Jonas Siegenthaler: 2019-20 season review

September 28, 2020 10:25 am

Jonas Siegenthaler was a major part of the Caps’ sixth-ranked penalty kill this season. Though maybe not a good part of it.

By the Numbers

64	games played
15.7	time on ice per game
2	goals
7	assists
50.7	5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted
52.1	5-on-5 expected goal percentage, adjusted
55.0	5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted

Visualization by HockeyViz

About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:

Most common teammates during 5-on-5
Ice time per game, split up by game state
5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
Individual scoring events by the player
5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts

Peter’s Take

Jonas Siegenthaler took a big step forward in 2019-20, playing in practically the entire season in a bigger role while still tilting the ice in the Caps’ favor and blocking an obscene amount of shots. Like: a ton. One of every ten shots the other team takes goes into Siegenthaler’s body, putting him around the 90th percentile of defenders.

(And way above clowns like Quinn Hughes.) Okay, maybe blocks per opponent shot isn’t a good measure of player quality, but it gives insight as to how this player might see their role. For Siegenthaler that role changed this season as he started taking on a lot more penalty-kill assignments. Siegenthaler played more PK minutes than any Caps defender, and, well, see for yourself. Left is a HockeyViz heatmap when Siegenthaler was on ice, right is him on the bench.

Siegenthaler was probably the weakest link in the very strong chain that was the Caps PK. That’s something he’ll need to work on for next season, as I suspect he’s about to undergo more changes as well.

Peter Laviolette is notorious for encouraging his blue line to get involved in offense, but that isn’t Siegenthaler’s bag. He’s hands-down the team’s most reluctant shooter, though don’t let his individual shot-attempt rate lie to you. He’s a crucial part of the Caps’ breakout and transition play and a common puck-carrier in general. I hope the team understands what they have in him. There’s a lot of value in a 23-year-old defense-first, puck-moving defender who isn’t afraid to block shots with his 6’3″ frame. At the very least, acknowledging what Siegenthaler brings to the team may save them some money on the open market, where I’d rather they not pay for something they already have.