from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2019.
Games played
- Alex Ovechkin – 769 (11 seasons)
- John Carlson – 726 (11 seasons)
- Nicklas Backstrom – 724 (11 seasons)
- Karl Alzner – 549 (8 seasons)
- Marcus Johansson – 501 (7 seasons)
- Tom Wilson – 494 (7 seasons)
- Jason Chimera – 489 (7 seasons)
- Dmitry Orlov – 488 (8 seasons)
- Jay Beagle – 462 (9 seasons)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 454 (7 seasons)
Beags made the list as well as Karl Alzner with his impressive ironman streak.
Goals
- Alex Ovechkin – 437
- Nicklas Backstrom – 188
- TJ Oshie – 117
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 116
- John Carlson – 103
- Marcus Johansson – 102
- Troy Brouwer – 83
- Jason Chimera – 82
- Alexander Semin – 75
- Tom Wilson – 70
Alex Ovechkin led the pack by a whopping 249 goals. Notice Tom Wilson who recently broke into the top ten.
Outdoor goals
- Eric Fehr – 3
- Alex Ovechkin – 2
- Nicklas Backstrom – 1
- Troy Brouwer – 1
- John Carlson – 1
- Mike Knuble – 1
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 1
- Jakub Vrana – 1
Eric Fehr is the one true king of outdoor hockey.
Assists
- Nicklas Backstrom – 512
- John Carlson – 350
- Alex Ovechkin – 343
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 258
- Marcus Johansson – 188
- Dmitry Orlov – 136
- Matt Niskanen – 127
- Mike Green – 126
- TJ Oshie – 119
- Jason Chimera – 114
No shocker here either as the NHL decade leader is also the Caps leader. But is anyone else surprised at Jason Chimera’s overall offensive impact though?
Shots
- Alex Ovechkin – 3,469
- John Carlson – 1,656
- Nicklas Backstrom – 1,548
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 976
- Jason Chimera – 954
- Brooks Laich – 772
- Marcus Johansson – 738
- Mike Green – 703
- Matt Niskanen – 684
- TJ Oshie – 679
No surprise that Ovi also towers over this category as he is the entire NHL’s shot generation king over the same period of time.
Hits
- Alex Ovechkin – 2,059
- Tom Wilson – 1,489
- Brooks Orpik – 961
- Troy Brouwer – 771
- Dmitry Orlov – 747
- Matt Niskanen – 731
- Jason Chimera – 727
- Karl Alzner – 658
- John Carlson – 610
- Nicklas Backstrom – 569
Ovechkin had 570 more hits than Wilson who made his NHL regular-season debut on October 1, 2013. This list is also smattered with a few players that hit a lot because they didn’t have the puck.
Penalty minutes
- Tom Wilson – 997 (252 minors, 67 majors, 2 match penalties, 16 misconducts, 3 game misconducts)
- Alex Ovechkin – 445 (210 minors, 3 majors, 1 game misconduct)
- Nicklas Backstrom – 368 (171 minors, 2 misconducts)
- Jason Chimera – 350 (110 minors, 16 majors, 3 misconducts, 2 game misconducts)
- Matt Hendricks – 278 (53 minors, 32 majors, 1 game misconduct)
- John Erskine – 254 (71 minors, 14 majors, 3 misconducts, 1 game misconduct)
- John Carlson – 248 (113 minors, 2 game misconducts)
- Brooks Orpik – 238 (101 minors, 6 majors)
- Troy Brouwer – 234 (72 minors, 12 majors, 3 misconducts)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 234 (116 minors)
The major notable here is that Matt Hendricks amassed his total in only 203 games while John Erskine did his in 191 games.
Worst plus/minus
- Troy Brouwer – minus-15
- Matt Hendricks – minus-14
- Devante Smith-Pelly – minus-12
- Connor Carrick – minus-11
- Tomas Kundratek – minus-5
- Aaron Volpatti – minus-5
- Dmitrij Jaskin – minus-5
- Tyler Sloan – minus-5
- Joe Corvo – minus-4
- Mike Ribeiro – minus-4
This one was just for fun and shows just how good the Caps have been this decade. Only Brouwer and Hendricks played more than 200 games for the Caps.
Average time on ice per game
- Dennis Wideman – 23:56
- John Carlson – 23:23
- Matt Niskanen – 22:46
- Mike Green – 22:43
- Alex Ovechkin – 20:23
- Karl Alzner – 20:18
- Scott Hannan – 20:16
- Kevin Shattenkirk – 20:12
- Dmitry Orlov – 19:45
- Nicklas Backstrom – 19:42
Remember when Dennis Wideman was the only Caps representative at the 2012 All-Star Game?
Faceoff win percentage
- Tyler Sloan – 100-percent (1 for 1)
- Curtis Glencross – 66.7-percent (2 for 3)
- Richard Panik – 61.5-percent (8 for 13)
- David Steckel – 60.7-percent (697 for 1,148)
- Boyd Gordon – 58.8-percent (506 for 861)
- Jeff Halpern – 58.4-percent (365 for 625)
- Jay Beagle – 56.5-percent (2,529 for 4,473)
- Zach Sanford – 55.5-percent (10 for 18)
- Matt Hendricks – 54.8-percent (341 for 622)
- Mikhail Grabovski – 54-percent (346 for 641)
I thought about restricting this to only centers, but it’s funnier this way. Tyler Sloan tallied his only faceoff win for the Caps as a defenseman. Sloan would win two of three faceoffs overall during his career.
Goalie wins
- Braden Holtby – 274
- Michal Neuvirth – 54
- Philipp Grubauer – 43
- Tomas Vokoun – 25
- Jose Theodore – 21
- Pheonix Copley – 16
- Semyon Varlamov – 14
- Ilya Samsonov – 10
- Jaroslav Halak – 5
- Justin Peters – 3
Holtby led the decade by 220 wins. Multiple names on this list are reminders of dark times.
Nationalities
- Canada – 59 players
- USA – 41 players
- Czechia – 11 players
- Russia – 7 players
- Sweden – 6 players
- Slovakia – 3 players
- Germany – 2 players
- Australia – 1 player
- Belarus – 1 player
- Denmark – 1 player
- Switzerland – 1 player
Worth noting that Nathan Walker became the first Australian to play in an NHL game, score a goal, tally a point, and win the Stanley Cup. The Capitals only have three Canadians on the team right now.
