Nick Jensen is the most defensively responsible defender on the Caps roster. That’s nice, but kinda off-brand for the Caps.
By the Numbers
| 53 | games played |
| 17.3 | time on ice per game |
| 2 | goals |
| 12 | assists |
| 51.2 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
| 54.1 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage, adjusted |
| 53.1 | 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
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season (end of January, end of March, and end of May), RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:
On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?
1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Peter’s Take
My guess is that Nick Jensen is Washington’s best defender when it comes to doing actual defense. Among all full-time Caps defense, opponents attempted the fewest shots against him, they got the fewest shots on goal against him, they generated the fewest scoring chances against him, and got the fewest high-danger chances against him. So not bad.
Below are Washington’s most common defense pairings for the season. Their locations on the grid indicate how much offense the Caps got (left to right) and how much offense the opponents got (bottom to top).
Jensen’s pairings are mostly on the kick-ass-and-take-names quadrant. He’s stingy on defense, though he doesn’t necessarily set the offense on fire. This heatmap from hockeyviz shows Jensen’s isolated impact on both sides of the ice.
If anything, Jensen’s got a skill for slowing games down. Fan might hate that, but it can be important for a team like Washington, who can sometimes lose control of a game. It can also be boring though. Which is fine. Too much stuff is interesting these days. We need more boring things that are merely competent. There are too many TV shows, all the movies are sequels, and the Internet Discourse is exhausting. The Nick Jensens of the world are a balm. He’s lofi hip-hop hockey, shoegaze hockey. Everyone else is hyperpop. and nearly every other Capitals player is like a drama tornado. Speaking of which: tomorrow is Friday, June 18.
Jensen on RMNB
- From camp onward, Jensen paired up mostly with Chara.
- Early in March, Jensen scored his first goal as a Washington Capital, breaking a 165-game drought.
- Check out this gorgeous goal from March. Didn’t expect that from Jensen.
- I still don’t really know why, but Jensen wore a pink tie-dye headband at practice in March.
Your Turn
Do you have any strong opinions about Nick Jensen? If so, why?
Read more: Japers Rink
