Lars Eller missed Thursday’s game due to a family issue, so the Washington Capitals were forced to go with eleven forwards and seven defenders against the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington’s seventh D was 23-year-old Swiss Thai sweetheart, Jonas Siegenthaler.
So here’s Siegenthaler’s stat line for the night: 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 shots, 0 blocks, 0 hits. In his defense, he didn’t even touch the ice until the game’s final minute.
Even with a three-goal lead (for a while), Siegenthaler got just 28 seconds of ice time in a single shift:
“I think the issue there,” Craig Laughlin said during the NBC Sports Washington broadcast, “is that Laviolette is so pleased with his three pair of [defenders] that you couldn’t get Seigenthaler into the D-line corps because he didn’t want to mess up the chemistry of the six he currently has.”
Jon Press of Japers Rink also had a similar read on the topic, but I shan’t embed his tweet because of his salty language. “The D has been terrific,” Press said, slightly moderated by me. “Why would you [goof] with that rotation? You wouldn’t.”
This was technically Siegenthaler’s seventh appearance in a Caps lineup this season. He had, before Thursday, averaged 15:30 per game. That average is going to drop now.
Siegenthaler’s contract with a cap hit of $800,000 expires after this season in restricted free-agent status.
RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flyers
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
